Federal government considering delaying acceptance of bids for new fighter jets

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  17 décembre 2020 | Local, Naval

  Top of the line Canadian-made naval equipment shut out of $70-billion warship program

  A spokeswoman says DND is “confident that we have competitively selected the best design to meet Canada's needs.” David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen Dec 16, 2020 • Last Updated 1 day ago • 6 minute read Canadian equipment that taxpayers spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop isn't being used on the country's new $70-billion fleet of warships because the consortium that won the bid selected its own affiliated companies and their foreign systems. A number of Canadian firms repeatedly tried to warn ministers and deputy ministers at the Department of National Defence, Public Services and Procurement Canada as well as Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada that they would be shut out of the Canadian Surface Combatant project, according to federal government documents obtained by this newspaper. Those concerns were ignored. Instead, Canada left it up to the winning consortium, in this case, the U.S.-controlled Lockheed Martin Canada and BAE of the United Kingdom to determine the equipment that would make up key components of the proposed 15-fleet Canadian Surface Combatant, or CSC fleet. By selecting the consortium's Type 26 warship design for the CSC, the Royal Canadian Navy automatically agreed to what Lockheed Martin had determined was the best equipment for it to use. In the last week, this newspaper has chronicled multiple issues with the CSC project, the most expensive military procurement in Canada's history. This newspaper reviewed thousands of pages of documents, obtained through sources and through the access to information law, to reveal how the CSC's budget has spiralled upward and upward and how government officials previously tried to block the cost of the project from becoming public. In an email, DND defended its choice that shut out inclusion on the CSC of Canadian-made propulsion systems, sonar and communication systems, as well as radar. The Canadian-based firms that build those systems employ hundreds of people in the high-tech sector. “By selecting the design, Canada has selected the associated equipment,” said DND spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande. She noted DND is “confident that we have competitively selected the best design to meet Canada's needs.” As a result, a radar built by Lockheed Martin in the U.S., which hasn't yet been certified for naval operations, will be installed on the CSC. Passed over was a state-of-the art naval radar developed with the help of Thales Canada in Nepean. Canadian taxpayers contributed $54 million to the development of that radar, which is now being used on German, Danish and Dutch warships. Also shut out of the CSC competition is SHINCOM, a naval communications system built by DRS Technologies of Ottawa and considered one of the top such systems in the world. SHINCOM is in service on other Royal Canadian Navy vessels as well as 150 warships of allied navies around the world, including Australia, the U.S., Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. It was originally developed for Canada's Halifax-class frigates and taxpayers have poured millions of dollars into its development. Also left on the sidelines was General Dynamic Mission Systems of Ottawa, Canada's top developer of anti-submarine warfare and sonar equipment. The firm has its systems on aircraft or warships of militaries in Canada, Japan, South Korea, Portugal and various South American nations. Top government officials and politicians were repeatedly warned key Canadian firms would be shut out of the CSC project. Steve Zuber, vice president of DRS Technologies, wrote on Aug. 31, 2016 to alert innovation minister Navdeep Bains that the way the CSC procurement was designed would work against Canadian firms. “The CSC procurement approach may actually disadvantage Canadian companies,” Zuber warned. “The current evaluation approach puts our world-class Canadian solutions at serious risk of not being selected for Canada.” At the heart of the matter was a procurement system that penalized bidders if they deviated too much from their original ship designs to accommodate Canadian equipment. In addition, no competitions were held for key components of the new warships, such as sonar, radar or communications systems. General Dynamics Missions Systems Canada also tried to warn government officials in November 2019 that the lack of competition shut out high-tech Canadian systems developed over the years with both private and tax dollars. Company vice president David Ibbetson told navy commander Vice Adm. Art McDonald, DND deputy minister Jody Thomas, PSPC deputy minister Bill Matthews and ISED deputy minister Simon Kennedy about the lack of competition on the CSC anti-submarine warfare systems. That resulted in a “largely foreign solution with only limited Canadian content,” he noted. The documents also show bureaucrats at ISED countering such concerns by pointing out that the CSC program will include equipment from other firms such as L-3 and CAE in Quebec and MDA in B.C. Lockheed Martin has also committed to invest in priority areas such as cybersecurity, clean technology and the marine sector, innovation minister Bains was told. But the federal government has declined to release other documents requested through access to information law about specifics of the industrial benefits and job creation plan linked to the CSC. There is concern by some in the country's defence industry that the Liberal government has put at risk existing Canadian high-tech jobs, developed and established in part by federal contracts and development money, in exchange for the promise by foreign companies to create new jobs in the future linked to the CSC. In addition, in November 2019, the Lockheed Martin Canada executive responsible for delivering on the industrial commitments admitted the system had major problems. Walt Nolan said the policy the Canadian government developed has prompted defence firms to significantly overcommit on the jobs and industry benefits they claim they can deliver on the CSC. But Lockheed Martin has significant support from the leadership of the Royal Canadian Navy, including Vice Adm. McDonald. In July, McDonald took to Twitter to promote the company and its SPY-7 radar, noting that such a system is critical to a warship's survival and how it performs on missions. “For these reasons, the Royal Canadian Navy is delighted that Canada's Combat Ship Team under Lockheed Martin Canada leadership will fit the SPY-7 in CSC,” wrote McDonald, in retweeting the company's press release about the radar. But McDonald's enthusiastic corporate plug left out some critical information, namely that the SPY-7 radar had never been installed on an actual warship. Less than a month before McDonald's tweet, Japan's government, which had been hoping to use SPY-7 radar for a land-based missile defence system, suspended the project. Japan cited technical issues and cost for the decision and is now trying to figure out what to do with the systems it has already paid for. Japan's military has suggested using the SPY-7 on new frigates but some of the country's lawmakers are trying to scuttle that plan. They are worried that Japan will pay significant development costs to get the radar ready for maritime use and since the U.S. Navy will use a completely different system there will be problems operating with a key ally. While the SPY-7 radar issue has been debated in Japan's legislature, Canadian politicians have been silent. Lockheed's rival, Raytheon, the firm which will provide the SPY-6 radar for the U.S. Navy, has made several presentations to the Liberal government. It tried to convince politicians and bureaucrats the Lockheed Martin system could become a money pit that would potentially put Canadian sailors at risk. Switching to SPY-6 would save Canada tens of millions of dollars as the U.S. Navy would finance future research into modernizing the radar to deal with new threats, federal officials were told. In addition, Raytheon pointed out that unlike the SPY-7, the testing of its radar, which included intercepts of targets, was completed in 2019. The U.S. Navy intends to install the system on 50 of its warships. But cabinet ministers and federal bureaucrats dismissed Raytheon's overtures as an attempt to reverse the CSC procurement process that had already been completed. Neither Lockheed Martin nor the DND could provide a date on when the SPY-7 will be ready for naval operations and certified for use on the CSC. But they noted the company is supposed to deliver the first radar system in 2025. “Once fully integrated into the CSC design, the SPY-7 will provide Canada the capabilities it needs to meet the operational and interoperability requirements of the Royal Canadian Navy well past the middle of this century,” added DND spokeswoman Lamirande. Responses from DND and Lockheed Martin to questions posed by this newspaper for this story were answered in nearly identical fashion. Canadian taxpayers will finance the development and testing of any of the radar requirements for the CSC. The cost of that, however, is not known at this point. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/top-of-the-line-canadian-made-naval-equipment-shut-out-of-70-billion-warship-program

