14 février 2022 | Local, Aérospatial
The federal government has officially launched a competition for the purchase of armed drones after nearly two decades of delays and discussion around whether Canada should buy the controversial weapons.
A formal request for proposals was released Friday to the two companies shortlisted to bid on the $5-billion contract, which could see the Canadian Armed Forces launch a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles in the next few years.
A formal contract is not expected for another year or two, while the first drone isn't scheduled for delivery until at least 2025, with the last to arrive in the early 2030s.
The request does not say how many vehicles the government plans to buy, and instead leaves it up to the two companies to say how their bids will satisfy the military's needs while benefiting the Canadian economy.
It does reveal the aircraft will be based at 14 Wing Greenwood in Nova Scotia and 19 Wing Comox in British Columbia, while the main control centre will be in the Ottawa area. Yellowknife is also identified as a forward operating location.
The drone force will include around 240 air force members, with 55 in Greenwood, 25 in Comox and 160 in Ottawa.
While delivery is still years away, the fact the military has reached even this point represents a major step forward after almost 20 years of work to identify and buy a fleet of UAVs to conduct surveillance over Canadian territory and support missions abroad.
Aside from purchasing a small number of temporary, unarmed drones for the war in Afghanistan – all of which have since been retired – the military has never been able to make much progress on a permanent fleet.
That was despite drones taking on an increasingly important role in militaries around the world. A report in the Royal Canadian Air Force Journal in late 2015 said 76 foreign militaries were using drones and another 50 were developing them.
One major reason: no federal government had authorized adding drones as a permanent fixture within the military in the same vein as fighter-jet or helicopter squadrons until the Liberal government included them in its 2017 defence policy.
The government and military say the unmanned aircraft will be used for surveillance and intelligence gathering as well as delivering pinpoint strikes from the air on enemy forces in places where the use of force has been approved.
Some have previously criticized the decision to buy armed drones given concerns about their potential use in Canada and numerous reports of air strikes by other nations, particularly the United States and Russia, causing unintended damage and civilian casualties.
The government has also said little about the scenarios in which force might be used, including whether drones could be deployed for assassinations. Officials have suggested they would be used in the same way as conventional weapons such as fighter jets and artillery.
“While the (drones) will be a medium-altitude long-endurance system with a precision strike capability, it will only be armed when necessary for the assigned task,” the Defence Department said Friday.
“At all times, employment of precision strike capability will adhere to the Law of Armed Conflict, as well as any other applicable domestic or international laws. Use of force will be applied following rules of engagement applicable to the CAF.”
23 juin 2022 | Local, Aérospatial
Le Canada sera-t-il en mesure de remplacer sa flotte vieillissante de CF-18 avant qu'ils ne doivent être envoyés à la casse à compter de 2032 en misant sur le modèle F-35 de Lockheed Martin, comme prévoit le faire le gouvernement Trudeau ?
8 janvier 2019 | Local, Aérospatial
Murray Brewster · CBC News U of Calgary paper says Ottawa may have to abandon the idea of a multi-purpose military The Trudeau government can't afford to buy ultra-modern warships and advanced warplanes at the same time, given the limits of federal finances, a new research paper argues. The study, written for the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy, says that — contrary to the assurances offered in the government's defence policy — Ottawa will soon be forced into a series of tough, far-reaching choices about the structure and capabilities of the Canadian military. Using the government's own figures, researcher Alex McColl concluded that the Liberals either will have to pour more money into their defence budget in the mid-2020s or scale back their ambitions by buying a less expensive fighter jet. The reason, according to McColl, is that the bills for both new frigates and new fighters will come due at the same time. Absent the political will (to spend more), the Canadian Forces can no longer afford to be a modern, multipurpose force ...- University of Calgary researcher Alex McColl "Not only will the CF-18 replacement program have to fight for funding against the general austerity and easy riding nature of Canadians, but it will also be running concurrently with the largest military procurement in Canadian history: the National Shipbuilding Strategy," he wrote. During the 2015 election campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged Canada would not buy the F-35 stealth jet — that it would go with something cheaper and pour the savings into rebuilding the navy. The way the defence policy figures roll out, McColl wrote, suggests the government is on track to do just that. "Absent the political will to provide considerably more than 1.15 per cent of GDP in defence spending," he wrote, "the Canadian Forces can no longer afford to be a modern multipurpose force and should instead move to a Navy centric force structure." The Liberal defence policy, released just over 18 months ago, forecasts that by 2025, annual defence spending will rise to $32.7 billion, or about 1.4 per cent of GDP. However, the projections in the defence policy do not go past the fiscal year 2024-25 — something the Parliamentary Budget Office flagged in a report in November 2017. That PBO report also raised concerns about whether the Liberals would even meet their procurement targets and predicted the numbers would fall off a cliff before the 20-year defence spending policy reaches its halfway