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  26 septembre 2022 | Local, Aérospatial

  La ministre de la Défense Anita Anand annonce l’amélioration des capacités de mobilité de l’ARC pour appuyer l’Ukraine et d’autres missions mondiales

  Le 26 septembre 2022 – Ottawa (Ontario) – Défense nationale/Forces armées canadiennes Aujourd'hui, la ministre de la Défense Anita Anand a annoncé que l'Aviation royale canadienne (ARC) améliorait ses opérations de mobilité aérienne basées en Europe alors qu'elle mène des missions continues dans cette région et dans le monde entier. Depuis la fin mars 2022, les membres de l'ARC qui exploitent deux CC‑130J Hercules aéronefs mènent des opérations à partir d'un centre situé à Prestwick, en Écosse. Le personnel du centre a maintenant livré 4 millions de livres de marchandises, principalement de l'aide militaire à l'Ukraine. Afin d'accroître la capacité et la souplesse opérationnelle, le Canada ajoute un troisième aéronef CC‑130J Hercules au détachement et déploie du personnel de soutien responsable de la maintenance, du transport des marchandises et de l'administration. Le détachement de mobilité aérienne de Prestwick sera composé d'environ 55 membres des Forces armées canadiennes, et ce nombre pourrait augmenter en fonction du rythme opérationnel. Au besoin, les équipages des CC‑177 Globemaster continueront d'utiliser les ressources du centre pour accroître l'efficacité et la souplesse des missions. Pour refléter ce changement, le détachement de transport aérien tactique de Prestwick sera désormais connu sous le nom de détachement de mobilité aérienne. Ce changement de nom concorde avec l'augmentation de la fréquence des vols et de l'utilisation des aéronefs de mobilité aérienne CC‑177. Le fait de miser sur l'utilisation du centre d'opérations de l'ARC augmentera la capacité du Canada à effectuer des missions de soutien partout en Europe, y compris la livraison de l'aide militaire destinée à l'Ukraine. Cette augmentation accroîtra également la capacité du Canada à effectuer des missions au Moyen‑Orient et en Afrique, de façon périodique ou selon les besoins. Alors que l'Ukraine se défend contre l'invasion illégale et injustifiable de la Russie, le Canada continuera de lui fournir une aide militaire complète. https://www.canada.ca/fr/ministere-defense-nationale/nouvelles/2022/09/la-ministre-de-la-defense-anitaanand-annonce-lamelioration-des-capacites-de-mobilite-de-larc-pour-appuyer-lukraine-et-dautres-missions-mondiales.html

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  12 juin 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  ‘Zero indication’ military spending will be cut amid COVID-19, defence official says

  BY LEE BERTHIAUME THE CANADIAN PRESS Posted June 11, 2020 7:58 am The Defence Department's top civilian official is touting the importance of continued investments in the Canadian Armed Forces, and says she has received no indications the Liberal government is planning to cut spending because of the COVID-19 crisis. The comments by Defence Department deputy minister Jody Thomas come amid questions about how the Liberal government plans to find the tens of billions of dollars doled out in recent months to support Canadians during the pandemic. The emergency support, estimated at $153 billion at last count, has far surpassed expected government spending and significant belt-tightening is likely after the crisis as Ottawa will start searching for ways to keep the country from drowning in red ink. Military spending was previously slashed in the 1990s as Jean Chretien's Liberal government wrestled with massive deficits while Stephen Harper's Conservative government followed a similar course after the 2008-09 financial crash. That has prompted concerns within defence circles that the pattern will repeat itself after COVID-19, with fears the Liberals will lean heavily on the country's $29-billion defence budget to help get government spending back under control. In an interview with The Canadian Press, Thomas said she had not received any order or direction to slow or cut defence spending and that officials are continuing to work on the planned purchase of new warships, fighter jets and other equipment. “We are not experiencing any slowdowns,” she said. “We are continuing very aggressively and ambitiously to continue our plan.” That plan is the Liberals' defence strategy, which it released in 2017. Known as Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE), the strategy promised $553 billion in military spending over 20 years. Much of that is to buy new equipment such as jets and warships. “There has been zero indication from anyone that there would be a cut to the budget,” Thomas said, adding Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan “has been very clear of his expectations of us to execute on SSE.” She went on to suggest the planned defence spending is actually needed as much now as before the pandemic as the crisis amplifies the already significant global uncertainty that existed before COVID-19. A scan of recent headlines underscores that uncertainty, from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration suggesting it may pull troops from Germany to China imposing its will on Hong Kong and flexing its muscles in the South China Sea. There are also ongoing concerns about Russia and the situation in the Middle East. “Canada has to be equipped,” Thomas said. “In a post-COVID world, there is, I would say as the deputy minister of defence, a need for SSE to in fact be done more quickly rather than slow it down or cut the budget.” The government last week tabled its latest request for money in Parliament, which included $585 million for the continued construction of two new naval support ships in Vancouver. The first of those ships is due in 2023. Defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute said the Liberals have significantly ramped up military spending, but no one knows how fast the economy will recover or how deep Ottawa will be in the hole when the pandemic ends. “Without knowing more about these things, it's way too early to know what the impact will be to defence,” he said. “But it's a basic fact of Canadian federal budgeting that if a government is looking to reduce all federal spending, DND plays a part in that because it spends the most money.” And while trimming military spending was the route taken by previous governments, there are implications, as evidenced by the age of Canada's CF-18s and other old equipment and its lack of naval support vessels until the new ones are finished. “Part of the reason we're having issues with procurement today is because of the decisions that were taken before,” Perry said. “The reasons they were taken — rightly or wrongly, I would say largely rightly — in the 1990s to reduce spending then, we're still dealing with the after-effects of it now because we didn't buy stuff then and we're trying to make up for lost time now.” https://globalnews.ca/news/7053393/canada-military-spending-coronavirus/

