12 février 2020 | Local, Naval
All four of Canada's submarines were tied up last year for repairs and maintenance — news that has the opposition Conservatives questioning whether the Liberal government can keep the second-hand fleet afloat for another two decades.
In response to a written question before Parliament, the Department of National Defence said the boats "spent zero days at sea" in 2019, but three of the four would return to service at some point this year.
Over the year, HMCS Victoria, HMCS Windsor, HMCS Chicoutimi and HMCS Corner Brook were in various stages of repair and maintenance. They also went into drydock for long-term upgrades meant to ensure the submarines remain operational until the end of the next decade.
The Liberal government's 2017 defence policy does not envision replacing the subs until 2040, but a written statement recently put before the House of Commons indicates the navy wants to keep the boats "operationally effective until the mid-2030s."
Conservative defence critic James Bezan said the acquisition of new submarines is not something Canada can put off for 20 years — and the Department of National Defence and the Liberal government should begin seriously looking for replacements.
"The boats are getting older and need to be replaced sooner, but I'm not sure that's resonating with the minister's office or the [Prime Minister's Office]," Bezan said.
"You have to ask yourself the questions. Do they have a plan to replace the submarines? And do they even care that we have submarines?"
The boats were docked last year after an intense sailing schedule for two of the four submarines over 2017 and 2018. HMCS Chicoutimi spent 197 days at sea helping to monitor sanctions enforcement off North Korea and visiting Japan as part of a wider engagement in the western Pacific. HMCS Windsor spent 115 days in the water during the same time period, mostly participating in NATO operations in the Atlantic.
Bezan said he is not questioning Canada's need for submarines, pointing out that the navy has three coastlines to monitor, countries such as China and India are investing heavily to build up their own fleets and Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic has surpassed Cold War levels.
"The best way to fight a submarine is with a submarine," said Bezan. "There is a growing need for submarines to ensure our sovereignty around North America. It is also the best way to patrol our Arctic waters."
The Liberal government has just started the process of replacing the country's patrol frigates — the backbone of the navy — through an estimated $60 billion program that will roll out over the next two decades. Following the release of the federal government's new defence policy in June 2017, a senior government official, speaking on background, cited the cost and complexity of rebuilding the surface fleet as justification for postponing the purchase of new submarines.
The commander of the navy, Vice-Admiral Art McDonald, said that after some early struggles, the submarine program has reached what he described as "a steady state," and he's convinced the boats can be operated safely for years to come.
"We know there's still excellent life in the Victoria-class submarine. I've seen that personally," McDonald told CBC News in a recent interview. "We'll be able to operate those boats into the 2030s, but to do that we'll have to continue with the routine investments we've made in them."
Submarines are not cheap. Defence department figures tabled before Parliament show the navy has invested upward of $325 million in submarine maintenance, repairs and upkeep each year for the last two years.
The bulk of the cash went to repairing HMCS Corner Brook, which has been undergoing an extended upgrade since 2015 following an accident four years earlier when it smashed into the bottom of the ocean off British Columbia. The boat is one of the three Canadian subs expected to be back in the water this year for "contractor trials" meant to confirm the repairs.
The Chrétien government bought the submarines second-hand from Britain in 1998 at a cost of $750 million. Since then, National Defence has pumped billions into repairing and converting them for Canadian use.
The program suffered a major setback in 2004 when HMCS Chicoutimi caught fire on its maiden voyage, killing one sailor.
Almost a decade ago, navy planners started making a case for a replacement program. They told the former chief of the defence staff, the now-retired general Walt Natynczyk, that the military needed bigger, quieter submarines that could perform stealth missions, launch undersea robots and fire guided missiles at shore targets. The briefing was obtained in 2012 by The Canadian Press under access to information legislation.
A year later, the commander of the navy at the time, the now-retired vice-admiral Paul Maddison, told a Senate committee the navy meant to operate the boats until at least 2030.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/submarines-canada-fleet-repairs-canadian-navy-1.5458632
28 juin 2023 | Local, Autre défense
A Senate committee has delivered a forceful call for greater participation by Indigenous communities in shaping Canada’s Arctic defence and security.
