27 décembre 2023 | Local, Aérospatial
Delivery of Canada's F-35 fighter jets could be delayed — extra costs possible
Delivery of F-35 aircraft ordered by Canada and other allies could be delayed because of ongoing technical problems
14 septembre 2018 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR
Here’s why Canada’s defence industry is such an innovation powerhouse
In late 2011, the Department of National Defence decided that the rafts it was using to carry out search and rescue operations in open water were due for an update.
Part of DND's sea rescue kit, the new rafts needed to be compact and durable, but they also had to inflate reliably at temperatures as low as -50 C in the frozen expanses of Canada's North. If they didn't, lives could hang in the balance.
Enter Benoit Corbeil and his team at Tulmar Safety Systems, who found a way to create a light, durable raft that could be safely airdropped, and would inflate manually on the ice or automatically in water. With a fully enclosed canopy, those rescued can now be immediately sheltered from the cold wind and freezing ocean spray.
The responsibility to save lives is what drives people like Benoit and thousands of other Canadians working in the defence and security industries to continue creating innovative solutions to complex problems.
In my role as the head of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), I'm often struck by the sheer level of creativity and talent in our sector. But it shouldn't come as a surprise because we've been gathering evidence on this for a few years now.
Flexible, collaborative and fruitful
In May, CADSI – in partnership with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) and Statistics Canada – released the latest State of Canada's Defence Industry report. We found that defence and security companies were behind $400 million worth of research and development (R&D) in 2016, resulting in an R&D intensity close to 4.5 times higher than the Canadian manufacturing average.
Our members – now more than 900 of them across Canada – aren't doing this work in a vacuum, of course. They are collaborating with partners in academia, government and supply chains to push boundaries and develop brand new technologies.
DND's new Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) Program will help encourage even more of this type of cooperation, allocating $1.6 -billion over two decades to innovative solutions that address Canada's defence and security challenges. Sixteen initial challenges have been identified, and start-ups, SMEs, corporations and academics have all been invited to apply. The first contracts were awarded in August, with more coming in fall 2018.
But our industry's work is already having tangible, real-world impacts for average Canadians. In July, for instance, global satellite operator Telesat – a company headquartered right in Ottawa – launched the Telstar 19 VANTAGE. This powerful satellite will connect communities across Nunavut with faster and more reliable broadband, opening the territory to the world. We featured Telesat vice-president Michele Beck's contributions to this project in our My North, My Home campaign.
Full article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/heres-why-canadas-defence-industry-innovation-cianfarani/
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23 novembre 2018 | Local, Aérospatial
Norway’s experience with F-35 fighter jets offers lesson for Canada
By Levon Sevunts, Radio Canada International As the federal government embarks on a much delayed and criticized quest to find a replacement for its ageing fleet of CF-18 Hornet fighter jets, Norway's saga with the acquisition of F-35 stealth fighters offers Canada a valuable lesson. The search for a replacement for CF-18 got a new urgency Tuesday after a blistering report by Canada's auditor general, who lambasted the Liberal government's handling of the file that could have serious implications for Ottawa's ability to fulfill its NATO and NORAD obligations. Just like Ottawa, Oslo was one of the first NATO countries to show interest in the new stealth multirole fighters developed by U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin. In June 2009, the Norwegian Parliament decided that the F-35A Lightning II would replace its current fleet of F-16 fighter jets. Unlike Ottawa, despite strong internal opposition, Oslo saw things through. By 2025, Norway hopes to have a fleet of 52 F-35s. No-show at Trident Juncture demonstration Norwegian authorities were hoping to showcase their newest and most expensive defence acquisition in the country's history at a massive display of NATO's military might during the official launch of Trident Juncture 2018 exercise on Oct. 30. But much to the chagrin of dozens of journalists, NATO officials and dignitaries that had assembled on the shores of the Trondheim Fjord in central Norway to watch the display of land, sea and air power, the Norwegian F-35s never showed up. Lt.-Col. Stale Nymoen, commander of the 332 Squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force and one of the first Norwegian pilots to learn to fly the F-35s, said strong crosswinds at the Ørland Air Base forced officials to cancel the planned overflight. The cancellation of the overflight on an otherwise perfect autumn day had nothing to do with the jet's capabilities, Nymoen said. “Seen from my perspective, it's one of the best fighter aircraft out there,” Nymoen told a roomful of journalists during a briefing at the Ørland Air Base in central Norway earlier this month. But it has taken even experienced pilots like him years to learn to fly the new fighter jets and, just as importantly, unlearn old habits, Nymoen said. Learning to crawl before walking Norway received its first four F-35s in January of 2017. But all of them were stationed at the Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona, where Norwegian, U.S. and Italian pilots trained on the new aircraft. It wasn't until November of 2017 that the stealth fighter jets actually arrived for service in Norway, at the Ørland Air Base, which is going through a massive infrastructure upgrade to house the new planes. Operating and flying them in Norway with its harsh North Atlantic and Arctic climate is a whole new experience, Nymoen said. “What is different from Luke when we train to operate the aircraft here is temperatures, winter, icy and slippery runways, winds,” Nymoen said. “Those are conditions that we don't necessarily get to train for when we're training in the United States.” And the Norwegian air force is taking a very cautious approach to avoid any accidents, he said. “We have to learn to crawl before we can walk, and we have to learn to walk before we can run,” Nymoen said. The first squadron of F-35s is expected to reach initial operational capability in 2019 and full operational capability only in 2025, eight years after the aircraft were delivered to Norway. This timeline would also apply to Canada, if Lockheed Martin were to emerge as the winner of the competition to buy 98 advanced aircraft for the Royal Canadian Air Force announced by the Liberal government last December. The list of eligible suppliers identified by the federal government also includes France's Dassault Aviation, Sweden's SAAB, the U.K.'s Airbus Defense and Space, and the U.S. defence and aerospace giant Boeing. If the federal government manages to stick to its timetable, a contract award is anticipated in 2022 and the first replacement aircraft delivered in 2025. This means that the current fleet of Canadian CF-18s and the 18 additional second-hand Australian F-18s the federal government is buying as a stopgap measure will have to operate until at least 2030, experts say. http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2018/11/21/norway-f-35-fighter-jets-offers-lesson-for-canada