Swedish jet maker complains about Ottawa negotiating to buy F-35

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  19 octobre 2023 | Local, Terrestre, C4ISR

  Canadian Armed Forces host eight allied nations for counter-explosive threat exercise

  Media are invited to attend Exercise ARDENT DEFENDER at 5 Canadian Division Support Base (5 CDSB) Gagetown on October 23, 2023.

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  4 novembre 2020 | Local, Aérospatial

  Boeing outlines $61B in Future Fighter benefits

  Boeing on October 27 stated its bid in the Government of Canada's ongoing Future Fighter Capability Project procurement competition, if successful, would provide $61 billion and nearly 250,000 jobs to the Canadian economy. Required by the competition's RFP, the economic benefits outlined by Boeing are largely based on five new agreements with its Canadian aerospace partners involved in the bid. Canada's Future Fighter Capability Project (FFCP) aims to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force's ageing fleet of CF-188 Hornet's with 88 new-generation fighters. The competition centres around three fighter jets in the Saab Gripen E, Boeing F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. “Canada is one of Boeing's most enduring partners and has continuously demonstrated that they have a robust and capable industry supporting both our commercial and defence businesses,” said Charles “Duff” Sullivan, managing director, Boeing Canada. “The large scale and scope of these Canadian projects reinforces Boeing's commitment to Canada and gives us an opportunity to build on our motto of promises made, promises kept.” Boeing explains that, based on new data and projections from economists at Ottawa-based Doyletech Corp., the total economic benefits to Canada and its workforce for the acquisition of the F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet will last for at least 40 years and benefit all regions based of the country. Fifth-generation build of the F-35 Lightning II “Boeing and its Super Hornet industry partners have a long track record of delivering economic growth to Canada, which gave us the confidence that our data and detailed projections are extremely accurate,” Rick Clayton, economist at Doyletech Corp. The $61 billion in economic benefits outlined by Boeing with a Block III Super Hornet selection in the FFCP are largely based on partnerships with five Canadian-based aerospace operations, including: CAE (Montreal, Quebec) Boeing and CAE's Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlines the implementation of a training solution for the Block III Super Hornet based in Canada and under full control of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). This includes full mission simulators and part task training devices for pilot training and maintenance technician training, courseware, as well as Contractor Logistics Support, Training Support Services, and Facilities Services to support RCAF training. L3Harris Technologies (Mirabel, Quebec) Boeing and L3Harris' MOU includes a range of sustainment services, including depot and base maintenance, engineering and publications support for the Canadian Super Hornet fleet; potential for other Super Hornet depot work; and maintenance scope for Canada's CH-147 Chinook fleet. Peraton Canada (Calgary, Alberta) Boeing and Peraton currently work closely together on CF-18 upgrades. This work will expand to include a full range of Super Hornet avionic repair and overhaul work in Canada. Raytheon Canada Limited (Calgary, Alberta) Boeing and Raytheon Canada's MOU outlines the implementation of large-scale supply chain and warehousing services at Cold Lake and Bagotville to support the new Super Hornet fleet, as well as potential depot avionics radar support. GE Canada Aviation (Mississauga, Ontario) In cooperation with its parent organization, GE Canada will continue to provide both onsite maintenance, repair and overhaul support services for the F414 engines used on the Super Hornet, as well as technical services and engineering within Canada in support of RCAF operations and aircraft engine sustainment. With its past partners, Boeing notes it has delivered on billions of dollars in industrial and technological benefits obligations dating back more than 25 years. The work started with the sale of the F/A-18s in the mid-1980s and progressed through more recent obligations including acquisition of and sustainment work on the C-17 Globemaster and the CH-47F Chinooks to meet Canada's domestic and international missions. Boeing states its direct spending in Canada in 2019 rose to $2.3 billion, a 15 per cent increase in four years. When the indirect and induced effects are calculated, Doyletech states this amount more than doubles to $5.3 billion, with 20,700 jobs. Boeing notes its partnership with Canada dates back to 1919, when Bill Boeing made the first international airmail delivery from Vancouver to Seattle. Today, Canada is among Boeing's largest international supply bases, with more than 500 major suppliers spanning across country. With nearly 1,500 employees, Boeing Canada supplies composite parts for all current Boeing commercial airplane models and supports Canadian airlines and the Canadian Armed Forces with products and services. https://www.wingsmagazine.com/boeing-outlines-61b-in-future-fighter-benefits/

