24 septembre 2018 | Local, Aérospatial

Canadian military ditches plan to paint new search-and-rescue planes grey, will stick with familiar yellow

Canada's military has reversed its plan to abandon the familiar yellow paint scheme for the country's new search-and-rescue planes after debate within the ranks over the aircraft's need to be visible on such missions.

The new fleet of 16 Airbus C-295W planes will replace the main Royal Canadian Air Force search-and-rescue fleet of Buffalo aircraft as well as the Hercules transport planes which are also used at times in a search-and-rescue role. Postmedia reported last year that RCAF leadership had requested the new planes be painted tactical grey, asking for a change to the original contract which had stipulated the familiar yellow colour scheme, because they wanted the aircraft to be available for other missions, including combat.

But the move to the grey paint scheme has now been reversed. “While there was, last year, a stated interest in painting the C-295W grey, a decision was made following further consultation to maintain the iconic yellow colour scheme of the RCAF's current SAR fleet, such as the Buffalo, Twin Otter, Cormorant and Griffon,” the Department of National Defence said in a statement Wednesday. “This colour, which provides a higher level of visibility and recognition in the ground and the air, is also widely known by Canadians — especially those who might find themselves in a situation requiring our aid.”

Asked last year about the plan to ditch the yellow paint scheme, the Forces said in a statement to Postmedia that “the RCAF has made the decision to use a grey colour scheme for the C-295W fleet to enable surging flexibility for the very wide range of missions the RCAF is required to conduct, from humanitarian and disaster relief missions, to security missions with partners, and all the way to full spectrum operations.”

Military sources said RCAF leadership wanted to redirect some of the planes for use on international missions instead of search-and-rescue. But that unilateral decision sparked heated debate inside the military and DND and, sources said, the air force was forced to abandon its plans.

When the federal government awarded the contract to Airbus in December 2016, cabinet ministers highlighted the importance of having the right aircraft for the search-and-rescue job. “With this technology, we are giving our women and men in uniform the tools they need to continue to deliver effective and essential search and rescue operations,” defence minister Harjit Sajjan said at the time.

Construction of the first aircraft began in 2017 and the first new planes are expected to be delivered in 2019. They are outfitted with sensors that allow RCAF personnel to share real-time information with searchers on the ground. Equipment also includes sensors for searching in low-light conditions. A centre, equipped with simulators, is being built at Comox, B.C. to support training for the air crews.

The RCAF's Buffalo and Hercules aircraft assigned to search and rescue perform more than 350 missions annually, according to the Canadian Forces. The Canadian military is responsible for providing aeronautical search and rescue operations.

But the project to purchase the new planes has faced a rough road over the years. The competition was announced in 2004 by the then-Liberal government and re-announced by the Conservative government in 2006. But it took another decade before it could be completed and Airbus declared the winning company.

Even then, Leonardo, an Italian aerospace firm, launched a lawsuit against Canada over what it claimed was a rigged purchase that favoured Airbus.

That lawsuit was dropped earlier this year, shortly before the federal government awarded Leonardo a new sole-source deal potentially worth billions of dollars to upgrade Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopters.

Officials with the Canadian Forces and Leonardo say the ending of the legal action in May had nothing to do with the company being picked for the new project the same month.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canadian-military-ditches-plan-to-paint-new-search-and-rescue-planes-grey-will-stick-with-familiar-yellow

