Canadian Army eyeing new weapons in response to lessons learned from Ukraine war

Sur le même sujet

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  17 juin 2019 | Local, Aérospatial, Sécurité, Autre défense

  Cybersécurité dans l'espace : investissement du gouvernement du Canada dans la technologie quantique

  Agence spatiale canadienne LONGUEUIL, QC, le 14 juin 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - Pour protéger l'économie numérique du Canada, il faut empêcher les pirates informatiques d'avoir accès aux données. La cybersécurité est une priorité du gouvernement du Canada. La mission satellitaire canadienne QEYSSat (pour Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite) aura recours à la technologie quantique pour protéger les télécommunications dans l'espace. L'Agence spatiale canadienne accorde un contrat de 30 millions de dollars à l'entreprise Honeywell pour la conception et toutes les étapes de la réalisation de la mission QEYSSat. Les méthodes de chiffrement actuelles devraient être dépassées d'ici une dizaine d'années à cause de la puissance de traitement exceptionnelle des ordinateurs quantiques. QEYSSat, dont le lancement est prévu pour 2022, fera la démonstration de la technologie de distribution quantique de clés (DQC) par satellite. Cette technologie de chiffrement en émergence offrira au Canadaune méthode encore plus efficace de sécuriser la transmission d'informations. Dans le cadre du contrat, l'entreprise Honeywell sera chargée des activités suivantes liées à QEYSSat : construction, tests, livraison, formation des opérateurs et mise en service. Le satellite servira de lien dans l'espace pour transmettre des clés de chiffrement entre les stations terrestres. Le travail de l'entreprise devrait se poursuivre jusqu'à la fin de 2022. La mission QEYSSat est le point culminant d'une série d'activités de recherche et de développement technologique réalisées par l'Institut d'informatique quantique avec le soutien du gouvernement du Canada. Gr'ce à QEYSSat, le Canada sera de plus en plus près de disposer d'un service de télécommunications quantique opérationnel dans l'espace et d'une technologie de pointe pour l'aider à respecter ses priorités en matière de cybersécurité. Les leçons tirées de la mission QEYSSat serviront au développement de futurs systèmes opérationnels pour le gouvernement qui assureront aux Canadiens un accès très sûr aux services. La sécurité renforcée autour des activités en ligne et des transactions financières de tous les jours, comme au guichet automatique bancaire, figure parmi les applications commerciales visées. En plus de respecter le principe de la sécurité de la Charte canadienne du numérique, cette mission s'inscrit dans le Plan pour l'innovation et les compétences et la nouvelle Stratégie spatiale pour le Canada du gouvernement du Canada puisqu'elle permettra de sécuriser les futures télécommunications et de renforcer la sécurité et la souveraineté nationales. Citation « La mission QEYSSat constitue une autre étape du plan de notre gouvernement de veiller à ce qu'au Canada, les citoyens soient sûrs que leurs données et leurs renseignements personnels sont protégés. Le développement de ces nouvelles technologies offrira aussi un grand potentiel de transformation des marchés et permettra d'établir une économie solide qui profitera à tous. » L'honorable Navdeep Bains, ministre de l'Innovation, des Sciences et du Développement économique En bref Les ordinateurs quantiques seront plusieurs millions de fois plus rapides que les ordinateurs actuels. Ils pourront donc déchiffrer rapidement les mots de passe, les numéros d'identification personnels et les autres mesures de protection actuelles, ce qui accroit la vulnérabilité des renseignements confidentiels et personnels. La technologie actuelle de distribution quantique de clés (DQC) nécessite des c'bles à fibres optiques au sol, où une clé ne peut être distribuée plus loin que 200 kilomètres. QEYSSat vise à démontrer la DQC entre un satellite et un réseau de stations terrestres, ce qui permettrait de surmonter cette limite de distance. En testant et en faisant la démonstration de la DQC dans l'espace, l'Agence spatiale canadienne veut fournir une plateforme spatiale gouvernementale aux intervenants fédéraux et au milieu scientifique canadien. Le budget de 2017 prévoit 80,9 millions de dollars pour l'Agence spatiale canadienne afin de soutenir la réalisation de nouveaux projets et l'utilisation d'innovations canadiennes dans l'espace, comme la mission QEYSSat de chiffrement et de science quantiques. La mission appuiera les capacités émergentes du Canada dans le domaine de la distribution quantique de clés, qui pourrait assurer la sécurité des télécommunications à l'aide de codes de chiffrement impossibles à pirater. La valeur du contrat (30 millions de dollars) ne comprend pas les taxes. https://www.newswire.ca/fr/news-releases/cybersecurite-dans-l-espace-investissement-du-gouvernement-du-canada-dans-la-technologie-quantique-884578930.html

