2 juin 2022 | Local, Aérospatial
Griffon : le choix de Bell confirmé - Les Ailes du Québec
C’est donc un total 76 Griffon qui seront mis à niveau ailleurs qu’à Mirabel. La livraison des appareils mis à niveau devrait s’échelonner
10 septembre 2018 | Local, Terrestre
Canada's arms deal with Saudi Arabia is shrinking
The LAV sale is being scaled back. Critics want it killed completely.
Murray Brewster · CBC News
A Canadian defence contractor will be selling fewer armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia than originally planned, according to new documents obtained by CBC News.
That could be a mixed blessing in light of the ongoing diplomatic dispute between the two countries, say human rights groups and a defence analyst.
The scaled-back order — implemented before the Riyadh government erupted in fury over Canada's public criticism of Saudi Arabia's arrest of activists and froze new trade with Canada this summer — could make it politically less defensible for the Liberal government, which has argued it's in the country's business and economic interests to uphold the deal.
The documents show General Dynamic Land Systems Canada, the London, Ont.-based manufacturer, was — as of spring last year — going to deliver only 742 of the modern LAV-6s, a reduction from the original 2014 deal.
The initial order from the desert kingdom was for 928 vehicles, including 119 of the heavy assault variety equipped with 105 millimetre cannons.
Details of the agreement have long been kept under a cloak of secrecy. General Dynamic Land Systems, the Canadian Commercial Corporation (the Crown corporation which brokered the deal) and the Saudi government have all refused to acknowledge the specifics, other than the roughly $15 billion price tag.
Last spring, CBC News obtained copies of internal documents and a slide deck presentation from 2014 outlining the original agreement.
The latest internal company documents obtained by CBC News are dated March 29, 2017, and indicate the agreement had been amended a few months prior, perhaps in the latter half of 2016.
The documents also indicate delivery of the vehicles is already underway and has been for months.
CBC News asked for a response from both Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland's office and General Dynamics Land Systems Canada. Both declined comment over the weekend..
A cash-strapped kingdom
A defence analyst said the amended order likely has more to do with the current state of Saudi Arabia's finances than its frustration over Canada's human rights criticism.
"Saudi Arabia — in part because of low oil prices and in part because of corruption and mismanagement of its own economy — has a large budget deficit," said Thomas Juneau, a University of Ottawa assistant professor and former National Defence analyst.
"Spending $15 billion over a number of years for armoured vehicles that it doesn't need that much, at least in a pressing sense, is an easier target for budget cuts, for sure."
The kingdom has projected a budget deficit of $52 billion US this year and the country's finance minister said last spring it is on track to cut spending by seven per cent.
When it was signed, the armoured vehicle deal was a way for Canada to cement relations with an important strategic partner in the region, said Juneau.
Should Ottawa cancel the sale?
He said he wonders if it's still worthwhile, in light of the furious diplomatic row that began over the Canadian government's tweeted expressions of concern for jailed activists — and quickly escalated with the expulsion of Canada's ambassador, the freezing of trade, the cancellation of grain shipments and the withdrawal of Saudi medical students from Canadian programs.
"Now, with the dust not really having settled after the dispute from August, is that partnership, in abstract terms, still necessary? I think it is. But is it still possible?" said Juneau.
Human rights groups say they believe there is even more reason for Ottawa to walk away from the deal now, given the events of this summer and the declining economic benefit.
"We're compromising our position on human rights for even less than we thought," said Cesar Jaramillo, the executive director of Project Ploughshares, which has opposed the agreement from the outset.
"Even if it's not a huge decrease, it is still a decrease. It should, at least in political and economic terms, make it easier for the Trudeau government to reconsider this deal, especially in terms of the latest diplomatic spat."