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  8 avril 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, C4ISR

  CAE answers the federal government’s call to procure ventilators

  The federal government has launched an accelerated procurement plan with several Canadian companies, including Montreal-based CAE, to procure up to 30,000 ventilators. “Canadian companies are answering the call to protect our health care professionals with made-in-Canada solutions,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a statement on Apr. 7. “This is exactly the kind of innovative, collaborative thinking we need to respond to this rapidly evolving pandemic.” CAE is best known in the aerospace sector for aircraft simulators and training services, helping train over 150,000 pilots per year worldwide. But for more than a decade, the company has also made a name as a healthcare training solutions provider for colleges, universities and hospitals and for medical equipment manufacturers. That includes patient simulators that respond to treatment, including intubation and ventilation. “We have the [medical] and engineering expertise in house – electrical, mechanical, software and human physiology,” said Erick Fortin, director of engineering at CAE Healthcare. A team of 12 engineers took up a challenge issued on Mar. 21 by the Montreal General Hospital Foundation and McGill University Health Centre to develop a simple and low-cost ventilator. Within 10 days, they had a working prototype built with parts from around the lab. “It worked quite well,” said Fortin. “It showed how you can put a team together with the right experts ... and what we can do.” For a company that on Apr. 6 announced the temporary laying off of 2,600 of its 10,500 employees and reduced work weeks for another 900, the opportunity “to do something” has been rewarding. “The whole company is mobilized,” he said. “We are really prepared to produce and we are productizing.” From that initial team of a dozen engineers, the project now has about 100 employees involved. And CAE expects to pull in more as they move to full production. CAE might not be the only company in the Montreal aerospace cluster seeking to solve the ventilator shortage. According to industry think tank Aero Montreal, Pratt & Whitney Canada is also exploring how to use its engineering and manufacturing capabilities to design and validate a ventilator concept that would likely “pull on local manufacturing,” including from Bombardier and AON3D. Fortin said CAE had received “hundreds and hundreds” of emails from companies interested in supplying components, from valves to flow sensors. Though all options are under consideration, including having several contingency plans at the ready, the priority would be to find Canadian suppliers who can deliver high volume. “Some parts are a bit more complex to source, like valves. We'll look at all offers, at all suppliers that can help,” he said. “We are confident that we have everything we need. We certainly have the expertise in house to do the production of thousands of ventilators.” CAE must still fine-tune the prototypes, but it intends to deliver about 10,000 units within three months once it starts production. A low-cost solution might have been part of the engineering team's initial objective, but Fortin admitted the final price might be higher than a typical commercial ventilator. “We try to build it as low as possible,” he said. “As you can imagine, as time is of the essence, cost will be a bit higher that what it could be with a bit more time.” CAE will also be leaning on its training expertise to ensure the final product comes with a complete operator training package. Since mid-March, in fact, the company has been offering online re-skilling courses for ventilators and has released a number of COVID-19 scenarios on its current products such as patient simulators. Fortin noted that more than 2,000 health professionals had participated in coronavirus-related webinars “After 25 years at CAE, I am always surprised at how nimble a big company like this can be, and how we can adjust to different situations,” he said. In its statement on Apr. 7, the government said that about 5,000 Canadian companies have offered expertise and capacity to develop and produce medical personal protective equipment, hand sanitizers and other protective gear. The government is also “working through over 22,000 submissions to Public Services and Procurement Canada from companies interested or able to sell to Canada. All efforts are being made to secure contracts and deliveries as quickly as possible.” “In mobilizing industry and creating partnerships, we are moving swiftly to build up a secure domestic supply of key personal protective equipment to protect Canada's frontline health workers as they fight this pandemic,” said Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. https://www.skiesmag.com/news/cae-federal-governments-call-procure-ventilators/