Sur le même sujet

21 mars 2023 | Local, Autre défense

La ministre Anand annonce un investissement de 1,4 milliard de dollars pour la modernisation des infrastructures du Centre d’entraînement de Dwyer Hill
Le 21 mars 2023 – Ottawa (Ontario) – Défense nationale/Forces armées canadiennes Créée en 1993, la 2e Force opérationnelle interarmées (FOI 2) est une unité des forces d’opérations spéciales d’une disponibilité opérationnelle et d’une précision extrêmement élevées. La FOI 2, basée au Centre d’entraînement de Dwyer Hill dans la région de la capitale nationale, a pour mission de protéger les intérêts nationaux canadiens et de lutter contre le terrorisme et les menaces envers les Canadiens et les Canadiennes au pays et à l’étranger. L’honorable Anita Anand, ministre de la Défense nationale, a annoncé aujourd’hui un projet d’infrastructure de 1,4 milliard de dollars visant à moderniser les installations des Forces d’opérations spéciales au Centre d’entraînement de Dwyer Hill à Ottawa. Ce projet de construction d’une durée de dix ans prévoit un espace d’une superficie de plus de 100 000 m2 spécialement construit pour répondre aux besoins à long terme de la FOI 2 en matière d’opérations à haut niveau de préparation, d’instruction et de croissance. Les travaux comprennent notamment : · le remplacement de 89 structures vieillissantes et temporaires par 23 nouvelles installations; · la rénovation de sept bâtiments; · l’amélioration des services publics du site. Environ 2 000 emplois seront créés tout au long de ce projet, et de 250 à 300 personnes travailleront sur le site pendant les périodes de pointe des travaux de construction. Les travaux devraient commencer en mai 2023. L’unité poursuivra ses activités de formation et ses opérations sur place pendant la durée de ces travaux. Ce projet comprendra plus de 150 contrats de sous‑traitance afin d’offrir aux entrepreneurs locaux et aux petits entrepreneurs davantage de possibilités de soumissionner pour des travaux. Cinq pour cent de la valeur de tous les contrats sont destinés à être attribués à des entreprises autochtones afin de créer des retombées économiques pour les peuples autochtones. Les nouvelles installations présenteront une consommation d’énergie nette zéro et seront construites de façon à respecter les normes de conception de la cote de niveau 2 du programme Green Globes en matière d’efficacité énergétique et environnementale. Ce projet nous aidera à réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre dans les bâtiments de la Défense et contribuera à l’objectif du gouvernement fédéral d’atteindre zéro émission nette d’ici 2050. Les bâtiments neufs ou rénovés comprendront des espaces de bureau modernes, des zones d’opérations et des ateliers techniques, ainsi qu’un nouveau champ de tir, des salles d’entraînement, des entrepôts, des installations médicales, des logements, un système de contrôle d’accès, une cuisine, un mess, et des espaces d’entreposage pour les munitions, l’équipement et les véhicules. Cet investissement témoigne de notre engagement à fournir aux membres des Forces armées canadiennes des infrastructures fonctionnelles, modernes et écologiques dans lesquelles ils peuvent travailler et s’entraîner. Comme l’indique la politique de défense du Canada Protection, Sécurité, Engagement, les investissements dans les infrastructures essentielles permettent d’accroître les capacités militaires tout en contribuant à réduire l’empreinte carbone du gouvernement. Citations « Les membres du personnel des forces spéciales risquent leur vie pour assurer la sécurité des Canadiens, et nous sommes déterminés à leur offrir les outils et la formation dont ils ont besoin pour rester prêts. Ce projet fera plus que doubler la superficie actuelle des espaces de travail et d’entraînement de l’unité grâce à des installations modernes et écologiques, et offrira des possibilités économiques considérables pour les entreprises et les travailleurs locaux dans la région de la capitale nationale. Que ce soit au pays ou à l’étranger, les membres de nos forces spéciales font d’énormes sacrifices pour défendre le Canada, et nous les remercions de leur service pour notre pays. » - L’honorable Anita Anand, ministre de la Défense nationale « Le Commandement des Forces d’opérations spéciales du Canada se réjouit de voir ce projet d’infrastructure aller de l’avant. Un centre d’entraînement moderne et amélioré spécialement aménagé permettra à nos militaires d’être prêts à soutenir les efforts du Canada visant à répondre à toute une gamme de menaces complexes, maintenant et dans le futur. » - Le major‑général Steve Boivin, commandant du Commandement des Forces d’opérations spéciales du Canada Faits en bref Le contrat de gestion des travaux de construction a été attribué à EllisDon Corporation, de Mississauga, en Ontario, qui lancera les appels d’offres pour tous les contrats de sous‑traitance et supervisera les travaux. La FOI 2 est une unité du Commandement des Forces d’opérations spéciales du Canada. Elle fournit des capacités de haut niveau qui protègent les Canadiens contre les menaces à la sécurité au pays et à l’étranger. Liens connexes Deuxième Force opérationnelle interarmées Commandement des Forces d’opérations spéciales du Canada https://www.canada.ca/fr/ministere-defense-nationale/nouvelles/2023/03/la-ministre-anand-annonce-un-investissement-de-14-milliard-de-dollars-pour-la-modernisation-des-infrastructures-du-centre-dentrainement-de-dwyer-hill.html
18 février 2024 | Local, Terrestre

