Solaxis poursuit sa diversification technologique

Sur le même sujet

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  12 janvier 2023 | Local, Aérospatial

  Achat de F-35 par Ottawa | Des retombées encore furtives

  D’importantes questions demeurent sans réponse même si l’achat de 88 avions de combat F-35 par Ottawa est officiel. On ignore par exemple où sera situé l’atelier de réparation et qui formera les pilotes qui s’installeront aux commandes des chasseurs. L’enjeu des retombées du contrat conclu avec Lockheed Martin est de taille pour l’industrie aérospatiale québécoise.

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  12 février 2018 | Local, Sécurité

  Military to spend $170,000 so leaders can see what it's like to be stoned on marijuana

  The Canadian Forces is buying kits that will let its leaders experience what it's like to be stoned on marijuana. The “marijuana simulation kits” will include “marijuana impairment goggles,” among other items. The Canadian Forces wants to acquire 26 of the kits by April 30 or sooner if possible. “The purpose of the Marijuana Simulation Kits is to raise awareness of marijuana impairment, reduce risk of marijuana impairment, and promote healthy lifestyles within the Canadian Armed Forces,” companies who want to bid on the contract were told. “The marijuana impairment goggles, which is one of the several items included in the Marijuana Simulation Kit, allows users to experience first-hand, the deficits marijuana creates on the body.” Department of National Defence spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier said Friday that the kits will be used in the Military Personnel Command's supervisor training course. “This will help ensure that CAF members in leadership positions will be able to identify signs of, assist in detecting and provide guidance regarding, prohibited drug use,” he said. The value of the contract will only be known once bids are received, evaluated and a contract is awarded, but it is estimated at up to $170,000 over five years. The Liberal government intends to make the use of recreational marijuana legal by the summer. CBC reported this week that a Statistics Canada survey found Canadians pay an average of less than $7 a gram for pot. The kits may also be used at National Defence health fairs, community events, kiosks or other events to educate other military members, families and the public about the impact of marijuana on cognitive functioning, Le Bouthillier said. A number of firms make such devices. In 2015, Innocorp Ltd. in the U.S. unveiled green-tinted goggles that simulate “the distorted processing of visual information, loss of motor co-ordination, and slowed decision-making and reaction time resulting from recreational marijuana use.” Some police departments in the U.S. already use marijuana impairment kits for training. Participants wearing the goggles will experience the simulated effects resulting from recreational marijuana use, such as distorted processing of visual information, slower decision-making and loss of motor coordination, Le Bouthillier said. The training could include exercises such as ball tossing, simulated driving and other means of demonstrating the effect on reaction time. Le Bouthiller said the military currently uses alcohol impairment goggles in similar courses for military leaders. http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/military-to-spend-170000-so-leaders-can-see-what-its-like-to-be-stoned-on-marijuana

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  18 octobre 2018 | Local, Naval

  Feds aiming to select preferred design for $60B warships by end of month

  OTTAWA — Canada's most expensive military project is entering a critical new phase as the government is on the verge of picking its top design for the country's $60-billion fleet of new warships. Defence insiders say the government wants to select a design by the end of the month from among three options submitted by several of the largest defence and shipbuilding companies in the world. After that the government and Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding, which will actually build the 15 new warships, will sit down with the selected bidder to hammer out the final cost and other details. The stakes will be high for both sides, with hundreds of millions of dollars in play. There will also be pressure to make up for lost time on a project already running behind schedule even though whatever decisions are taken could have ramifications on the navy — and taxpayers — for decades to come. "That's part of the tension between moving quickly and making the right choice," said defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. The new warships will replace the navy's 12 frigates and three destroyers, the latter of which have already been retired. They will be used for most of this century. Launched in late 2016, the design competition has been the subject of rampant lobbying and complaints by defence industry players, with numerous revisions to the original request for bids and several deadline extensions. That was despite defence officials and Irving having previously warned that time is of the essence when it comes to starting construction, and that they want to shave 18 to 24 months off the project. There have also been questions about Irving's role in the competition, and anger from some companies that British firm BAE was allowed to enter its Type 26 vessel despite the ship having never been built. BAE and U.S.-based defence giant Lockheed Martin partnered together to propose the Type 26 for the design competition, which is up against separate proposals from Dutch firm Alion and Spanish shipbuilder Navantia. A joint French-Italian design was disqualified because Paris-based Naval Group and Italian firm Fincantieri, who promised to build the warships faster and for less than anyone else, did not follow the established process for submitting proposals. One of the big questions heading into the negotiations will be how much the selected design needs to be changed to reflect the navy's needs and how much the navy will have to shift its requirements because changing the design will take more time and money. Irving has warned that it could be forced to lay off hundreds of employees because of a production gap if work on the warships isn't ready to start by the time it finishes building the navy's new Arctic patrol ships in 2021 or 2022. Government negotiators are also facing a battle over the amount of intellectual property that the top bidder will be required to hand over, which Ottawa wants so it can operate and maintain the vessels on its own after they are built. Companies had originally been told that the winner would be required to turn over the full blueprints, but after significant resistance, the two sides agreed that the matter would be negotiated before a contract is awarded. The government however warned that if the winning ship designer drives too hard a bargain on the intellectual property front they face the risk of officials pulling the plug on talks and moving on to the next company. Perry said that while there are many challenges ahead before a deal for a design is signed — and before any of the new warships actually get into the water — this is a critical step forward. "You can't dance until you pick a dance partner," he said. — Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter. Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/canada/feds-aiming-to-select-preferred-design-for-60b-warships-by-end-of-month-250594/