11 juin 2021 | Local, Naval
Military to build $65M facility at Hartlen Point to test new warship systems | CBC News
A $65-million facility to test new warships systems will be the only one of its kind in Canada, say military officials.
24 janvier 2019 | Local, Aérospatial
Canada to keep paying for F-35 development as fighter-jet competition ramps up
LEE BERTHIAUME, OTTAWA, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Canada is poised to contribute tens of millions of dollars toward further development of the F-35 stealth fighter even as the federal government wrestles with whether to buy the plane or not.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, the Department of National Defence's head of military procurement says there are no plans for Canada to quit as one of nine partner countries in the F-35 stealth fighter program until after the Trudeau government completes the competition to determine which fighter jet will replace Canada's aging fleet of CF-18s.
“We're committed to staying there (in the program) until we understand where the competition will bring us,” said Patrick Finn, assistant deputy minister of material at National Defence.
The competition is expected to be launched this spring.
The F-35 is one of four planes currently slated to participate in the $19-billion competition, which will result in the purchase of 88 new fighter aircraft to serve as the air force's backbone for the coming decades.
The Trudeau Liberals campaigned on a promise not to buy the F-35s in 2015, but have since backed away from that pledge. The Harper Conservatives first announced plans to buy 65 F-35s in 2010, but ran into controversy over cost.
Staying on as a partner in the F-35 program comes with advantages, Finn says, including the ability for Canadian companies to compete for billions of dollars in contracts associated with building and maintaining the stealth fighter.
Partners are also allowed to buy the F-35 at a lower price than non-partners, who must pay a variety of fees and other costs to purchase the plane.
“We want to keep the F-35 as an option, as a contender in the competition,” Finn said.
“We want to also make sure that while that's unfolding, that Canadian industry that have competitively won contracts get to continue to do that.”
The Defence Department says Canadian companies have won more than $1.25-billion in F-35-related contracts over the years.
Yet there are also costs to being a partner; Canada has so far invested more than $500-million into the program over the past 20 years, including $54-million last year.
Its next annual payment is due this spring and there will likely be more as the competition isn't scheduled to select a winner until 2021 or 2022. The first new aircraft is expected in 2025 and the last in 2031.
There are some technical issues that government officials are working through that could impact how it runs the competition to replace the CF-18s.
One of those is how to ensure the various bids are all measured equally. In addition to Lockheed Martin's F-35, bids are expected from Boeing's Super Hornet, Eurofighter's Typhoon and Saab's Gripen.
All four companies recently provided feedback on a draft process that the government has drawn up to run the competition, and another round of consultations is scheduled for mid-February.
A big question facing Lockheed is how it can meet Ottawa's usual requirement that companies who are awarded large military contracts invest back into Canada on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
The F-35 partnership agreement that Canada signed with the other countries bars such promised investments and instead stipulates that companies must compete for the work.
Finn said all four jet companies have unique challenges and circumstances, and that officials in charge of the competition could inject some flexibility into how the requirement is handled.
“There is absolutely flexibility and I would say my colleagues in (the federal industry department) demonstrate that on a weekly, monthly basis,” he said.
“They would be the first to say, and they're very good at saying, is: ‘Well listen, the first intent is to get the right military capability. We want to have the offsets as well, and with a given market segment, what it is that we do and how do we do it.“'
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1 avril 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Important notice about CANSEC 2020
Ottawa (March 31, 2020) - Christyn Cianfarani, President and CEO of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, today issued the following statement regarding CANSEC 2020. Good afternoon, It goes without saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our businesses, communities and our families close to home and around the globe. Over the last few weeks, CADSI has been working hard to determine what this means for our community and the events we produce for you. Today, I announce that we have made the difficult decision not to host CANSEC in 2020. As a result, we are now working hard to make CANSEC 2021 – which will take place June 2 and 3 at Ottawa's EY Centre – the best CANSEC ever. CADSI staff have begun reaching out to our members, specifically exhibit managers and sponsor reps, as well as partners and suppliers to provide details on next steps. Please stay tuned to your inboxes for more information. If you do have questions, please email cansecsupport@defenceandsecurity.ca. We are all hands-on deck to manage your inquiries, but it may take us a few days to get back to you. Please continue to be patient with us and we will respond to every inquiry as soon as we can. As you can imagine, this was a difficult but necessary decision. We know how important CANSEC is to our members, to our government and military partners, and to the broader defence and security community. It's more than a trade show; it's a time for us to come together as one and strengthen the community tasked with keeping Canada and the world safe. We also understand that this decision has taken longer to make than some would have liked. Let me share why. CANSEC is a large event with many moving parts. It has a $10 million impact on the local Ottawa economy and provides significant revenue for dozens of loyal suppliers that are struggling to deal with the economic fallout of COVID-19. Many of them are small businesses that rely on CANSEC as a key source of income. We took the time necessary to explore every possible option with the City of Ottawa, our partners, contractors, and suppliers to mitigate losses to our community and secure the long-term viability of CANSEC, which needs these partners and suppliers to be successful. We also took the time to think about our membership and the struggles it will face over the coming months. CADSI's prudent plans and budgets in recent years have placed us on a solid financial foundation for the situation we find ourselves in today. For this reason — and for the good of our community, our suppliers and our members — CADSI will refund 100% of CANSEC purchases paid by members to CADSI (e.g. sponsorship, exhibits, meeting suites), while respecting timely payments to our suppliers. Irrespective of whether CADSI will incur losses and changes to our business as a result of this decision, our commitment to our members remains the same. We are doubling down as the best advocates we can be for you in these tough times. We are also working hard to make CANSEC 2021 the best CANSEC ever. Thank you to all stakeholders who came to the table in the spirit of partnership as we made this decision, and to our members for your patience and understanding in this time of uncertainty. Many of you have been busy contributing to Canada's response to COVID-19 here at home and around the world. You have made us proud, and we cannot wait to reconnect with you – in person – at CANSEC 2021. Sincerely, Christyn Cianfarani President & CEO, CADSI Posted 2020-03-31 Last Modified 2020-03-31 14:22
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19 décembre 2023 | Local, Aérospatial
Canadian military buying armed drones for $2.49B | CBC News
After more than two decades of debate, Canada’s air force finally has a green light to acquire armed drones.