25 avril 2019 | Local, Aérospatial
Murray Brewster · CBC News
The politically charged competition to replace Canada's aging fleet of fighter jets will rocket forward at the end of May as the federal government releases a long-anticipated, full-fledged tender call.
There are four companies in the running: Saab of Sweden, Airbus Defence and Space out of Britain, and the American firms Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Once the request for proposals is released, the manufacturers will have until the end of the year to submit bids, defence and industry sources told CBC News.
It was the former Conservative government that kicked off the effort to replace the three-decade-old CF-18s in 2010, an attempt that was shot down in a dispute over the way the F-35 fighter was selected.
The program became mired in politics when the Liberals promised during the 2015 election campaign not to buy the stealth jet. A final decision will now have to wait until after this fall's election.
The competition comes at a time of renewed geopolitical rivalry between the West and Russia and China, and the chief of the Swedish Air Force says his fighters have been busier than ever.
Maj.-Gen. Mats Helgesson said Sweden, which has a long history of being a neutral and non-aligned country, has over the past few years found its airspace violated more frequently by both Russian and NATO warplanes.
That has required a stepped-up state of readiness for the country's Gripen fighter jet squadrons.
"When we look around our borders, especially over the Baltic Sea, we can see increased activity, not only Russia, but also NATO," Helgesson told CBC News in an interview.
"We see exercises. We see daily training and we also see intelligence gathering in a way that we haven't seen for many years."
The Swedish air force is about the same size as the Royal Canadian Air Force. It has long flown the homegrown Gripen, which has gone through various iterations and models since it was first introduced in the mid-1990s.
Saab AB, headquartered in Stockholm, intends to offer the latest variant — the E version — as a replacement for Canada's current fleet of CF-18s.
The aircraft's design improvements, said Helgesson, are a direct result of what the military and the country's engineers can see being developed in Russia.
"It's no secret that we need to be able to meet, not only Russia, but also other high-performing aircraft in the future," he said, pointing to Russia's Su-30 fighter jet, the more modern Su-35 (known by the NATO designation "The Flanker") and the stealth Su-57.
There has been a rigorous political and academic debate about whether Canada should choose a legacy design from the 1990s, such as the Gripen, or the recently introduced Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter.
The notion that stealth fighters are needed for conflicts with countries like Russia — countries that have advanced air-defence systems — was partly dismissed by the Swedish Defence Research Agency in a recent report.
Russia's anti-access/areas-denial weapons (known as A2/AD) are not all they're cracked up to be, said the report released last month, which looked at the use of such systems in the Syria conflict.
"Much has, in recent years, been made of Russia's new capabilities and the impact they might have on the ability of NATO member states to reinforce or defend the vulnerable Baltic states in case of crisis or war," said the report.
"On closer inspection, however, Russia's capabilities are not quite as daunting, especially if potential countermeasures are factored in."
The Gripen is intended for operations in rugged environments, such as Sweden's Arctic region, Helgesson said.
"We are operating from dispersed bases," he said. "We use highways and small airfields spread all over Sweden in remote places, far away. And the logistics footprint is very small."
The Arctic is, naturally, an important area of operation for the Swedish air force, and having far-flung bases has required the force to become creative about warehousing fuel, ammunition and other supplies.
Canada's CF-18s occasionally operate from forward bases in the North, but those deployments are infrequent compared with the routine activity of the Swedes, experts have noted in the past.
Like Canada, Sweden has just started reinvesting in defence, Helgesson said.
The competition among manufacturers for Canada's fighter jet business is expected to be intense.
Lockheed Martin will again pitch its F-35 stealth fighter. Boeing is in line to offer the Super Hornet — a larger, more advanced version of the F-18. Airbus Military plans to offer its Eurofighter Typhoon.
