18 avril 2023 | Local, Autre défense
The Canadian Defence Liaison Staff (Washington) and the Trade Commissioner Service would like to make Canada’s defence industry aware of an opportunity to meet with the US Department of Defense Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) Program at CANSEC 2023! We ask that you share this message with your colleagues, contacts, and clients who may benefit from the FCT Program.
Interested firms should complete the attached Product Sheet and return to via email to LCdr Alain Gilbert - alain.gilbert@forces.gc.ca – (with a CC to Trade Commissioner Bobby Tate – Robert.tate@interational.gc.ca) by Friday, May 12th.
The FCT program scans for vendors in non-US countries that have innovative technologies that speak to the US DoD’s 14 Critical Technology Areas. Please note that the Critical Technology Areas have been updated for 2023:
o Biotechnology
o Quantum Science
o Future Generation Wireless Technology (FutureG)
o Advanced Materials
o Trusted AI and Autonomy
o Integrated Network Systems-of-Systems
o Microelectronics
o Space Technology
o Renewable Energy and Storage
o Advanced computing and Software
o Human-Machine Interfaces
o Directed Energy
o Hypersonic
o Integrated Sensing and Cyber
The USD(R&E) Technology Vision for an Era of Competition provides additional context. It can be found here: https://www.cto.mil/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/usdre_strategic_vision_critical_tech_areas.pdf
DoD will also consider technologies that satisfy urgent operational needs on a relevant fielding schedule and/or technologies that provide significant life cycle savings. In short, they’re looking for technology that does an existing capability better, cheaper, or faster!
For more information, an overview presentation on the FCT program can be found here: https://ac.cto.mil/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/fct_overview_presentation_approved_7_14_2020.pdf
Companies who submit a product template may have the opportunity to meet with the FCT program during the CANSEC exposition (31 May – 1 June 2023). The expo will be held at the EY Centre in Ottawa, Ontario. Again, interested firms should complete the attached FCT Product Sheet, and send it to LCdr Alain Gilbert, A/Defence Cooperation Attaché at alain.gilbert@forces.gc.ca with a CC to Bobby Tate at Robert.tate@international.gc.ca
We hope you consider this opportunity to learn more about the U.S. Department of Defense’s FCT program.
Questions may be addressed to LCdr Alain Gilbert, Assistant Defence Cooperation Attaché at alain.gilbert@forces.gc.ca and Mr. Bobby Tate, Trade Commissioner, Defense, Security, and Aerospace, at robert.tate@international.gc.ca
9 mai 2024 | Local, Naval
Ukraine, a nation with virtually no navy, humiliated Russia's mighty Black Sea Fleet using cheap, fast, disposable drones. Combined with artificial intelligence, drones are set to change the nature of naval warfare. But are the world's militaries prepared for the risks?
29 septembre 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense
Lee Berthiaume OTTAWA — While the federal government is pressing ahead with plans to buy billions of dollars worth of much-needed equipment for the Canadian Armed Forces, the Department of National Defence's top procurement official says COVID-19 is further slowing down some already delayed purchases. The past six months have seen a number of major milestones for Canada's beleaguered military procurement system, including last week's unveiling of the first of 16 new military search-and-rescue planes after 16 years of delays and controversy. Procurement officials are also now reviewing three bids that were received from fighter-jet makers at the end of July as Canada inches closer to selecting a replacement for the aging CF-18s following more than a decade of political mismanagement. The list of recent successes also includes Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding having delivered the first of six new Arctic offshore patrol vessels in late July, while progress has been made on a number of other files, such as the long-overdue purchase of new engineering vehicles for the Army. Yet some of those milestones would have been achieved earlier had it not been for COVID-19. And Troy Crosby, the Defence Department's assistant deputy minister of materiel, acknowledges many other projects are being affected as well. That includes the more than 100 military procurements — roughly half of them dealing with new equipment and the rest focused on building new infrastructure on Canadian Forces bases across the country — that were listed as already delayed before the pandemic hit. "COVID didn't speed anything up," Crosby said in an interview with The Canadian Press. "I think everybody would understand that that's going to have some impact. And exactly what that impact is difficult to tell right now." Delays in military procurements can have several impacts. In some cases such the CF-18s, the Canadian Armed Forces is being forced to keep using equipment that was supposed to have been retired years ago. In others, delays drive up the cost of the new purchases due to inflation. The projects most likely to be delayed due to COVID-19 are those in production, Crosby said. Examples include the construction of new naval ships by Irving and Seaspan ULC in Vancouver, which have had to adopt physical distancing and other COVID-19 measures at their shipyards. "For the projects that are at a stage where the work is office-based ... once we got over that initial hump as everybody had to as we moved toward a remote-work posture, the work continued," said Crosby. "If you're in a shipyard and you're trying to advance the production of a ship given all of the physical distancing requirements and the health and safety considerations, that's challenging." Crosby has previously argued much of the frustration around military procurement is the result of unrealistic expectations born of a lack of understanding and appreciation for how the system — which is dealing with more projects than at any time in recent history — actually works. COVID-19 has also prompted speculation the Liberal government could start cutting back on its promise, unveiled in 2017, to spend $553 billion on the military over the next 20 years. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan told The Canadian Press earlier this month that the funding is "secure." Asked about the spending plan — which is contained in the Liberals' defence policy and known as Strong, Secure, Engaged — Crosby said: "Strong Secure Engaged continues to be our focus and it laid out a program of work and we're trying to get that program of work delivered. "It's been that way right through this whole COVID situation. That hasn't changed anything. ... The people in the materiel group, the people we're working with across government, we're all seized with the program forward." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2020. https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/news/covid-19-further-delaying-some-overdue-military-procurements-1.24211049
20 mars 2023 | Local, C4ISR
Biden’s visit to Canada to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week will be an opportunity to expand on cybersecurity cooperation.