25 septembre 2018 | Local, Aérospatial

Germany looking to sell costly, rarely used drone to Canada

BERLIN — Germany is looking to sell a secondhand surveillance drone that has cost the country more than 700 million euros ($823 million) to Canada — without many core components it needs to fly.

A defense ministry reply to lawmakers from the opposition Left Party states that Germany has decided to "begin concrete negotiations with Canada for the sale of the Euro Hawk aircraft, two ground stations and possibly certain spare parts."

The government response, dated Sept. 19 and obtained by The Associated Press, adds that Germany isn't currently in talks with any other country or organization about the sale of the drone.

In a statement Monday, Germany's defense ministry confirmed talks with Canada were planned, but declined to comment on a possible sales price or date. Officials at the Canadian Embassy in Berlin weren't immediately able to comment.

Germany ordered the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk variant in 2000 to use for long-distance reconnaissance, but later canceled the order because of skyrocketing costs and revelations that the prototype wouldn't be certified to fly in Europe. Then-Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere acknowledged in 2013 that the drone was a write-off, telling lawmakers it was better to have a "horrible end than a horror without end."

Last year, the government acknowledged that the development and procurement of the prototype, a signals-intelligence sensor called "ISIS" and spare parts, and the completion of seven test flights had cost about 681 million euros since 2007. A further 24 million euros were spent on preparing for a resumption of temporary test flights.

According to the government's latest response to Left Party lawmakers, which hasn't been published yet, the drone has already been "demilitarized." This entailed the removal of American-made radio equipment, the GPS receiver and aerials, as well as all encryption and the flight control system. Rather than laboriously delete individual software components, technicians chose to perform a "hardware uninstallation" — removing all hard drives containing sensitive U.S.-made software.

"The question is what a buyer would do with such a gutted aircraft," said Thomas Wiegold, a German journalist who runs the defense website Augen Geradeaus . "Without GPS navigation and in particular without flight control systems, the drone would hardly be able to fly."

Andrej Hunko, one of the Left Party lawmakers who submitted questions to the government, said the drone now only has "scrap value."

"The sale will therefore recoup at best a small portion of the tax money spent," he said. "I expect the loss will amount to several hundred million euros (dollars)."

Hunko, whose party objects to airborne military surveillance, said the drone's ground stations might still fetch a market price.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/09/24/germany-looking-to-sell-costly-rarely-used-drone-to-canada

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20 octobre 2017 | Local, Aérospatial, C4ISR

Le gouvernement du Canada annonce les propositions retenues dans le cadre du Programme de science et technologie pour la connaissance de la situation dans tous les domaines
Le 20 octobre 2017 – Ottawa Le Programme de science et technologie pour la connaissance de la situation dans tous les domaines (CSTD) appuiera l'élaboration d'options, sur une période de cinq ans, pour améliorer la connaissance de la situation des voies d'approche aériennes, maritimes de surface et sous-marines du territoire canadien, particulièrement dans l'Arctique. Les solutions de surveillance examinées et retenues dans le cadre du Programme de science et technologie pour la CSTD renforceront la capacité du gouvernement du Canada à exercer sa souveraineté dans le Nord et offriront une meilleure connaissance des questions de sûreté et de sécurité ainsi que des activités commerciales et de transport dans l'Arctique canadien. Les contributions du Canada à la sécurité de la région arctique font également partie des relations canado-américaines en matière de défense. 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22 avril 2020 | Local, Aérospatial

COVID-19 latest hurdle in Canada's long road to buying new fighter jets
OTTAWA — COVID-19 is presenting another challenge to Canada's long-running and tumultuous effort to buy new fighter jets. The federal government last summer launched a long-awaited competition to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force's aging CF-18s with 88 new fighter jets at an estimated cost of $19 billion. The move followed a decade of controversy and mismanagement by various governments. The three companies still in the running are supposed to submit their bids at the end of June and, despite the pandemic, the federal procurement department insisted in an email to The Canadian Press that it still expects them to meet that deadline. The three companies vying for the lucrative contract are Lockheed Martin and Boeing from the U.S. and Sweden's Saab. Lockheed Martin builds the F-35 while Boeing is pitching its Super Hornet and Saab is offering its Gripen jet. Yet while representatives for the three companies say they are likewise plugging away at their respective proposals, a senior Boeing executive left the door open to asking the government for an extension as COVID-19 forces the company to adjust how it does business. "It's challenging, there's no question about it," Jim Barnes, the Boeing executive responsible for trying to sell the company's Super Hornet jet to Canada, said in an interview on Tuesday. "We want to make sure we put the most competitive offer on the table for the government of Canada to evaluate and we feel like we can put a very compelling offer. If we feel like we don't have time to finalize that competitive offer ... we would certainly ask for an extension." The government has already approved one extension to the competition since it was launched last July. Companies were supposed to submit their final bids at the end of March, but were given three more months after Saab asked for more time. Boeing continues to work closely with the U.S. government and navy on its bid and hopes to meet the current deadline, but Barnes said the pandemic has slowed things down as many staff work from home on a complex project with significant security considerations. "Then you have to take into consideration the health of your subject-matter experts in those areas where there are just a few people that can really work up those responses," he said. "Those kinds of things we're dealing with. I'm not sure if the other teams are dealing with that, but we are monitoring that and if we feel like we can't meet the deadline, we'll certainly consider an extension request as an option." Representatives for Lockheed Martin and Saab were more confident in being able to meet the current deadline. "Lockheed Martin remains prepared to provide a comprehensive proposal for Canada's future fighter capability project competition," Lockheed Martin Canada chief executive Lorraine Ben said in a statement. "We have not requested an extension of delivery for the FFCP preliminary proposal and we are excited to share more about the F-35's ability to strengthen and modernize defence, enhance ally partnerships and contribute to economic growth in Canada." Saab Canada president Simon Carroll expressed similar sentiments, saying in an interview that while there some challenges in preparing a bid during a pandemic, "we're certainly working towards that and are planning at this point in time to submit in accordance with that deadline." Yet there are also questions about the government's ability to move ahead on the project even if the companies do get their bids in on time, given the majority of federal employees are working at home. "Those submissions are going to have a combination of sensitive and classified information, and handling all that with a workforce, the majority of which is working from home, is going to be more difficult," said defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. "I think as a basic bottom line, it is completely illogical to think that the impacts of COVID-19 won't be running through the entire suite of defence procurements because you can't work as efficiently with a huge chunk of your workforce at home." This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2020. https://www.richmond-news.com/covid-19-latest-hurdle-in-canada-s-long-road-to-buying-new-fighter-jets-1.24121637

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