25 août 2022 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR
Today, Defence Minister Anita Anand and General Wayne Eyre, Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), visited 5 Wing Goose Bay in Newfoundland and Labrador, where they met with members of the Canadian Armed Forces stationed at the base, and thanked them for their important work and dedication to protecting Canada.
6 janvier 2023 | Local, Naval
It will cost Canadian taxpayers upwards of $6.5 billion to acquire six Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships for the navy and two additional similar vessels for the coast guard, according to newly tabled documents and a statement from the federal government.
19 juillet 2019 | Local, Naval
By Marco Vigliotti *The headline has been updated to clarify that a contract has not yet been awarded to Irving Shipbuilding. Shipyards in Quebec and B.C. have won contracts collectively worth $1 billion to repair aging warships, with another contract for a Nova Scotia facility to be completed shortly, the federal government announced today. It's part of the government's promised $7.5 billion investment in maintaining 12 Halifax-class frigates for the Royal Canadian Navy until they are retired in the early 2040s. The five-year, $500-million contracts for Quebec's Chantier Davie and Seaspan Victoria Shipyards Limited were officially announced during concurrent ceremonies at the facilities, both of which featured ministers from the area. Public Services and Procurement Minister Carla Qualthrough, who represents a Vancouver-area riding, made the announcement at Seaspan's facility in Victoria (the Liberals hold no seats in the region). Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos made the announcement at Davie's plant in Lévis, Que. He represents a riding across the St. Lawrence River in Quebec City. “This vital, long-term work demonstrates the government's continued commitment to supporting the women and men of the Royal Canadian Navy by providing them with the equipment they need to protect Canadian interests at home and abroad,” Qualthrough said in a statement. A similar deal with Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax is also in the works, according to Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). The contracts guarantee at least three frigates to repair for each facility, with work expected to begin in 2020. In a statement, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said the shipbuilding announcement was nothing but “cynical electioneering.” “There are less than 100 days to the next election, and the Trudeau government is once again campaigning on the taxpayers' dime, trying to buy people's votes with their own money,” reads his statement. “While it is good to see shipbuilding work go to Davie, today's announcement is nothing but cynical electioneering from a government that will do anything and say anything to cling to power.” https://ipolitics.ca/2019/07/16/feds-award-over-1-billion-in-contracts-to-three-shipyards-to-repair-aging-frigates/
25 février 2019 | Local, Aérospatial
BERLIN (Reuters) - The German Defence Ministry is evaluating a bid from Canada to buy a high-altitude surveillance drone that has been parked at a German air base for years after the cancellation of the Euro Hawk program in 2013, with a further bid possible from NATO. Canada has submitted a formal bid for the prototype aircraft, which was stripped of key equipment and demilitarized by the United States in 2017, a ministry spokesman said on Wednesday without providing further details. Canadian media have reported that Canada could use the drone, built by Northrop Grumman, to monitor oil spills, ice levels and marine habitats in the remote Arctic region. NATO, which is buying its own fleet of Northrop drones, is also considering a bid for the mothballed German aircraft but has not yet submitted it, said sources familiar with the process. NATO had no immediate comment. There was no immediate reply from the Canadian government. A sale of the drone would end an embarrassing chapter that raised concerns about the German military's procurement process and triggered the transfer of former Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere to another cabinet post. Berlin told lawmakers last year that it had spent about 700 million euros ($793.5 million) on the Euro Hawk prototype, and the ISIS surveillance system built by Airbus. Berlin initiated plans in 2000 to buy five Euro Hawk drones based on Northrop's Global Hawk unmanned system at a cost of about 1.2 billion euros but later canceled the program because of cost overruns and problems obtaining certification for use in civilian airspace in Germany. It had only received the one prototype aircraft that is now being sold. Berlin is now negotiating with Northrop to buy several MQ-4C Triton drones for delivery after 2025. Northrop last year said the process could take years to complete. German opposition lawmaker Andrej Hunko, a member of the radical Left party, said the government had declared the aircraft incapable of flight after the U.S. Air Force removed U.S. built radio equipment and other key systems when it demilitarized the aircraft in 2017. “The airplane has salvage value at best,” he told Reuters. “Any proceeds from the sale would be a drop in the bucket, compared with the huge amounts spent on the program.” For NATO, the drone could provide additional support to the fleet of five high-altitude unmanned Global Hawk planes it agreed to buy from Northrop in 2012 for $1.7 billion, along with transportable ground stations. Industry officials said the Euro Hawk saga underscored problems in military procurement, noting that NATO's sister aircraft regularly traverse German air space to conduct surveillance missions over the North Sea. They also have no blanket approval for use in German civilian airspace but use case-by-case permissions from air traffic authorities. It was not immediately clear what steps would be needed to return the Euro Hawk prototype to flight. Additional reporting by David Ljungren in Ottawa; Editing by Riham Alkousaa, David Goodman and William Maclean https://www.kitco.com/news/2019-02-20/Canada-bids-for-mothballed-prototype-drone-from-Germany.html