18 octobre 2018 | Local, Aérospatial
Expands development of machine learning and crowdsourcing capabilities to augment global GEOINT missions HERNDON, VA, Oct. 18, 2018 /CNW/ - Radiant Solutions, a Maxar Technologies company (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX: MAXR), today announced a $92 million contract award on a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III contract with the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency (NGA) to rapidly develop, prototype, and deploy machine learning and crowdsourcing capabilities to augment a wide variety of NGA missions. NGA exercised the 2019 contract option year and expanded the value over a three year period of performance. The SBIR Phase III program incents commercial firms to apply innovative solutions to pressing national security problems. As outlined in NGA's recently updated commercial GEOINT strategy, the agency is employing a variety of contracting methods to leverage commercial automation capabilities to augment conventional analysis, giving analysts more time to focus on more challenging, mission-critical problems. Through SBIR Phase III awards, the U.S. government can fund logical extensions of SBIR Data and receive a royalty-free license to that technology while protecting commercial industry's ability to make these offerings available to the global marketplace. Radiant Solutions participates in the SBIR Phase III program through its ongoing investment in Signature Analyst™, a predictive modeling engine that applies machine learning to massive amounts of geospatial data to help analysts quickly search broad geographic areas. Since 2006, Radiant Solutions and its subsidiary companies have been awarded eight SBIR Phase III contracts across multiple agencies. Radiant Solutions will advance development of machine learning capabilities, such as its DeepCore Computer Vision SDK and crowdsourcing capabilities, such as Tomnod, to help analysts quickly process large volumes of remote sensing data, understand global patterns of life and enable broad area search. The award also expands support for the NSG Open Mapping Enclave (NOME), a volunteered geographic information operational prototype that enables trusted users on multiple domains to easily create or modify foundation GEOINT to create living maps and enable timely analysis. These capabilities will be available for broad use across the U.S. Government and its global mission partners. "We are excited to expand our SBIR Phase III partnership with NGA and apply commercial innovation in machine learning and crowdsourcing to difficult national security problems," said Tony Frazier, President of Radiant Solutions. "We are fully committed to helping the NGA harness the massive potential of Commercial GEOINT to reveal insights where and when it matters to build a better world." Radiant Solutions has made several recent announcements that reveal how the company is applying Machine Learning and Crowdsourcing to Global GEOINT Missions: Maxar Technologies' Radiant Solutions Awarded Janus Geography Prime Contract by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Maxar Technologies' Radiant Solutions Partners with NGA to Accelerate Innovation in Machine Learning Technologies Applied to Satellite Imagery SpaceNet™ Team Earns the 2018 USGIF Industry Achievement Award The company will be showcasing a number of these capabilities at the NVIDIA GTC DC event Oct. 22-24. About Radiant Solutions Radiant Solutions provides highly specialized, innovative geospatial multisource data, analytics, software, and services to deliver critical insights and intelligence where and when it matters. Poised to transform how customers support global mapping and intelligence missions at scale, Radiant Solutions harnesses the proliferation of pervasive information-gathering sensors, open-source software, cloud computing, machine learning, and big data analytics. Our combined team of over 1,000 sensor and spacecraft engineers, geospatial analysts, developers, data scientists, and DevOps engineers delivers innovative geospatial solutions that keep our nation safe, protect critical infrastructure, and preserve scarce natural resources. Building on the legacy of MDA Information Systems, RadiantBlue, DigitalGlobe Intelligence Solutions, and HumanGeo, the newly combined Radiant Solutions has a strong track record with its advanced capabilities, open approach, and experience supporting missions that helps customers in the GEOINT community reach critical decisions faster and with greater accuracy. Radiant Solutions is based in Herndon, VA with major offices across Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Michigan, and Colorado. Radiant Solutions is a Maxar Technologies company (NYSE: MAXR; TSX: MAXR). For more information visit: www.RadiantSolutions.com. About Maxar As a global leader of advanced space technology solutions, Maxar Technologies (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates) is at the nexus of the new space economy, developing and sustaining the infrastructure and delivering the information, services, systems that unlock the promise of space for commercial and government markets. As a trusted partner, Maxar Technologies provides vertically-integrated capabilities and expertise including satellites, Earth imagery, robotics, geospatial data and analytics to help customers anticipate and address their most complex mission-critical challenges with confidence. With more than 6,500 employees in over 30 global locations, the Maxar Technologies portfolio of commercial space brands includes MDA, SSL, DigitalGlobe and Radiant Solutions. Every day, billions of people rely on Maxar to communicate, share information and data, and deliver insights that Build a Better World. Maxar trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange as MAXR. For more information, visit www.maxar.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements and other information included in this release constitute "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") under applicable securities laws. Statements including words such as "may", "will", "could", "should", "would", "plan", "potential", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate" or "expect" and other words, terms and phrases of similar meaning are often intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, expectations, projections, goals, forecasts, assumptions, risks and uncertainties, as well as other statements referring to or including forward-looking information included in this release. