IDEaS announces more opportunities with the launch of its 3rd Innovation Networks call for proposals \\ Le programme IDEeS annonce plus d’opportunités avec le lancement de son 3e appel à propositions pour les résea

Sur le même sujet

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  13 mai 2019 | Local, Aérospatial

  Like it or not, the U.S. needs to be a key part of Canada’s next-gen jet procurement process

  ELINOR SLOAN, CONTRIBUTED TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL RICK BOWMER/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Elinor Sloan, professor of international relations in the department of political science at Carleton University, is a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. For a bid to buy a plane designed to cut quickly through the skies, Ottawa's pursuit of a future-generation fighter jet has been a long and torturous slog. In 1997, Jean Chrétien's Liberal government joined the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, a U.S.-led initiative conceived as a new way for allies to work together to design, develop and produce a fifth-generation fighter aircraft. In 2006, Ottawa signed a formal memorandum of understanding that gave Canada and the other eight partner nations the exclusive right to compete for contracts to produce such aircraft and, since 2007, Canadian companies have won more than US$1.3-billion in defence contracts related to the Joint Strike Fighter. With a production line that will be operating at full capacity starting this year, and is expected to produce about 10 times as many aircraft as exist today over the next few decades, this number promises to grow substantially. Meanwhile, Canada's nearly 40-year-old fleet of fighter jets – the CF-18s – continues to age. In 2010, the Harper government shelved its plan to sole-source buy the Joint Strike Fighter to replace them after a public outcry and a damning auditor-general's report that found significant weaknesses in the process used by the Department of National Defence. Then, when the Liberals took office in 2015 and promised an open and fair competition to replace the CF-18s, it also banned the F-35 from bidding – two contradictory positions. The Trudeau government quietly dropped that ban last year, and pre-qualified four companies to bid on a contract worth at least $15-billion: Sweden's Saab Gripen, Britain's Airbus Eurofighter, the U.S.'s Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet and, yes, Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. According to letters released last week, though, the U.S. government threatened to pull the Lockheed Martin F-35 from consideration last year over Ottawa's insistence that Canada receive industrial benefits from the winning bid. In response, Ottawa relaxed its requirement on Thursday: Where bidders once had to commit to spend 100 per cent of the value of the aircraft's acquisition and sustainment in Canada, bids will now only lose points in a three-category scoring system in the review process, instead. With such exhausting twists and incompatible statements, it's little surprise that it took three and a half years of the government's four-year mandate just to get to the formal request-for-proposal stage. But there is a way out of this morass: pursuing a back-to-basics focus on why we need this aircraft and what we need it to do. To do so, we must focus on the proposed jets' promised technical capabilities, which are paramount, and rightly weighted the highest of that three-category scoring system. The second category is cost, which of course is important to any government. The third is creating and sustaining a highly skilled work force within our own borders, a goal enshrined in Canada's industrial trade benefits (ITB) policy, which requires a winning bid to guarantee it will make investments in Canada equal to the value of the contract. Each bid is scored by these three categories, weighed 60-20-20, respectively. However, the Joint Strike Fighter program, which Canada has spent millions to join, does not fit neatly into the ITB policy. In those letters last year, the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin pointed out that Canada's ITB terms are inconsistent with – and indeed prohibited by – the memorandum of understanding Canada signed in 2006, which says partners cannot impose industrial compensation measures. The solution reached on Thursday allows that memorandum to be obeyed, but since Canada will still give higher grades to bids that follow its ITB policy, questions remain as to whether the playing field has really been levelled. All of this is important because of the growing competition between the major powers. Russian bombers and fighters, for example, are increasingly testing the boundaries of Canadian and U.S. airspace. More than ever, the focus needs to be interoperability with the United States, working together on NORAD and helping NATO allies in Europe. As a flying command-and-control platform, rather than a mere fighter, Canada's next-generation jet must work with the United States' most sophisticated systems, and include a seamless and secure communications capability – that is a critical and non-negotiable criterion. Indeed, as DND has said,the United States will need to certify the winning jet meets Washington's security standards. Some may question the federal government's decision to relax the ITB rules, and to grant this certification sign-off. But whatever Canada buys must be able to address threats to us and to our allies until well into the 2060s. Our relationship with the United States, both in terms of geopolitics and military technology, is crucial. Despite our trade tiff, the United States remains our most important strategic partner. Canada can either take an active part in our own security, or leave it to the United States. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-us-needs-to-be-a-key-part-of-canadas-next-gen-jet-procurement/

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  22 septembre 2022 | Local, Aérospatial

  De Havilland to build large manufacturing campus near Calgary to meet future production needs - Skies Mag

  The campus, to be called De Havilland Field, will feature an aircraft assembly facility, parts manufacturing and distribution centers, a maintenance repair and overhaul center, a runway, educational space to train a future workforce, and much more.

