Press Release - Government of Canada Awards Drone Airspace Management System Contract to Kongsberg Geospatial

Sur le même sujet

• 

  24 janvier 2019 | Local, Aérospatial

  Canada to keep paying for F-35 development as fighter-jet competition ramps up

  LEE BERTHIAUME, OTTAWA, THE CANADIAN PRESS Canada is poised to contribute tens of millions of dollars toward further development of the F-35 stealth fighter even as the federal government wrestles with whether to buy the plane or not. In an interview with The Canadian Press, the Department of National Defence's head of military procurement says there are no plans for Canada to quit as one of nine partner countries in the F-35 stealth fighter program until after the Trudeau government completes the competition to determine which fighter jet will replace Canada's aging fleet of CF-18s. “We're committed to staying there (in the program) until we understand where the competition will bring us,” said Patrick Finn, assistant deputy minister of material at National Defence. The competition is expected to be launched this spring. The F-35 is one of four planes currently slated to participate in the $19-billion competition, which will result in the purchase of 88 new fighter aircraft to serve as the air force's backbone for the coming decades. The Trudeau Liberals campaigned on a promise not to buy the F-35s in 2015, but have since backed away from that pledge. The Harper Conservatives first announced plans to buy 65 F-35s in 2010, but ran into controversy over cost. Staying on as a partner in the F-35 program comes with advantages, Finn says, including the ability for Canadian companies to compete for billions of dollars in contracts associated with building and maintaining the stealth fighter. Partners are also allowed to buy the F-35 at a lower price than non-partners, who must pay a variety of fees and other costs to purchase the plane. “We want to keep the F-35 as an option, as a contender in the competition,” Finn said. “We want to also make sure that while that's unfolding, that Canadian industry that have competitively won contracts get to continue to do that.” The Defence Department says Canadian companies have won more than $1.25-billion in F-35-related contracts over the years. Yet there are also costs to being a partner; Canada has so far invested more than $500-million into the program over the past 20 years, including $54-million last year. Its next annual payment is due this spring and there will likely be more as the competition isn't scheduled to select a winner until 2021 or 2022. The first new aircraft is expected in 2025 and the last in 2031. There are some technical issues that government officials are working through that could impact how it runs the competition to replace the CF-18s. One of those is how to ensure the various bids are all measured equally. In addition to Lockheed Martin's F-35, bids are expected from Boeing's Super Hornet, Eurofighter's Typhoon and Saab's Gripen. All four companies recently provided feedback on a draft process that the government has drawn up to run the competition, and another round of consultations is scheduled for mid-February. A big question facing Lockheed is how it can meet Ottawa's usual requirement that companies who are awarded large military contracts invest back into Canada on a dollar-for-dollar basis. The F-35 partnership agreement that Canada signed with the other countries bars such promised investments and instead stipulates that companies must compete for the work. Finn said all four jet companies have unique challenges and circumstances, and that officials in charge of the competition could inject some flexibility into how the requirement is handled. “There is absolutely flexibility and I would say my colleagues in (the federal industry department) demonstrate that on a weekly, monthly basis,” he said. “They would be the first to say, and they're very good at saying, is: ‘Well listen, the first intent is to get the right military capability. We want to have the offsets as well, and with a given market segment, what it is that we do and how do we do it.“' https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-canada-to-keep-paying-for-f-35-development-as-fighter-jet-competition

• 

  21 avril 2023 | Local, Aérospatial

  Arrival of new aircraft, lack of trained staff will cause 'significant disruption' for RCAF, generals told

  The Royal Canadian Air Force is dealing with a high number of inexperienced personnel, as well as shortages of staff in key jobs.