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  6 avril 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Idled industrial plants seen as an untapped source of protective equipment for health workers

  Families of health workers in Quebec driving grassroots campaign to get pandemic equipment to hospitals Murray Brewster Guillaume Tardif, a soon-to-be-retired army tank officer, quietly but frantically combed the internet in January as coronavirus reports coming out of Wuhan, China became more alarming. Even then, he was convinced a viral storm was approaching and was determined to do everything possible to protect his wife, a Montreal emergency room physician — up to and including the purchase of reusable face masks. Tardif, a captain who served in Afghanistan, has been at the forefront of an unusual grassroots campaign in Quebec — driven by the families of frightened health care workers — to mobilize the provincial and federal governments to requisition industrially-certified respirators from idled industries and suppliers. He spent over $800 out of his own pocket to equip his wife with personal protective equipment (PPE) for the daily battle against coronavirus. "She's the love of my life," Tardif said in an interview. "She's the mother of my children and I'm going to make sure that I do everything possible for her to come home every night and us to get through this." (Staff at the hospital where his spouse works have been warned not to talk to the media and CBC News has agreed not to publish Tardif's wife name, or the name of the facility where she works.) Tapping into industrial supplies Other families in the medical community have followed Tardif's lead by buying up large stocks of industrial masks and respirators locally, and donating them. Earlier this week, the federal government announced an ambitious $2 billion plan to swiftly increase the stock of personal protective equipment for frontline health-care workers caring for critically-ill and dying patients. Quebec Premier François Legault said Tuesday the province has three to four days before it runs out of some personal protective equipment (PPE), but that the province has orders that are expected to arrive in the coming days. The province went through a year's worth of PPE in a matter of weeks because of the surge in COVID-19 cases. The question of whether the federal stockpile of equipment is adequate has been on federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu's mind. "No we likely do not have enough," she told the daily media briefing Wednesday. "I think federal governments for decades have been underfunding things like public health preparedness and I would say that obviously governments all across the world are in the same exact situation." In all likelihood, it will be weeks before suppliers, old and new, can ramp up production of vital equipment such as medically-certified N95 masks, which many doctors and nurses throughout the country are being forced to ration and reuse. Tardif argues there is a large alternative supply of identical industrial-grade masks and respirators that can be requisitioned by the federal government and the provinces in the meantime. "We need to take every chance to avoid running out of PPE and in my opinion that involves requisitioning every device that's out there," he said. It's a good idea, says doctor Dr. Andrew Willmore, medical director of emergency management at the Ottawa Hospital, said having the provinces or the federal government coordinate the collection of industrial protective equipment is a very good idea. "I think it's absolutely useful," Willmore said. "I think it's a very important role, both federal and provincial, to be able to enact the appropriate legislative measures by which they can really dig down into industry and create a pool of resources that can be distributed equitably in a way that supports the health care system as a whole." Both 3M, the manufacturer of the N95, and Health Canada have said industrial masks — the kind used in construction, factories and paint shops, where fumes are a problem — are a suitable emergency substitute. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that major shipments of protective equipment, including millions of masks, have started to arrive — one shipment landed on Wednesday — and federal officials are in the process of conducting inventory and getting the equipment out to the provinces. "We will be there to support the provinces and territories with whatever they need," he said during his daily media briefing. "This includes sending personal protective equipment and other supports for the health care system." The shortage of protective equipment for hospital staff was to be the subject of a teleconference between Trudeau and the premiers Thursday night. Willmore said the Ottawa Hospital has reached out to some local businesses in the hopes of laying its hands on an industrial supply. In other parts of the country, major industrial concerns have stepped forward. Honda Canada donated 1,200 masks to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie, Ont., and a further 1,000 and 40,000 pairs of gloves to the Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston, Ont. 'A single point of failure' Tardif said his research suggests that's a fraction of the industrial stock across the country and it's the federal government's responsibility to step in and coordinate a nationwide drive. Shortages of protective equipment for health care staff in a pandemic create "a single point of failure" for the whole system because it either puts doctors, nurses and technicians in danger or leaves them unable to provide care, Willmore said, adding that "the highest levels of government" need to engage with the problem. It has been suggested that giving health care staff reusable respirators, such as the 3M-manufactured 6000, would help cut down on the use of disposable masks. Willmore said that depends on the environment and the patient being treated, noting that there's a danger involved in overusing some equipment. Cost and availability are other factors. "These are expensive pieces of equipment and they're difficult to source, especially since there's been a pull to purchase such equipment," he said. "It's certainly effective but there are practical limitations." https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid-coronavirus-pandemic-masks-respirators-1.5518401