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  13 février 2019 | Local, Aérospatial

  Royal Canadian Air Force wants more than a few good pilots as it’s losing many of them to commercial jobs

  by Lee Berthiaume The Canadian Press OTTAWA — A shortage of experienced pilots is forcing the Royal Canadian Air Force to walk a delicate line between keeping enough seasoned aviators available to train new recruits and lead missions in the air. Air Force commander Lt.-Gen. Al Meinzinger described the balancing act during a recent interview in which he also revealed many pilots today are likely to have less experience than counterparts in similar positions 10 years ago. Much of the problem can be traced back to veteran aviators leaving for commercial jobs, or other opportunities outside the military, forcing senior commanders into a juggling act over where to put those still in uniform. "In order to (support) your training system ... you've got to pull experienced pilots into those positions, but you have to have experienced pilots on the squadrons to season the youth that are joining the units," he said. "So it's a bit of a delicate balance. And when you're in a situation where you don't have as much experience, broadly speaking, you've got to balance that very carefully. Hence the idea of retaining as much talent as we can." Fixing the problems created by the shortage will become especially critical if the Air Force is to be ready for the arrival of replacements for the CF-18s. Meinzinger said such transitions from one aircraft to another are particularly difficult — the RCAF needs to keep the same number of planes in the air to fly missions and have senior aviators train new pilots, while still sending seasoned pilots for training on the incoming fleet. "Ideally you want to go into those transitions very, very healthy with 100 per cent manning and more experience than you could ever imagine," Meinzinger said. While he is confident the military can address its pilot shortage in the next few years, especially when it comes to those responsible for manning Canada's fighter jets, the stakes to get it right are extremely high. The federal auditor general reported in November that the military doesn't have enough pilots and mechanics to fly and maintain the country's CF-18 fighter jets. Air Force officials revealed in September they were short 275 pilots and need more mechanics, sensor operators and other trained personnel across different aircraft fleets. There are concerns the deficit will get worse as a result of explosive growth predicted in the global commercial airline sector, which could pull many experienced military pilots out of uniform. "That's the expectation, that Canada will need an additional 7,000 to 8,000 pilots just to nourish the demands within the Canadian aerospace sector," Meinzinger said. "And we don't have the capacity as a nation to produce even half of that." Within the military, there also haven't been enough new pilots produced to replace those who have left. The auditor general found that while 40 fighter pilots recently left the Forces, only 30 new ones were trained. The military is working on a contract for a new training program that will let the Air Force increase the number of new pilots trained in a given year when necessary, as the current program allows only a fixed number to be produced. Meanwhile, Meinzinger said the loss of more seasoned pilots means others are being asked to take on more responsibility earlier in their careers, though he denied any significant impact on training or missions. He said the military is managing the situation through the use of new technology, such as simulators, to ensure the Air Force can still do its job. "There's no doubt commanding officers today in RCAF squadrons, they have probably less flying hours than they did 10 years ago," he said. "What that (commanding officer) has today is probably an exposure to 21st-century technology and training. So I think that certainly offsets the reduction of flying hours." Meinzinger and other top military commanders are nonetheless seized with the importance of keeping veteran pilots in uniform to ensure those climbing into the cockpit for the first time have someone to look to for guidance — now and in the future. New retention strategies are being rolled out that include better support for military families, increased certainty for pilots in terms of career progression and a concerted effort to keep them in the cockpit and away from desks and administrative work. Other militaries, notably the U.S., that are struggling with a shortage of pilots have introduced financial bonuses and other measures to stay in uniform. Meinzinger couldn't commit to such an initiative, but did say that "nothing is off the table." The situation may not represent an existential crisis, at least not yet, but officials know it is one that needs to be addressed if Canada's Air Force is to continue operating at top levels for the foreseeable future. "Experience is what allows us to (transfer knowledge) and grow for the future," Meinzinger said. "And that's why I talk about it as being kind of the centre of gravity. In the extreme, if you lose all your experience, you can't regenerate yourself." https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9169169-royal-canadian-air-force-wants-more-than-a-few-good-pilots-as-it-s-losing-many-of-them-to-commercial-jobs/