8 novembre 2018 | Local, Aérospatial
David Burke · CBC News
More than half of the 27,000 civil aircraft in Canada aren't equipped with a modern device that could save lives by allowing search and rescue crews to more easily find potential crash survivors, according to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
Modern emergency locator transmitters, or ELTs, emit radio distress calls that can be picked up by satellites, but many small, private and recreational aircraft use older technology that's of little use to rescuers if a plane goes down, because the signal is unlikely to be picked up.
"There's no way to tell where it's coming from, no way to tell the identity of the source," said Steve Lett, head of the Cospas-Sarsat Secretariat, the international organization that runs the satellite-based search and rescue system.
"It relies on the luck of having another aircraft possibly flying nearby and that aircraft having its receiver tuned to 121.5 MHz, and also that aircraft not assuming that it's some sort of a test."
Search and rescue satellites no longer pick up the 121.5 MHz distress signal, which isn't a problem for large commercial airplanes most Canadians use to travel because they use up-to-date ELTs.
Those systems are designed to go off when a plane crashes, sending a signal to orbiting satellites that is relayed to a mission control centre. Local search and rescue crews are then advised where they can find the crash site.
"Private aircraft, general aviation aircraft, they are not as closely supervised. They tend to crash much more frequently and yet governments ... the Canadian and U.S. governments included, continue to allow them to fly with only a 121.5 MHz ELT," said Lett, whose organization stopped monitoring the 121.5 MHz frequency in 2009.
The older distress signals weren't accurate, so Cospas-Sarsat began monitoring ELTs that emit a 406 MHz radio signal instead. Those signals are digital and capable of providing more accurate location information and even the identity of the aircraft.
But in Canada, it is not mandatory for planes to have a 406 MHz ELT.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada determined in 2016 there were approximately 27,000 aircraft registered in Canada that required an ELT, but only 10,086 equipped with a 406 MHz ELT.
Full article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/emergency-locator-transmitters-search-and-rescue-aircraft-planes-1.4895600
27 mars 2023 | Local, Aérospatial
Canada plans to invest $7.3 billion to upgrade its fighter jet bases and Far North landing strips to accommodate the air force's new F-35s, the Prime Minister's Office announced Friday at the conclusion of a visit by U.S. President Joe Biden.
23 juillet 2019 | Local, Aérospatial
The 88 jets are to replace the country's aging CF-18s, which have been in service for more than 35 years. After years of stop-and-start work on replacing them, the government launched the current procurement in 2016 and has been working on the details for nearly three years. Public Services and Procurement Canada says Saab, Airbus, Lockheed Martin and Boeing have until this fall to demonstrate that they can meet requirements for security and interoperability with allied countries' forces, and until 2020 to make what the government calls “initial proposals.” In announcing the call, the government points out that the bidders will have to show that they have plans to invest as much in economic benefits for Canada as the eventual contract is worth. A winning bidder is to be chosen in 2022 and the first planes are to arrive in 2025. https://ottawacitizen.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/feds-officially-launch-contract-to-supply-88-new-fighter-jets/wcm/10762f5a-0cdb-4c70-9081-5311b2bf49a7
23 novembre 2018 | Local, Naval
Murray Brewster · CBC News Move comes after Alion Canada challenged frigate design pick in Federal Court The federal government's decision to select a group of companies led by Lockheed Martin Canada to design and support the construction of the navy's new frigates is now facing a trade challenge, on top of a Federal Court challenge filed last week. Alion Science and Technology Corp. and its subsidiary, Alion Canada, have asked the Canadian International Trade Tribunal to look into the procurement deal. They're telling the tribunal that Lockheed Martin's design will need substantial changes to meet the federal government's requirements, which would mean higher costs and more delays. The company last week separately asked the Federal Court for a judicial review and an order quashing the decision, which saw Public Services and Procurement Canada select Lockheed Martin Canada as the preferred bidder on the $60 billion program. Alion pitched the De Zeven Provinciën Air Defence and Command (LCF) frigate, a Dutch-designed warship that is already in service in other countries. More delays? Depending upon how they play out, said defence procurement expert Dave Perry, both challenges have the potential to further delay the frigate program. Federal procurement officials had hoped to nail down a fully fledged design contract with Lockheed Martin by the winter. Perry, who works with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said he expects those negotiations to continue — unless the Federal Court orders them to halt. "Unless there is a compelling reason to stop, they are going to keep going," he said. "There is a recognition of the urgency across the board." That urgency is partly due to the program's legacy of delays, which have stretched the design competition out for almost two years. Public Services and Procurement Canada would not comment on the matter because it is before the courts, but a senior official, speaking on background Thursday, said the federal government has up to 20 days to respond to the court challenge. The official — who was not authorized to speak on the record because of the sensitivity of the file — said there is flexibility built into the timeline and the government is optimistic it can meet its goal of an early 2019 contract signing. Perry said there are aspects of both the court challenge and the application to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal that he finds puzzling. Alion claimed in its court filing that the winning bid was "incapable of meeting three critical mandatory requirements" of the design tender. Speed bump The company said, for instance, that the Type 26 cannot meet the mandatory speed requirements set out by the navy and that both Public Services and Procurement Canada and Irving Shipbuilding, the yard overseeing the construction, should have rejected the bid outright. Perry said the criteria cited by Alion were among the first the federal government evaluated. "The rest of Lockheed Martin's bid wouldn't have been looked at if the Crown and Irving was not satisfied that the bid met each of those [initial] criteria," he said. "It's a weird dynamic." Alion's trade tribunal application argues in considerable detail that in order for the Type 26 to meet Ottawa's speed requirement, it will have to undergo considerable redesign. The court application also cites the fact that the design tender was amended 88 times and those changes "effectively diluted the [warship] requirements" and allowed the government and Irving to select "an unproven design platform." Unlike its two competitors, the Type 26 has yet to enter service with the Royal Navy. Competitors have privately knocked it as "paper ship." Navantia, a Spanish-based company, was the other bidder in the competition. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/failed-bidder-files-trade-challenge-against-ottawa-s-frigate-design-pick-1.4916881