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  9 août 2019 | Local, Aérospatial

  Canadian, U.S. military leaders agree on framework to retool Norad

  By Murray Brewster Military leaders from the U.S. and Canada have come to an agreement on the nuts and bolts retooling of Norad, CBC News has learned. It is a milestone that could end up pitting the next government in Ottawa against both the Trump administration and perhaps even northern Indigenous communities at home. Now over six decades old, the bi-national air and maritime defence command — and its associated airfields, radar stations and satellite network — has been in need of a major overhaul in the face of emerging threats, such as North Korean ballistic missiles and rapidly advancing cruise missile technology. Word of the understanding comes as two Canadian CF-18s and two American F-22 Raptors intercepted two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers, which pressed close to North American airspace, on Thursday. The agreement of "what's in and what's out" of the new North American Aerospace Defence Command was struck a few months ago, said a defence source in Ottawa, who was granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. Separately, the Canadian general who is the deputy commander of Norad confirmed the two countries are on the same page when it comes to the new framework needed to defend the continent, but cautioned there is still a lot of work and negotiation ahead over capabilities and what is affordable. "We have established the operational requirements," Lt.-Gen. Christopher Coates in an interview with CBC News. A bi-national panel is examining the specifications and make recommendations to both the Pentagon and the Department of National Defence in Ottawa. Eventually, Coates said, each government will have to "determine whether or not those capabilities will be provided — or some other option" will be pursued. And that is where things could potentially get messy, according to defence experts. James Fergusson, of the University of Manitoba, one of the pre-eminent researchers on Norad, said the price tag will be substantial. Replacing the North Warning System chain of radar stations, alone, could cost as much as $11 billion, he said. The Liberal government has made much of saying its defence plans are fully costed, but it deliberately did not include the calculation for Norad modernization in its policy. There will have to be some negotiation with Washington, even though the cost sharing formula (60-40 split between the U.S. and Canada) has long been established. Steve Saideman, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, said he can't see any Canadian government being anxious to open negotiations with the Trump administration, regardless of how long standing the arrangements might be. U.S. President Donald Trump has long complained American allies do not pay their fair share of costs for the NATO alliance, and Saideman said it is not beyond the realm of possibility that government-to-government technical negotiations over Norad could devolve. Fergusson disagreed. If they argue over money, he said, it will likely involve environmental cleanup costs related to the existing, remote north warning radar stations. When Norad abandoned its first chain of early warning sites — known as the DEW line — in 1993, the cleanup took 21 years and Canada was stuck with the $575 million bill. More problematic, as far as Fergusson is concerned, is whether Norad's proposed new capabilities will affect northern indigenous communities, which — unlike the past — will rightfully expect to be consulted and have a say over what the military does with the land. "When they [the Canadian and U.S. military] go up there in Northern Canada, now, they can't simply ignore the Indigenous people," said Fergusson, "And that's a political issue." https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/norad-canada-us-military-1.5240855