29 novembre 2023 | Local, Aérospatial
National Defence fast-tracked removal of Aurora aircraft by a decade despite spending hundreds of millions modernizing the planes
29 septembre 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense
Lee Berthiaume OTTAWA — While the federal government is pressing ahead with plans to buy billions of dollars worth of much-needed equipment for the Canadian Armed Forces, the Department of National Defence's top procurement official says COVID-19 is further slowing down some already delayed purchases. The past six months have seen a number of major milestones for Canada's beleaguered military procurement system, including last week's unveiling of the first of 16 new military search-and-rescue planes after 16 years of delays and controversy. Procurement officials are also now reviewing three bids that were received from fighter-jet makers at the end of July as Canada inches closer to selecting a replacement for the aging CF-18s following more than a decade of political mismanagement. The list of recent successes also includes Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding having delivered the first of six new Arctic offshore patrol vessels in late July, while progress has been made on a number of other files, such as the long-overdue purchase of new engineering vehicles for the Army. Yet some of those milestones would have been achieved earlier had it not been for COVID-19. And Troy Crosby, the Defence Department's assistant deputy minister of materiel, acknowledges many other projects are being affected as well. That includes the more than 100 military procurements — roughly half of them dealing with new equipment and the rest focused on building new infrastructure on Canadian Forces bases across the country — that were listed as already delayed before the pandemic hit. "COVID didn't speed anything up," Crosby said in an interview with The Canadian Press. "I think everybody would understand that that's going to have some impact. And exactly what that impact is difficult to tell right now." Delays in military procurements can have several impacts. In some cases such the CF-18s, the Canadian Armed Forces is being forced to keep using equipment that was supposed to have been retired years ago. In others, delays drive up the cost of the new purchases due to inflation. The projects most likely to be delayed due to COVID-19 are those in production, Crosby said. Examples include the construction of new naval ships by Irving and Seaspan ULC in Vancouver, which have had to adopt physical distancing and other COVID-19 measures at their shipyards. "For the projects that are at a stage where the work is office-based ... once we got over that initial hump as everybody had to as we moved toward a remote-work posture, the work continued," said Crosby. "If you're in a shipyard and you're trying to advance the production of a ship given all of the physical distancing requirements and the health and safety considerations, that's challenging." Crosby has previously argued much of the frustration around military procurement is the result of unrealistic expectations born of a lack of understanding and appreciation for how the system — which is dealing with more projects than at any time in recent history — actually works. COVID-19 has also prompted speculation the Liberal government could start cutting back on its promise, unveiled in 2017, to spend $553 billion on the military over the next 20 years. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan told The Canadian Press earlier this month that the funding is "secure." Asked about the spending plan — which is contained in the Liberals' defence policy and known as Strong, Secure, Engaged — Crosby said: "Strong Secure Engaged continues to be our focus and it laid out a program of work and we're trying to get that program of work delivered. "It's been that way right through this whole COVID situation. That hasn't changed anything. ... The people in the materiel group, the people we're working with across government, we're all seized with the program forward." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2020. https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/news/covid-19-further-delaying-some-overdue-military-procurements-1.24211049
24 octobre 2018 | Local, Terrestre