mark. "Measured as a share of the economy, the new spending plan will raise the defence budget by over 17 per cent to about 1.1 percentage points of GDP by 2024," the PBO analysis said. "Following this, spending will decline by 38 per cent to 0.69 percentage points of GDP by 2035." McColl said Canada may be left with no choice but to buy a cheaper fighter. "The best value solution to the CF-18 replacement is the least expensive jet in the competition: the Saab Gripen," he wrote in his report. In an interview CBC News, McColl said he chose the Gripen because it is "the dramatically least expensive option," although the Super Hornet is also a cheaper alternative. "I wouldn't say we would be forced (to buy them)," he said. "What I would say is that buying an inexpensive fighter that meets the minimum requirements of what we use the CF-18 for today would be the optimal policy." National Defence announced last week it had concluded a deal with Australia to buy 18 used F-18 fighters to bolster the current CF-18 fleet until a brand-new replacement is selected. That competition to replace the CF-18s with new aircraft is slated to kick off this spring, when the federal government puts a tender on the street. A contract award is not expected until 2022. The first new fighters won't arrive until 2025 — and it will be another year after that before they are operational. Dave Perry, a procurement expert at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said that new accounting rules — which allow National Defence to spread the cost of weapons system over their lifetime, instead of accounting for them all at once — give the Liberal government a bit of flexibility. But he also pointed out that, by trying to rebuild the navy and the air force at the same time, the Liberals are trying to do something rarely accomplished outside of a wartime setting. "Between new fighters and surface combatants [frigates], those are by far the two biggest projects that have gotten underway in this country in a long time, and doing them at the same time is not something we've done in peacetime before," said Perry. "Previously, we've done these things in sequential order." The question of whether the federal government is organizationally and fiscally prepared to start paying big defence bills is open to debate, he added. Almost four years ago, Perry co-wrote a seminal report that noted the number of staff dedicated to defence procurement at National Defence had never recovered from the budget cuts of the mid-1990s — dropping to 4,300 positions from 9,000. In the time since his report was released, Perry said, there's been progress at the Department of National Defence in hiring procurement specialists and getting systems in place, but he's not certain the rest of the federal government is prepared. "I think the biggest shortcoming is whether the Government of Canada writ large has the capacity, across government, not just in defence, to manage files this size with that level of complexity," he said. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-can-afford-new-fighters-or-new-frigates-but-not-both-at-once-report-1.4969031
16 décembre 2019 | Local, Aérospatial
Two senior officers from the New York Air National Guard of the United States Air Force visited Winnipeg, Man., on Nov. 19 and 20, 2019, as part of the first official 1 Canadian Air Division/Canadian NORAD Region (1 CAD/CANR) Arctic Airpower Seminar. Col Michele Kilgore and Col Clifford Souza, commanders of the 109th Airlift Wing and 109th Operations Group respectively, engaged in discussions with a diverse group of operators, specialists and advisors to talk about training and operational opportunities that would benefit the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and its United States Air Force (USAF) allied partners. BGen Ed “Hertz” Vaughan, deputy commander of CANR and deputy Combined/Joint Forces Air Component commander for 1 CAD/CANR, hosted the two-day seminar. A partnership last September between the RCAF and the 109th Airlift Wing executing Operation Boxtop, the mission to bring supplies to Canadian Forces Station Alert in Nunavut, prompted him to invite members of the 109th Airlift Wing to the seminar to exchange information on processes and objectives. “The Arctic is critically important to the security and defence of North America, and our ability to survive and operate in the Arctic domain are essential parts of our daily mission at 1 CAD/CANR,” said Vaughan. “We established this series of seminars to help build relationships and deep dive into the specific of polar logistics and sustainment. Forging partnerships across Arctic communities, mission stakeholders, and allied forces are requirements for success.” The RCAF is no stranger to bi-national operations. Every day, military personnel and defence team members from Canada and the United States work together to protect and defend North American airspace through the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) mission. Comprising more than 40 per cent of Canada's land mass (and 75 per cent of Canada's coastline) with about 120,000 inhabitants, the Arctic is undergoing significant change. Retreating ice cover is opening the way for increased shipping, tourism, and resource exploration, increasing interest in the region. Following the presentations and discussion sessions, seminar attendees visited with members of 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron, a unit that routinely deploys north in support of Canada's NORAD and search and rescue commitments, to learn more about the role they play in the daily delivery of air power in the North. “The Arctic can be a complex, harsh and unforgiving location to operate in if one isn't prepared to face its challenges,” said Vaughan. “These seminars permit us to learn from our partners and allies as we continue developing the skills, technology, and relationships to work effectively in a polar environment. I look forward to our next seminar in Yellowknife, focused on energy security at remote locations, and many more seminars to come. “ https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/canadian-norad-region-hosts-first-arctic-airpower-seminar