8 janvier 2021 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense
Lee Berthiaume The Canadian Press
OTTAWA -- An internal Defence Department report has warned that Canadian Armed Forces operations and security may be at risk due to major problems with how the military's computer networks are built and supported.
The report follows a review of the Defence Department's information management and technology systems, which are described as "critical" to the success of Canadian military operations and training.
That review uncovered a patchwork of IT systems across the Defence Department and Armed Forces that was not only inefficient and expensive to maintain, but also often out-of-date and poorly supported.
The brunt of the report's criticism is directed at the technical support provided to the military by another federal entity, Shared Services Canada, the agency that took over management of most federal networks in August 2011.
Nearly all defence and military officials who participated in the review were upset by the amount of time it took Shared Services to respond to requests for help, according to the report. In some instances, those delays harmed operations.
The report cited one instance in which an email server that went down during an unspecified domestic mission couldn't be fixed right away because it was a weekend and Shared Services did not have staff on call.
The reviewers also found that a quarter of requests for assistance made to Shared Services remained unresolved after six months, and the agency did not have anybody in Europe to help the hundreds of Canadian troops posted there.
While the problems were partly attributed to a lack of appropriate IT resources and staff, the report also flagged the lack of an agreement between the Defence Department and Shared Services establishing clear expectations for network support.
Without such an agreement, the report, defence and military officials believed Shared Services not only didn't understand their needs but also wasn't required to respond quickly, "which led to putting clients at great risk on a number of fronts, including security."
Delays in tech support weren't the only point of contention between the Defence Department and Shared Services, with the latter upsetting the navy by requiring the removal of equipment that had increased bandwidth on warships.
Shared Services also stopped supporting some older intelligence systems while they were still being used by the air force, army and navy, according to the report recently published on the Defence Department website.
Defence Department spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier on Monday described the review as a "valuable tool" for improving IT support even as he defended the department's relationship with Shared Services Canada.
"We have a good working relationship with Shared Services Canada and the two departments continue to work collaboratively to ensure the appropriate and timely delivery of IT services to DND/CAF," he said.
"We are also reviewing our relationship with Shared Services Canada with a focus on improving the service delivery model to help better support the department and the Canadian Armed Forces."
The internal report also took aim at the military's troubled procurement system, which was found to deliver IT equipment with inadequate or out-of-date technology. Poor planning was partly to blame but the report also blamed onerous levels of oversight.
While that oversight was described as the result of cost overruns and delays on past IT projects, the report said that it nonetheless created new problems in delivering modern equipment.
"The complex processes associated with the capital projects and procurement are very slow and cumbersome," according to the report. "The process cannot keep up with the rate of change of technology."
Those delays -- and their potential impact on operations -- were also cited as a major reason for why a patchwork of IT systems and programs now cover different parts of the Defence Department and military.
While that patchwork might serve the day-to-day needs of the military, it was also found to be inefficient and expensive.
To that end, the reviewers could not pinpoint exactly how much was being spent by the Defence Department and military on IT services and support every year, but estimated it at more than $700 million.
In response to the report, senior officials told reviewers that they were looking at ways to better calculate annual spending on IT and address the problems that have contributed to the creation of so many systems in the first place.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2021.
23 mai 2023 | Local, Naval
La nostalgie de Marine Industrie remonte à la surface à Sorel-Tracy lorsqu’on évoque le chantier maritime Davie. Dans cette ville de la Montérégie, la construction de brise-glaces en territoire québécois représente l’occasion de renouer avec ce qui était jadis son épine dorsale économique : la construction navale.