Full article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-s-arms-deal-with-saudi-arabia-is-shrinking-1.4815571
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18 octobre 2018 | Local, Naval
Feds aiming to select preferred design for $60B warships by end of month
OTTAWA — Canada's most expensive military project is entering a critical new phase as the government is on the verge of picking its top design for the country's $60-billion fleet of new warships. Defence insiders say the government wants to select a design by the end of the month from among three options submitted by several of the largest defence and shipbuilding companies in the world. After that the government and Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding, which will actually build the 15 new warships, will sit down with the selected bidder to hammer out the final cost and other details. The stakes will be high for both sides, with hundreds of millions of dollars in play. There will also be pressure to make up for lost time on a project already running behind schedule even though whatever decisions are taken could have ramifications on the navy — and taxpayers — for decades to come. "That's part of the tension between moving quickly and making the right choice," said defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. The new warships will replace the navy's 12 frigates and three destroyers, the latter of which have already been retired. They will be used for most of this century. Launched in late 2016, the design competition has been the subject of rampant lobbying and complaints by defence industry players, with numerous revisions to the original request for bids and several deadline extensions. That was despite defence officials and Irving having previously warned that time is of the essence when it comes to starting construction, and that they want to shave 18 to 24 months off the project. There have also been questions about Irving's role in the competition, and anger from some companies that British firm BAE was allowed to enter its Type 26 vessel despite the ship having never been built. BAE and U.S.-based defence giant Lockheed Martin partnered together to propose the Type 26 for the design competition, which is up against separate proposals from Dutch firm Alion and Spanish shipbuilder Navantia. A joint French-Italian design was disqualified because Paris-based Naval Group and Italian firm Fincantieri, who promised to build the warships faster and for less than anyone else, did not follow the established process for submitting proposals. One of the big questions heading into the negotiations will be how much the selected design needs to be changed to reflect the navy's needs and how much the navy will have to shift its requirements because changing the design will take more time and money. Irving has warned that it could be forced to lay off hundreds of employees because of a production gap if work on the warships isn't ready to start by the time it finishes building the navy's new Arctic patrol ships in 2021 or 2022. Government negotiators are also facing a battle over the amount of intellectual property that the top bidder will be required to hand over, which Ottawa wants so it can operate and maintain the vessels on its own after they are built. Companies had originally been told that the winner would be required to turn over the full blueprints, but after significant resistance, the two sides agreed that the matter would be negotiated before a contract is awarded. The government however warned that if the winning ship designer drives too hard a bargain on the intellectual property front they face the risk of officials pulling the plug on talks and moving on to the next company. Perry said that while there are many challenges ahead before a deal for a design is signed — and before any of the new warships actually get into the water — this is a critical step forward. "You can't dance until you pick a dance partner," he said. — Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter. Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/canada/feds-aiming-to-select-preferred-design-for-60b-warships-by-end-of-month-250594/
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24 avril 2022 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Competitive Projects launches new and exciting challenges!//Projets compétitifs lance de nouveaux défis !
Competitive Projects launches new and exciting challenges! The Call for Proposals is open! The Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) Program has launched four new challenges under its Competitive Projects element covering a wide scope of Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF) needs, from the arctic domain to C4ISR and the preservation of wildlife. Don't miss the opportunity to apply to: Under the sea: real-time detection of marine mammals during sonar operations The needle in the haystack: Space-Based Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (SB-ISR) imagery for decision making Sub-zero Infrastructure, Security, and Sensors: Safekeeping assets in the arctic Do you copy? Establishing and maintaining broadband connectivity in remote and hostile areas Submit your proposals by May 31, 2022. The IDEaS Team Projets compétitifs lance de nouveaux défis ! L'appel de propositions est lancé ! Le programme Innovation pour la défense, l'excellence et la sécurité (IDEeS) a lancé quatre nouveaux défis dans le cadre de son élément Projets compétitifs. Ces défis couvrent un large éventail de domaines répondant aux besoins du ministère de la Défense nationale et des Forces armées canadiennes (MDN/FAC), dont l'environnement arctique, le C4ISR et la préservation de la faune. Ne manquez pas l'occasion de soumettre vos propositions pour : Sous l'océan : détection en temps réel des mammifères marins pendant les opérations sonar L'aiguille dans la botte de foin : L'imagerie de renseignement, de surveillance et de reconnaissance basée sur l'espace (SB-ISR) pour la prise de décision Infrastructure, sécurité et détection sous zéro : sécurisation des installations dans l'Arctique Vous recevez ? Établissement et maintien de la connectivité à large bande dans les zones éloignées et hostiles Envoyez vos propositions avant le 31 mai 2022. L'Équipe IDEeS