Modernization of military surveillance aircraft fleet delayed as $52 million more needed for project

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  22 juin 2018 | Local, Aérospatial

  Aerospace firm drops lawsuit against DND as defence officials award it multibillion-dollar contract

  David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen An Italian aerospace firm dropped a lawsuit against Canada over what it claimed was a rigged aircraft purchase shortly before the federal government awarded it a new sole-source deal potentially worth billions of dollars. But the Canadian Forces and officials with Italian defence company, Leonardo, say the ending of the legal action in May had nothing to do with the company being picked for a new project the same month. Leonardo has been selected by the Royal Canadian Air Force to upgrade its Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopters and provide seven additional aircraft. It is estimated the project will cost taxpayers between $1 billion and $5 billion, a price tag that includes the purchase of simulators and support equipment. Leonardo had been fighting the Canadian government in Federal Court over its 2016 decision to award its rival, Airbus, a contract to build fixed-wing search-and-rescue planes as part of a $4.7-billion program. The company was asking the court to overturn the contract to Airbus and instead award the lucrative deal to Leonardo and its Canadian partners. It alleged the Airbus aircraft failed to meet the government's basic criteria. But that legal action was stopped in May just as the Canadian government was awarding Leonardo the new helicopter deal. The Department of National Defence suggested the decision to drop the lawsuit was not related to its decision to select Leonardo for the sole-source deal. “The Government of Canada's priority is to select a best-value package for the Cormorant Mid-Life Upgrade,” the DND noted in an email. “Decisions related to this procurement were made based on consultations with industry and our subject matter experts and follow standard procurement reviews.” But the sole-source deal to Leonardo caught the aerospace industry by surprise. The RCAF had asked companies just last year for informal proposals on how Canada's future search and rescue helicopter needs could be met. One firm, Sikorsky, went as far as launching a campaign to promote its civilian S-92 helicopter as a cost-effective solution. It proposed that it was cheaper to buy new helicopters than to upgrade the older Cormorants. The federal government acknowledged that it has now received correspondence from aerospace firms raising issues about the sole-source deal with Leonardo. “We have received some responses,” Pierre-Alain Bujold, a spokesman for Public Services and Procurement Canada, stated in an email. “PSPC officials are currently reviewing the responses, in collaboration with the Department of National Defence and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.” “Once this review is complete, officials will determine appropriate next steps and inform respondents accordingly,” Bujold added. But defence industry insiders say the review is simply for the sake of appearances and it is expected the deal with Leonardo will proceed. Leonardo officials said their decision to drop the lawsuit was made in April but it took until the next month before that process could be completed. The Cormorant fleet entered service in the year 2000 and the modernization would allow the helicopters to operate for another 25 years at least. One of Leonardo's subsidiaries was the original manufacturer of the Cormorants. The decision to sole-source the deal moved through the federal system quickly. On April 20, RCAF spokesman Maj. Scott Spurr stated the air force was still examining options on how to proceed and that the next phase of the project wouldn't come until 2019. But on May 24 the Canadian government announced it had decided to go with Leonardo on the exclusive deal. Department of National Defence officials say it was determined that it was more cost effective to stay with the Cormorant fleet as it is a proven aircraft the RCAF knows well. The upgrade program is expected to include the latest avionic and mission systems, advanced radars and sensors, vision enhancement and tracking systems. http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/aerospace-firm-drops-lawsuit-against-dnd-as-defence-officials-award-it-multibillion-dollar-contract

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  2 octobre 2019 | Local, Aérospatial

  Pratt and Whitney awarded $2.19B for F-35 engines

  BySommer Brokaw Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Pratt & Whitney has been awarded more than $2 billion in a contract modification to a previously awarded contract for F-35 strike fighter jet propulsion system. The $2.1B contract, announced Monday by the Department of Defense, calls for the production and delivery of F135 propulsion systems for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jet, including 112 F135-PW-100s for the Air Force, 46 F135-PW-600s for the Marine Corps, and 25 F-135-PW-100s for the Navy. The company also will deliver non-U.S. Department of Defense participants and foreign military sales customers with long lead components, parts and materials associated with 129 F135-PW-100s and 19 F135-PW-600s propulsion systems under the contract modification. Work will be performed mostly in East Hartford, Conn., where Pratt and Whitney, a division of United Technologies, is based, and remaining work will be performed in Indianapolis, Ind., and Bristol, Britain. Work on the contract is expected to be finished in February 2023. Pratt & Whitney has been chronically late in delivering engines for the F-35 program and was placed under a previously unreported "Corrective Action Request" last year by the the Defense Contract Management Agency, citing "poor delivery performance" for a batch of engines. Mark Woodbury, DCMA spokesman, said at the time that the company needed to demonstrate that it has delivered on its promise to solve the problems that led to DCMA's request for action. The $428 billion F-35 program is expected next year to enter full-rate production, which is the most lucrative phase of weapons program for contractors. A source close to the program told Military.com the fighter jet will not complete its already-delayed formal operational test phase this fall because of a setback in the testing process. The setback involved an unfinished phase of Joint Simulation Environment, according to the source. The JSE projects weather, geography and range, allowing test pilots to prove the aircraft's "full capabilities against the full range of required threats and scenarios," according to a 2015 Director, Operational Test & Evaluation report. Pratt & Whitney was awarded a $3.4 billion contract in June for F-35 engines, in that case 233 propulsion systems, more than half of which are for foreign military sales customers and non-Department of Defense participants in the program. The F-35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft with a range of more than 1,350 miles with internal fuel, according to the U.S. Air Force. It was introduced to the Air Force in 2016. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2019/10/01/Pratt-and-Whitney-awarded-219B-for-F-35-engines/7751569946503/