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in this release. As a result, although management of the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. The risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, the risk factors and other disclosures about the Company and its business included in the Company's continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time with Canadian and U.S. securities regulatory authorities, which are available online under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com, under the Company's EDGAR profile at www.sec.gov or on the Company's website at www.maxar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. All such forward-looking statements are based upon data available as of the date of this release or other specified date and speak only as of such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this release as a result of new information or future events, except as may be required under applicable securities legislation. Investor Relations Contact Jason Gursky Maxar Technologies 1-303-684-2207 jason.gursky@maxar.com Media Contact Andre Kearns Radiant Solutions 1-703-480-6290 andre.kearns@radiantsolutions.com SOURCE Maxar Technologies Ltd. https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/maxars-radiant-solutions-awarded-92-million-small-business-innovation-research-phase-iii-contract-by-the-national-geospatial-intelligence-agency-697898421.html
9 avril 2018 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Communiqué de presse De : Défense nationale Le 9 avril 2018 – Ottawa, Ontario – Défense nationale/Forces armées canadiennes La résolution de problèmes, la créativité et la connaissance sont nécessaires pour affronter et atténuer les menaces en constante évolution en matière de défense et de sécurité. Gr'ce à l'innovation, nous développerons et maintiendrons des capacités permettant de relever les défis liés à l'environnement mondial actuel de la sécurité. En vue de transformer notre manière de créer des solutions aux problèmes complexes de défense et de sécurité, le ministère de la Défense nationale (MDN) a lancé aujourd'hui son nouveau programme Innovation pour la défense, l'excellence et la sécurité (IDEeS). Annoncé en juin 2017 au moment de la diffusion de la politique de défense du Canada, Protection, Sécurité, Engagement, le programme IDEeS sera à l'origine d'investissements de 1,6 milliard de dollars dans le milieu canadien de l'innovation au cours des 20 prochaines années. Au moyen d'IDEeS, le MDN se tournera vers les esprits les plus novateurs et les plus créatifs du Canada, qu'il s'agisse d'inventeurs, d'universitaires qui travaillent dans les laboratoires de leur établissement ou de scientifiques attachés à des sociétés de petite ou de grande envergure. Ces penseurs novateurs fourniront aux praticiens des Forces armées canadiennes (FAC) et du Canada en matière de sûreté et de sécurité des solutions inédites aux problèmes d'aujourd'hui. Le programme IDEeS stimulera l'innovation au moyen d'une gamme d'activités, dont des compétitions, des concours, des réseaux et des bacs à sable pour la mise à l'essai de concepts sur le terrain. Le ministre Sajjan a lancé aujourd'hui son premier appel de propositions dans le cadre de l'élément des projets concurrentiels d'IDEeS, dans lequel seize problèmes en matière de défense et de sécurité ont été recensés. Les parties intéressées disposent de six semaines pour présenter leurs propositions de solutions, qui doivent être transmises au plus tard le 24 mai 2018. Cet appel de propositions aborde les difficultés dans certains domaines, comme la surveillance, les cyberoutils de défense, l'espace, l'intelligence artificielle, les systèmes de télépilotage, l'analytique des données et la performance humaine. Les propositions seront examinées et feront l'objet d'un processus d'évaluation rigoureux. Les premiers contrats devraient être attribués à l'automne 2018. Les innovateurs sont invités à consulter le site Web d'IDEeS pour obtenir de plus amples renseignements sur cet appel de propositions et sur les appels subséquents à mesure qu'IDEeS prendra forme. Citations « Le programme IDEeS présentera aux Canadiens des occasions inédites de faire valoir leurs meilleures solutions aux problèmes de défense et de sécurité et de placer ces solutions entre les mains des femmes et des hommes des Forces armées canadiennes. Cet investissement appuiera la croissance et l'épanouissement du milieu canadien de l'innovation au cours des deux prochaines décennies. » – Harjit S. Sajjan, ministre de la Défense nationale Faits en bref Gr'ce au programme IDEeS, la Défense nationale : créera des réseaux d'innovateurs (universitaires, industrie, particuliers et autres partenaires) pour mener des travaux de pointe en recherche et développement dans des domaines essentiels aux futurs besoins en défense et en sécurité; organisera des concours et invitera les innovateurs à présenter des solutions viables à des problèmes précis en matière de défense et de sécurité; instaurera de nouveaux rouages d'acquisition qui lui permettront d'élaborer et de mettre à l'épreuve des concepts, dans le cas des idées les plus prometteuses. Le programme IDEeS aidera les innovateurs en appuyant l'analyse, en finançant la recherche et en élaborant des processus pour faciliter l'accès à la connaissance. Il soutiendra également les tests, l'intégration, l'adoption et l'acquisition de solutions créatives pour les milieux canadiens de la défense et de la sécurité. Liens connexes Documentation – Programme Innovation pour la défense, l'excellence et la sécurité (IDEeS) Documentation – Le gouvernement du Canada lance un appel aux innovateurs pour résoudre des défis en matière de défense et de sécurité IDEeS Protection, Sécurité, Engagement Personnes-ressources Byrne Furlough Attaché de presse Cabinet du ministre de la Défense nationale Téléphone : 613-996-3100 Courriel : Byrne.Furlough@forces.gc.ca Relations avec les médias Ministère de la Défense nationale Téléphone : 613-996-2353 Courriel : mlo-blm@forces.gc.ca https://www.canada.ca/fr/ministere-defense-nationale/nouvelles/2018/04/la-defense-nationale-lance-son-programme-idees-visant-a-resoudre-les-defis-en-matiere-de-defense-et-de-securite-grace-a-linnovation.html