• 

  13 février 2019 | Local, Naval

  MDA Selected for Design Phase of Canadian Surface Combatant Program

  RICHMOND, BC, Feb. 8, 2019 /CNW/ - MDA, a Maxar Technologies company (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX: MAXR), today announced that Canada's Combat Ship Team was selected by Irving Shipbuilding for the design contract for Canada's Surface Combatant (CSC) ships. Irving Shipbuilding is the Canadian Surface Combatant Prime Contractor and will build all 15 ships at Halifax Shipyard. As a core member of the design team, MDA's primary role will be to design the Electronic Warfare suite system for the CSC program. The CSC is a globally deployable, multi-role warship designed to meet the distinctive mission requirements of the Royal Canadian Navy. MDA is partnered with other industry leaders including BAE Systems, CAE, Lockheed Martin Canada, L3 Technologies, and Ultra Electronics as Canada's Combat Ship Team to provide the Royal Canadian Navy the most advanced and modern warship design. Purposely designed for anti-submarine warfare and capable of performing a variety of missions in any part of the world, the CSC is acoustically quiet, versatile, highly survivable, and reconfigurable for future modernization. The most recent Canadian Defence Policy stated that 15 of these ships will be built in Canada over the next 25 years and will serve the Royal Canadian Navy for decades to come. "MDA is proud to play such a critical role in supplying systems and subsystems for the Canadian Surface Combatant program," said Mike Greenley, group president of MDA. "Our low-risk, lower life-cycle cost CSC solutions are based on proven technologies and will enable Canadian security and peacekeeping operations around the world by providing advanced intelligence and protection for our brave sailors. These Canadian-built solutions further unlock enormous economic benefits and return on investment to the nation, particularly in Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia, as we seek to export these technologies globally in the years ahead secure our position as a global technology leader." This contract is for the CSC design phase within which MDA is responsible for the Electronic Warfare design. Over the life of the program, MDA expects to perform multiple roles on the Lockheed Martin Canada team for CSC. Work on four pivotal areas of the program would create more than 200 new, high-quality jobs in MDA's Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia facilities. MDA's roles include: Lead the Electronic Warfare system integration by procuring best-value subsystems for each functional element and providing an advanced Electronic Warfare solution for installation onto each CSC ship, leveraging MDA's deep Canadian expertise in project management, system engineering, electronics, antennas, signal processing and software. Build an advanced radar system critical to the integrated CSC weapons system, which is well positioned to be exported to the global naval market. Partner with L3 WESCAM to build a Laser Warning and Countermeasures System that is part of the overall Electronic Warfare system suite and will defend against emerging laser-guided threats that are particularly dangerous for the CSC and its crew in littoral environments. Partner with Lockheed Martin Canada to develop an advanced Electronic Warfare jamming subsystem, based on proven components and electronics similar to those used by MDA for both its space and terrestrial communications and radar programs. About MDA MDA is an internationally recognized leader in space robotics, space sensors, satellite payloads, antennas and subsystems, surveillance and intelligence systems, defence and maritime systems, and geospatial radar imagery. MDA's extensive space expertise and heritage translates into mission-critical defence and commercial applications that include multi-platform command, control and surveillance systems, aeronautical information systems, land administration systems and terrestrial robotics. MDA is also a leading supplier of actionable mission-critical information and insights derived from multiple data sources. Founded in 1969, MDA is recognized as one of Canada's most successful technology ventures with locations in Richmond, Ottawa, Brampton, Montreal, Halifax and the United Kingdom. MDA has supported the Royal Canadian Navy for over two decades. For more information, visit www.mdacorporation.com. About Maxar Technologies As a global leader of advanced space technology solutions, Maxar Technologies is at the nexus of the new space economy, developing and sustaining the infrastructure and delivering the information, services, systems that unlock the promise of space for commercial and government markets. As a trusted partner, Maxar Technologies provides vertically integrated capabilities and expertise including satellites, Earth imagery, robotics, geospatial data and analytics to help customers anticipate and address their most complex mission-critical challenges with confidence. With more than 6,100 employees in over 30 global locations, the Maxar Technologies portfolio of commercial space brands includes MDA, SSL, DigitalGlobe and Radiant Solutions. Every day, billions of people rely on Maxar to communicate, share information and data, and deliver insights that Build a Better World. Maxar trades on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange as MAXR. For more information, visit www.maxar.com. https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/mda-selected-for-design-phase-of-canadian-surface-combatant-program-836299961.html