Les contrats militaires continueront de plomber CAE, met en garde son patron
Les actionnaires de CAE devront patienter encore quelques trimestres avant que ses anciens contrats militaires à prix fixe cessent de gruger ses marges. Les investisseurs ont mal accueilli la nouvelle, alors que l’action a perdu près de 10 %.
18 janvier 2018 | Local, Aérospatial

U.S. isn’t worrying about Canada and missile defence, says Obama adviser
By Tim Naumetz. Published on Jan 11, 2018 4:49pm Canadians don't have to wring their hands over whether the country should sign on to the U.S. ballistic missile defence system, says a former top defence adviser to President Barack Obama. Washington is paying more attention to bigger Canadian defence issues such as the long-delayed acquisition of a fleet of new modern fighter jets, Lindsay Rodman, former director of defence policy and strategy for Obama's National Security Council, said in a Canadian interview streamed earlier this week. Rodman, a temporary U.S. expatriate who now is an international affairs fellow at the University of Ottawa, said in a podcast interview with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute that the missile defence question is not a major issue in U.S. military and security circles. “The question of ballistic missile defence has been really surprising to me since I came to Canada a little over a year ago now,” Rodman said in the interview with Global Affairs institute vice-president David Perry. “It is just not on the forefront of anyone's mind in the United States, but it is one of the first things that any Canadian wants to talk to you about the U.S. American alliance,” said Rodman, an attorney who also served in the Pentagon as Obama's senior adviser for international humanitarian policy. “The U.S. is much more concerned with just making sure that NORAD is healthy, that the NATO alliance is healthy, that our homeland defence is being well supported, and we know that we don't depend on Canada for ballistic missile defence. “We do depend on Canada's fighter capability in terms of how we've planned our North American defence, so making good on the promises that Canada has made is going to be more important than new promises that Canada could make in the future, which would be something like ballistic defence.” The Global Affairs Institute offered the podcast up earlier this week, but the interview was recorded on Dec. 18, the same day U.S. President Donald Trump released his administration's first national security strategy. It was only two years after President Obama released his second national security strategy, which Rodman said should have been in place for four years under the normal U.S. four-year cycle for renewing national security and military strategies. While explaining U.S. views on Canadian defence positions — particularly the first Canadian defence strategy released by the Trudeau government last June — Rodman told Perry that while Canada's overarching defence positions have rarely diverged after a change of government, Trudeau's new personal and political approaches to Canada's role in the world may have made a difference. “I would say that Justin Trudeau, just by nature of his international sort of celebrity status, brought a new cachet to Canada, and that's pretty useful,” she said. “Certainly, being in Canada now and learning the ins and outs about the political system a little bit more, I can appreciate the nuances in Canada's position much better.” Canada's new defence policy specifically ruled out Canadian involvement in U.S. ballistic missile defence, even after the topic had been raised multiple times in four months of cross-country consultations that preceded the defence review in 2016. Still, by last December, even Trudeau signalled that the government has not yet ruled the possibility out, and several military experts have advocated Canada's participation in a series of House of Commons and Senate committee hearings. “For a very close ally like Canada, the most important thing is interoperability,” said Rodman. “We not only depend on Canada to potentially help us out in the world, but in terms of our homeland defence there's no one we depend more on than Canada. We really need everything to be interoperable.” The most important question facing the government as it slowly moves toward a 2025 target for acquiring a fleet of 88 new fighter jets could be how the most sophisticated warplane in the world — the Lockheed Martin F-35 strike fighter — fares as it goes through a competition that will decide which aircraft Canada will buy. Interoperability with U.S. warplanes has been a central part of the argument favouring the F-35 acquisition for Canada. https://ipolitics.ca/2018/01/11/u-s-isnt-worrying-canada-missile-defence-says-obama-adviser/

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