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  4 mai 2020 | Local, Terrestre

  Liberals set to break promise to buy back ‘all’ assault weapons in Canada

  The Liberal government is walking back an election promise to buy back “all" military-style assault rifles in Canada, opting instead to allow current owners to sell their weapons to the government or to keep them under a grandfathering process, federal officials say. The measure is set to anger both sides of the gun-control debate, who are already polarized over the looming ban of a number of semi-automatic weapons. The partial buyback program is the latest example of the Liberal Party of Canada promising strict gun-control measures during an election and then backing off in government. Under grandfathering, new weapons sales will be stopped, but current owners will be allowed to keep their banned weapons at home under certain conditions. The broad details of the buyback program were provided by federal officials, whom The Globe and Mail is not identifying because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Alison de Groot, of the Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association, said a partial buyback program is “bad public policy” and doesn't make sense. “It is totally ineffective and a waste of taxpayer dollars,” she said. “Canadians will not be safer.” Nathalie Provost, who was hit by four bullets during the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in which 14 women died, said a partial buyback is another disappointment in her 30-year battle for gun control. She said she understands the logistical difficulties of a full buyback, but blamed the situation on a series of failures by successive governments to enact strong gun-control measures. She was particularly critical of the elimination in 2012 of much of the federal long-gun registry under the previous Harper government. “I'm so angry, you can't imagine,” said Ms. Provost, who is part of a gun-control group called Poly Remembers. As previously reported by The Globe, the federal government is implementing its election promise to ban military-style assault rifles in Canada. Federal officials said the government has adopted a list of nine weapons to be prohibited in Canada, including firearms such as the AR-15, the Ruger Mini-14 and the Beretta CX4 Storm that have been used in mass shootings, in Canada or abroad Provisional list of recommended prohibited firearms Estimated numbers in Canada M16, M4, AR-10, AR-15 Sandy Hook, New Zealand, Las Vegas, Orlando Mini-14 Polytechnique 83,570 16,860 M14 Moncton Swiss Arms Classic Green 5,230 1,340 Vz58 Quebec Mosque CZ Scorpion EVO 3 11,590 1,810 Beretta CX4 Storm Dawson College SIG MCX and SIG MPX 1,510 1,000 Robinson XCR Guns above 20 mm calibre 1,830 30 Guns with muzzle energy above 10,000 joules 600 MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: GOVERNMENT OF CANADA The ban, which has been made through a cabinet decision, is set to be announced and take effect shortly. The government expects that banning the nine platforms and their variants will scoop up close to 1,500 different models in the country, totalling tens of thousands of individual firearms. In addition to the nine platforms, prohibitions are expected to be placed on guns with a muzzle energy exceeding 10,000 joules, which would snare .50-calibre sniper rifles, and those with calibres in excess of 20 millimetres, a rare grade of firearm that includes some grenade launchers. “Those are the only two prohibitions that make sense,” said A.J. Somerset, author of Arms: The Culture and Credo of the Gun and a former gunnery instructor with the Canadian Forces. “They seek to ban things around specifications. Going after individual models perpetuates the same failed approach." Mr. Somerset said that prohibiting specific models resembles a push in the 1990s to crack down on semi-automatic assault-style rifles under then-prime minister Jean Chrétien. Rather than passing comprehensive legislation, the government of the day sought to stamp out “military-style assault weapons” by identifying gun models through order-in-council. According to RCMP briefing notes, the orders-in-council were intended to be updated continually as new guns arrived on the Canadian market. For the most part, that never happened and gun manufacturers easily switched production to firearm models that circumvented the regulations. “As soon as they prohibit one model, other models will become popular – it's whack-a-mole,” said Alan Voth, a gun forensics consultant and retired RCMP firearms analyst. Mr. Voth said the 1990s prohibitions made Canada's classification system so convoluted that regional RCMP forensics labs would often disagree with one another over how certain firearm models should be classified. The government eventually centralized classification duties in Ottawa, in part to overcome regional discrepancies. Unlike the coming ban on specific assault-style weapons, the buyback program, and further gun-control measures being prepared by Ottawa, will need to be enacted through new legislation and are only scheduled to take effect next year. It remains unclear how much the buyback program will cost, but Ms. de Groot said the Liberals “grossly underestimated” the cost when they provided a $250-million price tag during the election. In a statement, Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus accused the government of using the “immediate emotion” of a recent mass shooting in Nova Scotia to “make major policy changes” such as the ban on assault weapons. The NDP and the Bloc Québécois both said they support a ban of assault weapons. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended the timing of the ban on Thursday, explaining his government was nearly ready to introduce the gun-control measures when Parliament suspended its regular activities in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-liberals-set-to-break-promise-to-buy-back-all-assault-weapons-in/