25 octobre 2018 | Local, Aérospatial
DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN Lockheed Martin Canada has laid off 20 employees in Ottawa and another 11 at its facilities in Montreal and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The employees were informed of the layoffs on Oct. 3, according to a Lockheed Martin statement to Defence Watch. Irving Shipbuilding and Public Services and Procurement Canada have announced Oct. 19 that a BAE-Lockheed Martin consortium has been selected as the “preferred bidder” for the Canadian Surface Combatant program. That selection will now set off negotiations which in turn will – if all is successful – produce a contract. The entire project is worth $60 billion, with an estimated 60 per cent for the actual ship. Lockheed Martin Canada is acting as the prime for the team which offered BAE's Type 26 ship. Lockheed Martin did not provide details on what areas the employees who were laid off had worked in. “This decision was not taken lightly and was the result of the company's need to rebalance the workforce reflecting current volume and skill sets,” the Lockheed Martin statement noted. “As a project-driven company, we routinely experience peaks and valleys related to work volume and review our business operations to stay competitive and agile.” Lockheed Martin Canada “remains in a growth mode and as the CSC program progresses, our hiring campaign will ramp up to ensure we attract and retain top talent to best support our customer's needs,” the statement added. Industry sources say some of the layoffs can be attributed to the recent loss of the Halifax-class underwater warfare suite upgrade contract, which went to General Dynamics Mission Systems – Canada. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/lockheed-martin-canada-lays-off-20-employees-in-ottawa-11-in-dartmouth-montreal
9 août 2019 | Local, Aérospatial
By Murray Brewster Military leaders from the U.S. and Canada have come to an agreement on the nuts and bolts retooling of Norad, CBC News has learned. It is a milestone that could end up pitting the next government in Ottawa against both the Trump administration and perhaps even northern Indigenous communities at home. Now over six decades old, the bi-national air and maritime defence command — and its associated airfields, radar stations and satellite network — has been in need of a major overhaul in the face of emerging threats, such as North Korean ballistic missiles and rapidly advancing cruise missile technology. Word of the understanding comes as two Canadian CF-18s and two American F-22 Raptors intercepted two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers, which pressed close to North American airspace, on Thursday. The agreement of "what's in and what's out" of the new North American Aerospace Defence Command was struck a few months ago, said a defence source in Ottawa, who was granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. Separately, the Canadian general who is the deputy commander of Norad confirmed the two countries are on the same page when it comes to the new framework needed to defend the continent, but cautioned there is still a lot of work and negotiation ahead over capabilities and what is affordable. "We have established the operational requirements," Lt.-Gen. Christopher Coates in an interview with CBC News. A bi-national panel is examining the specifications and make recommendations to both the Pentagon and the Department of National Defence in Ottawa. Eventually, Coates said, each government will have to "determine whether or not those capabilities will be provided — or some other option" will be pursued. And that is where things could potentially get messy, according to defence experts. James Fergusson, of the University of Manitoba, one of the pre-eminent researchers on Norad, said the price tag will be substantial. Replacing the North Warning System chain of radar stations, alone, could cost as much as $11 billion, he said. The Liberal government has made much of saying its defence plans are fully costed, but it deliberately did not include the calculation for Norad modernization in its policy. There will have to be some negotiation with Washington, even though the cost sharing formula (60-40 split between the U.S. and Canada) has long been established. Steve Saideman, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, said he can't see any Canadian government being anxious to open negotiations with the Trump administration, regardless of how long standing the arrangements might be. U.S. President Donald Trump has long complained American allies do not pay their fair share of costs for the NATO alliance, and Saideman said it is not beyond the realm of possibility that government-to-government technical negotiations over Norad could devolve. Fergusson disagreed. If they argue over money, he said, it will likely involve environmental cleanup costs related to the existing, remote north warning radar stations. When Norad abandoned its first chain of early warning sites — known as the DEW line — in 1993, the cleanup took 21 years and Canada was stuck with the $575 million bill. More problematic, as far as Fergusson is concerned, is whether Norad's proposed new capabilities will affect northern indigenous communities, which — unlike the past — will rightfully expect to be consulted and have a say over what the military does with the land. "When they [the Canadian and U.S. military] go up there in Northern Canada, now, they can't simply ignore the Indigenous people," said Fergusson, "And that's a political issue." https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/norad-canada-us-military-1.5240855