Bombardier teams with Ottawa firm to offer RCAF new surveillance aircraft

Sur le même sujet

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  8 août 2018 | Local, Terrestre

  Vance’s plan to buy U.S.-made uniforms for Canadian military raises issues

  DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN My Postmedia colleague Christie Blatchford reports the Canadian military is looking for a new camouflage uniform for its 95,000 regular and reserve force members – potentially at a cost of as much as $500 million to taxpayers. Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance favours one originally developed for the U.S. military, according to documents obtained by Blatchford. In a seven-page briefing note on Vance's recent visit to Halifax, the general's senior staff officers last month wrote, “The CDS stated his desire to replace” current uniforms with the new “MultiCam” pattern now being used by the force's Special Operations Command. As Blatchford wrote, except for special forces, most Canadian soldiers now wear “CADPAT,” short for “Canadian Disruptive Pattern,” a Canadian-developed digital camouflage print that comes in several varieties, depending on the environment (desert, temperate, Arctic, etc.) and for which the Canadian government has a copyright and trademark. The uniforms are manufactured by a number of Canadian companies. Full Article: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/vances-plan-to-buy-u-s-made-uniforms-for-canadian-military-raises-issues

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  30 juillet 2019 | Local, Aérospatial

  Red Arrows aerobatic team coming to Canada – flypast of Parliament Hill set for Aug. 13

  BY DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN Final preparations are being made for the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team's biggest-ever tour to North America, which includes performances or flypasts over 6 Canadian cities, according to the British government. The team will perform over Halifax, Ottawa-Gatineau, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Vancouver, and Victoria. The first public event of the tour will be a flypast with aircraft from the Royal Canadian Air Force over the Halifax waterfront on Sunday, Aug. 11. That will be followed on Aug. 13 by a flypast of Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and an aerobatic display at Aero Gatineau-Ottawa. The team will then visit a number of cities in the U.S. and later fly over Niagara Falls on Aug. 28. On Saturday Aug. 31 and Monday Sept. 2 they will perform at the Canadian International Air show in Toronto. On Sept. 26 the Red Arrows will do a flypast over Vancouver harbour. The same day the team will do a flypast over Victoria's harbour. It is the first time the Red Arrows have been to Canada and the US since 2008. The team consists of 11 pilots, nine of whom fly in the display, and more than 100 support personnel and technicians. Each of the pilots has previous fast-jet, operational experience flying the Tornado, Typhoon or Harrier. Flying Hawk T1 jets, the team is based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/red-arrows-aerobatic-team-coming-to-canada-flypast-of-parliament-hill-set-for-aug-13

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  15 mars 2019 | Local, Aérospatial

  RCAF may not need seven of the 25 used Australian F-18s, says defence procurement chief

  DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN The Defence department's procurement chief says the Royal Canadian Air Force might not need the seven used Australian F-18 aircraft being purchased for parts afterall. Canada is buying 25 used F-18s from Australia, with 18 of those to be flown and seven to be either stripped down for parts or used for testing. The aircraft to be flown will augment the existing RCAF CF-18 fleet until a new generation fighter jet can be purchased. But Pat Finn, the Department of National Defence's Assistant Deputy Minister for Materiel, said there may be no need for the seven F-18s. “The seven, whether or not we actually take them at this point, we're still looking at that,” Finn recently told the Commons defence committee. “What we're actually finding is the number of spares that they've been able to provide to us is more than adequate. Rather than take aircraft apart and go through that cost, we're taking the spares. We may not, in fact, at this point look at any of the seven.” It is unclear whether there will be a reduction in the cost of the purchase or the overall project cost if the seven airframes are not acquired. The DND also clarified what is happening with the engines on the Australian F-18s. Rumours have been circulating in the retired military community that the engines are being stripped out of the planes and given back to Australia. “Only the engines from the first two Australian F-18s (four engines total) are being returned to Australia, at their request,” explained DND spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier. “Australia needs those engines to meet their own operational requirements.” In order to take advantage of an advanced delivery date for the first two Australian aircraft, Canada agreed to return those aircraft's engines to Australia, but the plan is to get an equivalent number of engines back at a later date, he added. “Canada has sufficient engines in reserve to support this plan and this will have no impact on operations,” Le Bouthillier stated. “We therefore found this to be a reasonable request, and agreed to it.” https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/rcaf-may-not-need-7-of-the-25-used-australian-f-18s-says-defence-procurement-chief