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  7 décembre 2018 | Local, Aérospatial

  Senate committee outlines recommendations for Canadian SAR

  by Ken Pole As the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) gears up for the late 2019 arrival of the first of 16 new Airbus CC-295 fixed-wing search and rescue (FWSAR) aircraft, a Senate committee said the government should consider the deployment of even more search and rescue (SAR) aircraft. “This would be a multi-year, mega-government dollar capital procurement project,” the Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans acknowledged in an exhaustive new report, When Every Minute Counts: Maritime Search and Rescue. “Repositioning current aeronautical SAR assets is not feasible . . . at this time because the fleet is fully utilized.” The November 2018 report is based on more than two years of study and hearings, which wrapped up in October. While most witnesses were heard in Ottawa — including senior RCAF, Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and Transport Canada officials, as well as representatives of several industries — the committee also travelled to bases across the country as well as visiting officials and SAR facilities in England, Ireland, Norway and Denmark. RCAF fixed- and rotary-wing assets are a key element in covering nearly 18 million square kilometres of land and sea. In 2017, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centres in Victoria, Trenton and Halifax responded to 10,003 SAR calls, 62 per cent of them maritime. The committee predicts that the number of calls in the Arctic will increase as global warming results in a longer ice-free navigation period. Accordingly, the report recommends that the CCG establish additional primary search and rescue stations in the Canadian Arctic, where no SAR aircraft are currently based. It also calls on the Department of National Defence (DND) to authorize a pilot project which would see private civilian helicopters provide coverage in the North as well as in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the committee says “a disproportionately high number” of SAR incidents occur. In addition to the possible privatization of some missions (CHC Helicopter and Cougar Helicopters Inc. appeared before the committee), the committee also said the CCG should be an independent agency. “The Canadian Coast Guard . . . is hampered by its position within Fisheries and Oceans Canada, which leaves it at the mercy of the department for funding and prevents it from receiving long-term sustainable capital funding.” SAR reaction times were also an issue for the committee. It was told that the CCG's official time is 30 minutes from when a helicopter or ship is tasked until it departs, but that it usually takes less than 15 minutes in the case of a surface vessel, because they are probably on the water already. In comparison, the RCAF has a reaction time of 30 minutes during a typical eight-hour working day five days a week, and two hours at all other times. “Like the CCG vessels, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) crews are often airborne sooner than the targeted reaction time, around 20 minutes during working hours and one hour outside of working hours,” the committee notes. “However, there was considerable discussion regarding what witnesses called the CAF's ‘two-tier reaction time.' It was stressed that the two-hour reaction time guaranteed outside of working hours had . . . resulted in missions becoming recovery-oriented instead of rescue-oriented. In their view, the CAF should have a reaction time of 30 minutes, 24/7/365, like the CCG.” DND witnesses told the committee the concern had been addressed “to the extent possible” and it was the responsibility of SAR commanders in the three regions to align the 30-minute reaction time to coincide with the observed periods of greatest maritime SAR activity. “Overall, the committee was told that shifting the regular weekly schedules without increasing the total number of hours worked has improved readiness.” It also was told it was impossible for the RCAF to maintain 30-minute readiness at all times because “pilots and SAR aircrew members have a limit on how long they can engage in flying operations.” Sustaining a 30-minute target would require crews to remain poised on flight lines. “The two-hour reaction time allows the pilots and aircrews to be ‘fresh' and able to deliver a SAR response for up to 14, 16, 18 hours, which allows them to then go longer, further distances. Moreover, the increased level of readiness would require more aircraft, add more maintenance and necessitate infrastructure upgrades.” The committee says that despite improvements, Canada's SAR reaction time is “not at par” with other countries. “Aeronautical SAR assets operated in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark respond within 15 minutes during the day and between 30 and 45 minutes at night.” The committee says that given current shortfalls in the RCAF's pilot, flight engineer and SAR Technician cadres, it isn't possible to impose similar reaction times on RCAF crews. But it says it hopes the RCAF will reconsider its reaction time targets once personnel shortages are addressed. https://www.skiesmag.com/news/senate-committee-outlines-recommendations-for-canadian-sar