JEAN-FRANÇOIS CODÈRE Le rêve d'un exosquelette qui aidera les soldats à transporter leurs lourdes charges sans se blesser approche et c'est une firme de Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Mawashi, qui est en pôle position d'un marché évalué à «des milliards et des milliards de dollars». Le tiers des soldats évacués en Afghanistan ou en Irak n'avaient pas subi de «blessures de guerre», avance Alain Bujold, chef de la direction et chef de la direction technologique de Mawashi. Ils avaient plutôt subi les dommages, notamment au dos, du trop grand poids placé sur leurs épaules. «Ça coûte 500 millions de dollars par année à l'armée américaine pour s'occuper des soldats blessés parce qu'ils transportaient trop de poids», ajoute-t-il. Spécialiste de la recherche et de l'ingénierie pour «tout ce qui se met sur le corps humain» depuis des années, Mawashi s'est intéressée de plus près aux exosquelettes en 2013. Elle avait alors été invitée à participer à un projet de l'armée américaine, le projet Talos, qui consistait à créer une sorte d'armure à la Iron Man. «Ils ont donné de l'argent à un paquet de compagnies, et on les a toutes clenchées», raconte fière M. Bujold. Alléger la charge L'exosquelette Uprise mis au point par Mawashi peut retirer jusqu'à 70% du poids transporté par un soldat de sa propre ossature. La structure épouse les formes du corps, mais n'est pas motorisée, ce qui est un avantage important selon M. Bujold, puisque les soldats peuvent ainsi être affectés à de très longues missions sans crainte d'épuiser leurs piles. Et sans avoir à transporter lesdites piles. Une plaque posée sous le pied du soldat, dans sa chaussure, sert de fondation à l'ensemble. Cette plaque s'arrête avant les orteils, de façon à permettre au soldat de bien ressentir le sol sous ses pieds. Des tiges métalliques articulées longent ensuite les jambes du soldat pour rejoindre une ceinture rigide. De là s'élève une «colonne vertébrale», de laquelle émergent des appendices qui permettent notamment de suspendre un sac à dos ou un plastron sans que le poids ne se dépose sur le squelette du soldat. En situation de combat, un soldat est chargé d'en moyenne une centaine de livres d'équipement protecteur, de munitions, d'armes et d'équipements de communication, entre autres, estime M. Bujold. «De plus en plus, les combats se déroulent dans des zones urbaines, ce qui fait qu'on ne peut utiliser de véhicules pour transporter l'équipement, ajoute-t-il. Et il y a de plus en plus de matériel pour les communications.» «Le but n'est pas de permettre de transporter plus de poids, prévient-il toutefois. C'est de réduire les blessures et d'aider à porter ce poids.» En avance En mars dernier, Mawashi a été invitée par l'OTAN à venir démontrer les bénéfices que pouvait procurer Uprise à des spécialistes du déminage, qui doivent revêtir une combinaison protectrice pesant à elle seule une centaine de livres. L'entreprise se concentre présentement à démontrer de façon claire les avantages de son produit. Elle a reçu un financement de trois ans de l'armée canadienne pour parvenir à cette fin. «Le dernier obstacle est de prouver qu'il y a vraiment un bénéfice, indique M. Bujold. Les tests préliminaires le démontrent.» Sur l'échelle de maturité technologique (Technology Readiness Level), qui va de 1 à 9, l'Uprise est au niveau 7. Aucune solution comparable ne le devance, selon M. Bujold, et l'Uprise est en position pour être le premier exosquelette déployé sur le terrain. «Le premier qui va arriver avec une technologie qui fonctionne, c'est le prochain Apple, croit l'entrepreneur. On ne parle pas de millions, mais de milliards.» C'est qu'au-delà des militaires, il y a une panoplie d'autres secteurs qui pourraient être intéressés à un exosquelette de ce genre, envisage-t-il, à commencer par l'important marché du plein air. Les pompiers, les travailleurs de la construction et les employés de chaînes d'assemblage pourraient eux aussi en bénéficier. L'Uprise pourrait coûter de 3000$ à 20 000$, estime-t-il, selon la configuration choisie. Jusqu'à présent, ce sont surtout des contrats de l'armée américaine qui ont permis à Mawashi d'avancer. «C'est tout récent que de recevoir du financement canadien», dit M. Bujold, qui est actionnaire à 50% de l'entreprise. L'autre moitié est détenue par Louis Bibeau, président de Logistik Unicorp, dans l'édifice de laquelle sont installés les bureaux de Mawashi. «Il y a 99% des chances qu'on finisse par être achetés par une compagnie américaine, estime M. Bujold. C'est triste.» «Il y a ici une mentalité de lenteur, de bureaucratie, alors qu'aux États-Unis, c'est pif, paf, maintenant.» Le volet militaire de son entreprise n'aide pas à approcher des investisseurs québécois ou canadiens, ajoute-t-il, même si son produit « sauve des vies ». Cette tiédeur n'existe pas aux États-Unis. https://www.lapresse.ca/affaires/economie/quebec/201810/18/01-5200809-une-innovation-quebecoise-a-lassaut-de-larmee-americaine.php