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  1 octobre 2020 | Local, Naval, C4ISR, Autre défense

  Terrestrial Energy and L3Harris Technologies to Develop IMSR Generation IV Nuclear Power Plant Simulator

  GlobeNewswire OAKVILLE, Ontario and MONTREAL, Sept. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Terrestrial Energy has awarded L3Harris Technologies a contract to develop an engineering and operator training simulator for the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR®), a Generation IV nuclear power plant. The IMSR power plant simulator is being built at L3Harris' operation in Montreal, Quebec and will be delivered to Terrestrial Energy's Oakville, Ontario facility in 2021. It will provide Terrestrial Energy with a high-fidelity platform to simulate and visualize all major IMSR reactor and power plant functions. The simulator will support Terrestrial Energy's engineering activities and, subsequently, operator training as development moves to licensing and construction prior to plant commissioning. “We are applying our high-performance computing and reactor simulation capabilities to IMSR power plant development,” said Rangesh Kasturi, President, Maritime International, L3Harris. “This effort will result in Terrestrial Energy obtaining its first simulator for the IMSR power plant equipping its engineers with a dynamic, integrated and real-world tool to support IMSR deployment.” “L3Harris' simulator provides an extraordinary real-world experience of the IMSR power plant operation and performance. It supports our engineering activities, operator training programs and future IMSR deployments,” said Simon Irish, CEO of Terrestrial Energy. “This digital technology illustrates how high-performance computing enables Generation IV innovation capable of providing cost-competitive, reliable, resilient and clean electric power and industrial heat.” In addition to modeling and testing the integrated engineering simulator, L3Harris will provide its state-of-the-art Orchid® simulation environment and training to Terrestrial Energy for further simulator development. This aspect of the contract is a result of L3Harris' Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) commitments to Canada through its participation in the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) on the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships program with Irving Shipbuilding. “This investment in Terrestrial Energy is another example of the National Shipbuilding Strategy at work creating investment in people and businesses across the country to ensure Canadians are benefitting from coast to coast to coast,” said Kevin McCoy, President of Irving Shipbuilding. “Through the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship construction program and the Canadian Surface Combatant program, spending commitments to date have generated positive economic impacts for hundreds of businesses and organizations that are creating world-class innovation and research across the country.” The ITB commitment requires identifying new opportunities that benefit Canadian industry when any work is performed outside of Canada on the NSS. The ITB program ensures that 100 percent of the value of a significant defence contract is spent in Canada, and this creates a strong link between our naval programs and the creation of innovation in our energy sector. About Terrestrial Energy Terrestrial Energy is a developer of Generation IV advanced nuclear power plants that use its proprietary Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR®) technology. IMSR technology represents true innovation in cost reduction, versatility, and functionality of nuclear power plants. IMSR power plants will provide zero-carbon, reliable, dispatchable, cost-competitive electric power and high-grade industrial heat for use in many industrial applications, such as chemical synthesis and desalination, and in so doing extend the application of nuclear energy far beyond electric power markets. They have the potential to make important contributions to industrial competitiveness, energy security, and economic growth. Their deployment will support rapid global decarbonization of the primary energy system by displacing fossil fuel combustion across a broad spectrum. Using an innovative design, and proven and demonstrated molten salt reactor technology, Terrestrial Energy is engaged with regulators and industrial partners to complete IMSR engineering and to commission first IMSR power plants in the late 2020s. terrestrialenergy.com About L3Harris Technologies L3Harris Technologies is an agile global aerospace and defense technology innovator, delivering end-to-end solutions that meet customers' mission-critical needs. The company provides advanced defense and commercial technologies across air, land, sea, space and cyber domains. L3Harris has approximately $18 billion in annual revenue and 48,000 employees, with customers in more than 100 countries. https://financialpost.com/pmn/press-releases-pmn/globe-newswire-releases/terrestrial-energy-and-l3harris-technologies-to-develop-imsr-generation-iv-nuclear-power-plant-simulator