13 avril 2021 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
S'il existe un récif sur lequel le gouvernement fédéral s'échoue continuellement depuis des décennies, c'est bien celui de l'approvisionnement militaire. Aux prises avec des décisions aux conséquences financières considérables, les gouvernements tergiversent, souvent plombés par des enjeux politiques et par l'influence des militaires.
17 octobre 2022 | Local, Aérospatial, Terrestre
National Defence and top firms that produce arms, such as Lockheed Martin, are financing a conference in Ottawa on Oct. 25.
24 novembre 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
November 23, 2020 10:02 ET | Source: Thales Canada Inc multilang-release Industry veteran Chris Pogue has been appointed as the new Managing Director of Thales Canada – Defence & Security. For more than 50 years, customers including Canada's Department of National Defence and the Canadian Coast Guard have relied on Thales as a prime contractor and long-term partner enabling the Canadian Armed Forces and other defence entities to achieve mission success. OTTAWA, Nov. 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thales Canada – Defence and Security welcomes Chris Pogue as its new Managing Director. Chris replaces Jerry McLean, who announced his retirement effective November 16, 2020. Before joining Thales, Chris was President of MDA Government, where he was responsible for the company's Defence, Earth Observation Systems, Enterprise IT and Government Space Robotics lines of business. In addition to executive roles with MDA Government, General Dynamics Mission Systems and CAE Defence and Professional Services, Chris spent over 20 years with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and a Master's of Science in Physics and Oceanography from Royal Roads Military College, as well as executive education at the University of York, University of Liverpool and Harvard Business School. With approximately 250 defence and security employees from coast to coast, including over 200 employees in the Ottawa region, Chris will lead the organization's maritime, sea, land, optronics and air programs, including the 35-year, $5.2 billion CAD AJISS contract for the Royal Canadian Navy, currently underway. “Thales is a trusted prime contractor and proven industry leader that is delivering at the highest levels to help the armed forces and coast guards prepare for, achieve and maintain tactical superiority and strategic independence over any form of threat,” said Chris Pogue, Managing Director, Thales Canada – Defence & Security. “As a strong partner to Canadian SMEs and our domestic innovation ecosystem, I look forward to leveraging Thales Canada's leadership in digital transformation and next generation decision systems to enable our customers to make the tomorrow possible, today.” With defence activities in the naval, maritime, ground and air domains, Thales Canada – Defence & Security partners with over 500 Canadian businesses, creating national economic impact of more than $140 million annually. In support of Canada's digital transformation, Thales is committed to the development of innovative Canadian technologies and made-in-Canada defence and security solutions. About Thales Canada A Canadian leader in research and technology, Thales Canada combines over 50 years of experience with the talent of more than 2,500 skilled people located coast-to-coast. With revenues of over $800 million, Thales Canada offers leading capabilities in the defence, urban rail, civil aviation, digital identity and security sectors, meeting the most complex needs and requirements of its customers across all operating environments. About Thales Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global technology leader shaping the world of tomorrow today. The Group provides solutions, services and products to customers in the aeronautics, space, transport, digital identity and security, and defence markets. With 83,000 employees in 68 countries, Thales generated sales of €19 billion in 2019 (on a pro forma basis including Gemalto over 12 months). Thales is investing in particular in digital innovations — connectivity, Big Data, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity — technologies that support businesses, organisations and governments in their decisive moments. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/11/23/2132003/0/en/Thales-Appoints-Chris-Pogue-as-New-Managing-Director-of-Canadian-Defence-Security-Business.html
8 février 2021 | Local, Aérospatial, C4ISR, Sécurité
By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — With defense budgets around the globe expected to fall, simulation and training firm CAE is moving to diversify its defense and security portfolio, with an emphasis on space and cyber capabilities. Dan Gelston, who took over CAE's defense and security business unit in August 2020, told Defense News that his team is also looking to partner with defense primes during the early stages of new competitions, a shift which could require CAE investing in research and engineering efforts. Over the last two decades, CAE was “very focused” on traditional platforms, particularly planes and unmanned aerial vehicles, Gelston said. Now, he expects the future of the company to involve “a real focus on space and cyber, not only for that customer, but also for CAE. And those are areas that we need to augment our capabilities to make sure that we're providing the best product, the best service to help our customers.” The full interview will air as part of CAE's OneWorld event Feb. 9. CAE reported just over $1 billion in defense revenues in 2019, which made it the highest-ranked Canadian company on the annual Defense News Top 100 list. Currently, Gelston's unit makes up about 40 percent of the company's overall business, but he sees a chance to hit a “much larger” market going forward. Gelston's plan includes increasing the “security” part of the company's “defense and security” portfolio by aggressively pursuing contracts for government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration. This would competing for what he describes as a “multi-hundred-million dollar opportunity with TSA here in the next few months” for training security forces for airports. “With space assets ability to target, with cyber assets ability to attack anywhere and everywhere, it's not just the Pentagon, it's critical infrastructure, it's a lot of what we traditionally have separated into DHS. So that security element is crucial,” he said. “We could really bring a lot of our research and development, our capabilities in machine learning and AI and virtual reality and augmented learning management systems” to DHS, which “you could categorize a little more of a traditional time phased approach to training.” As the company seeks to expand into the non-defense security realm, Gelston said the company is keeping an eye out for potential merger and acquisition options, saying “I certainly would like to think in the next 18 to 24 months a property would come along, that's particularly attractive to me.” 2020 was a rocky year for CAE, which was hit particularly hard given its ties to the commercial aviation space. But the company worked quickly to shave costs, and toward the end of the year issued a public offering, with the goal of raising roughly $2 billion Canadian ($1.56 bn American). The plan, as Gelston said, was to have enough “dry powder to make sure that we're coming out leaning forward out of the COVID crisis. We don't want to be hunkering down just trying to survive. We want to take advantage of this.” While not discussing specifics, Gelston emphasized that “I'd love to get a little more robust training capability in the cyber realm... that's an area that that I can certainly see augmenting with potential acquisition here in the next 18 to 24 months if the right property comes along, I think we would be positioned to potentially pursue that.” Teaming with defense manufacturers That focus on new areas doesn't mean the company is turning away from traditional defense projects, but it does come with a greater focus on teaming up with prime contractors early in the process to offer the DoD and other customers a package solution from the start, as opposed to bidding on training and simulation contracts after a design has been selected. He pointed to the surprise rapid test-flight of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) demonstrator from last September as an example of how defense acquisition is speeding up. “Our defense acquisition officials are really looking for skin in the game from industry” early on, he said. “We don't have the time for the classic cost-plus development work, years and years and multiple phases” of a project. “No company, even the big OEMs, have unlimited research and development budgets. No company, even Lockheed Martin, has unlimited engineering assets,” he continued. “So if I can partner with these OEMs on these major next generation platforms now and start co developing as they develop the platform, I'm codeveloping the training in the simulation experience, and sharing some of that burden, adding skin into the game for research and development engineering — It's not just money, it's also time, and time, arguably right now is our is our biggest enemy — I can really help those OEMs and give them a true discriminator in their offering.” “And certainly at the end, that international or us customer is going to be much better off as they've got a fully baked, fully integrated training and simulation solution with that new platform.” In addition to looking into NGAD, Gelston said the company plans to pursue nearer-term contracts related to the F-35 joint strike fighter, MQ-9B drone, and the Army's Future Vertical Lift competition, while also continuing ongoing efforts like its C-130H business, which was awarded in 2018. https://www.defensenews.com/training-sim/2021/02/08/for-cae-the-future-means-expansion-in-cyber-space-and-more-defense-acquisitions