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  22 avril 2020 | Local, Aérospatial

  COVID-19 latest hurdle in Canada's long road to buying new fighter jets

  OTTAWA — COVID-19 is presenting another challenge to Canada's long-running and tumultuous effort to buy new fighter jets. The federal government last summer launched a long-awaited competition to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force's aging CF-18s with 88 new fighter jets at an estimated cost of $19 billion. The move followed a decade of controversy and mismanagement by various governments. The three companies still in the running are supposed to submit their bids at the end of June and, despite the pandemic, the federal procurement department insisted in an email to The Canadian Press that it still expects them to meet that deadline. The three companies vying for the lucrative contract are Lockheed Martin and Boeing from the U.S. and Sweden's Saab. Lockheed Martin builds the F-35 while Boeing is pitching its Super Hornet and Saab is offering its Gripen jet. Yet while representatives for the three companies say they are likewise plugging away at their respective proposals, a senior Boeing executive left the door open to asking the government for an extension as COVID-19 forces the company to adjust how it does business. "It's challenging, there's no question about it," Jim Barnes, the Boeing executive responsible for trying to sell the company's Super Hornet jet to Canada, said in an interview on Tuesday. "We want to make sure we put the most competitive offer on the table for the government of Canada to evaluate and we feel like we can put a very compelling offer. If we feel like we don't have time to finalize that competitive offer ... we would certainly ask for an extension." The government has already approved one extension to the competition since it was launched last July. Companies were supposed to submit their final bids at the end of March, but were given three more months after Saab asked for more time. Boeing continues to work closely with the U.S. government and navy on its bid and hopes to meet the current deadline, but Barnes said the pandemic has slowed things down as many staff work from home on a complex project with significant security considerations. "Then you have to take into consideration the health of your subject-matter experts in those areas where there are just a few people that can really work up those responses," he said. "Those kinds of things we're dealing with. I'm not sure if the other teams are dealing with that, but we are monitoring that and if we feel like we can't meet the deadline, we'll certainly consider an extension request as an option." Representatives for Lockheed Martin and Saab were more confident in being able to meet the current deadline. "Lockheed Martin remains prepared to provide a comprehensive proposal for Canada's future fighter capability project competition," Lockheed Martin Canada chief executive Lorraine Ben said in a statement. "We have not requested an extension of delivery for the FFCP preliminary proposal and we are excited to share more about the F-35's ability to strengthen and modernize defence, enhance ally partnerships and contribute to economic growth in Canada." Saab Canada president Simon Carroll expressed similar sentiments, saying in an interview that while there some challenges in preparing a bid during a pandemic, "we're certainly working towards that and are planning at this point in time to submit in accordance with that deadline." Yet there are also questions about the government's ability to move ahead on the project even if the companies do get their bids in on time, given the majority of federal employees are working at home. "Those submissions are going to have a combination of sensitive and classified information, and handling all that with a workforce, the majority of which is working from home, is going to be more difficult," said defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. "I think as a basic bottom line, it is completely illogical to think that the impacts of COVID-19 won't be running through the entire suite of defence procurements because you can't work as efficiently with a huge chunk of your workforce at home." This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2020. https://www.richmond-news.com/covid-19-latest-hurdle-in-canada-s-long-road-to-buying-new-fighter-jets-1.24121637