Nouvelles

DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN The Canadian Forces and Department of National Defence has updated the status of a number of its major procurement programs including the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships which it says will be fully operational by 2025. Under the schedule the first ship is to be delivered sometime this summer to the Royal Canadian Navy but won't be operational until 2020, according to the update. Other ships will follow over the years with the fleet being declared fully operational in 2025, according to the schedule. Each ship will go through various tests and sea trials, with ships being brought on line as those are finished and crews are trained. The Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships, or AOPS, being built by Irving Shipbuilding, were announced in 2007 by then prime minister Stephen Harper. The vessels were supposed to be in the water by 2013. But the program has faced delays. Critics have also questioned why Canada is paying around $400 million per ship when Denmark received similar vessels for $70 million each. In November 2018 the Liberal government announced it was building a sixth Arctic patrol ship to add to the five originally commissioned from Irving Shipbuilding. But it acknowledged that ship will cost taxpayers $800 million — double the price-tag of each of the other vessels. The Liberal government announced the construction of the sixth AOPS after a push by Irving and its employees for additional work. The project was originally to build five AOPS and only proceed with a sixth if Irving could find savings and work within the existing budget. That didn't happen, Department of National Defence officials noted. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/arctic-offshore-patrol-ship-fleet-to-fully-operational-in-2025-says-dnd

DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN The Department of National Defence has updated details about its key ongoing defence procurements. I have written an article on that update which can be viewed at the National Post website: https://nationalpost.com/news/government-expects-to-award-contract-for-new-fighter-jet-fleet-in-2022-but-admits-it-could-face-delays The article notes the DND warning about issues that could affect the proposed purchase of a fleet of uninhabited aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones. The DND update warned that there might not be enough procurement staff with the required expertise to move that program forward on schedule. The department hopes to deal with the problem by hiring contractors. A draft invitation to qualify for that project was released April 5 and a contact is expected to be awarded in 2022, the update pointed out. The lack of staff has been an ongoing issue for the UAV program but in other ways. In May 2010 I reported The Canadian Force's plan to buy pilotless aircraft to conduct surveillance off the country's coasts, in the Arctic and on overseas missions had fallen behind schedule because the military doesn't have enough people to fly the drones. While the UAVs don't carry pilots, they still require an operator on the ground to fly the craft. Staff are also needed to maintain the equipment and to prepare them for flight. But at the time the air force was having difficulty finding enough people for a new unit that would be needed to operate the UAVs. Then called the Joint UAV Surveillance and Target Acquisition System or JUSTAS, there had been a number of plans for the acquisition. One of the earlier ones involved a request for proposals from industry to be issued by the end of 2009 and a contract signed in 2010. The first of the UAVs would have arrived by February 2012. That obviously didn't happen. A reworked plan called for the delivery of the UAVs in 2014, with full operating capability in 2017. That didn't happen. The project is now named, RPAS, for Remotely Piloted Aircraft System. The latest plan calls for a contract to be awarded in 2022-2023 with full capability – an armed drone fleet – in place by 2029-2030. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/lack-of-expert-procurement-staff-could-hinder-canadian-forces-drone-purchase

Montreal, Canada, April 2, 2019 – Marinvent is pleased to announce the successful delivery of its Airfoil Performance Monitor product (APM) to the Government of Canada following extensive independent flight testing by the National Research Council under the Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP). APM monitors and displays the margin to stall of an airfoil and detects the real-time effects of icing, contamination, and degradation on the lifting surface of any airfoil and in all phases of flight. The recently-concluded flight evaluations conducted independently by NRC-FRL conclusively demonstrated the following unique capabilities of APM: Provides stall warning and backup airspeed indications and is completely independent of all aircraft-side inputs except power. (it needs no airspeed, air data, angle-of-attack, or flap position inputs). Gives the correct stall warning margin, even with contaminated (iced or otherwise degraded) airfoils. Correctly detects compressibility stalls at high altitude. Provides tail stall warning which is particularly relevant to a number of UAV platforms. Provides correct diagnosis of contamination early during the takeoff roll (Air Florida Flight 90, Arrow Air, and Dryden, among others). Provides real-time data enabling significantly reduced fuel consumption and brake wear and enabling better predictive maintenance scheduling, helping to pay for itself by reducing aircraft operating costs. “APM is a mature product having been successfully tested on several Part 25 jet and turboprop aircraft, as well as numerous Part 23 light aircraft and business jets”, said Dr. John Maris, President of Marinvent. “It is available for installation today. The Canadian government is our first customer under the BCIP program, and we have also made our first forays into the UAV market, which desperately needs this technology particularly for Canadian winter operations”. Dr. Maris, whose doctoral thesis “AN ARCHIVAL ANALYSIS OF STALL WARNING SYSTEM EFFECTIVENESS DURING AIRBORNE ICING ENCOUNTERS” led to the final development of APM, has made his academic life's work the study of the relationship between aircrew and angle of attack/stall warning systems. He is one of the world's leading authorities on this subject, which is particularly pertinent currently, and is also a Transport Canada Test Pilot DAR. Dr. Maris is an Adjunct Professor at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada as well as being President of Marinvent Corporation and inventor of APM. In recognition of the potential impact of APM, SAE named APM as the 2017 Aerospace & Defense category winner in their Create the Future competition: https://contest.techbriefs.com/2017/entries/aerospace-and-defense/8422 About Marinvent – Marinvent is a privately held Canadian company, founded in 1983. Marinvent is headquartered on the outskirts of Montreal, the leading aerospace center in Canada and one of the largest aerospace centers in the world. Marinvent provides consulting, services, training, tools and IP to reduce customers' program/product risk, cost and schedule and to help them innovate quickly. Its engineers, experience, TCCA DARs, flying avionics test bed, research simulator and IP make it a reliable and trusted partner for the planning and management of projects, regardless of size and complexity. Marinvent's customers include aircraft OEMs, integrators, tier 1s, tier 2s and Government customers around the world. Marinvent prides itself of helping its customers bring their products to market and has a stellar track record of doing exactly that. As a result, Marinvent has won numerous awards in recognition of that fact. http://www.marinvent.com/wp-content/uploads/APM-First-Customer-April-2019.pdf

Murray Brewster · CBC News Analysis says Canada lagging far behind its allies in responding to cyber warfare threat A new report questions how well prepared the Canadian military and the federal government are to fight a cyber war that, for all intents and purposes, has started already. The Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), which represents major weapons and high-tech manufacturers, warns in a new report that, despite recent investments and policy papers, the country is lagging far behind its allies in preparing to fight a new kind of war. "The cyber threat to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) permeates domestically through vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure, combat systems and equipment, and extends to where the military is deployed abroad," said the association's report, released Thursday. "Russia have proven their ability to launch attacks that cripple critical systems in seconds or quietly collect intelligence for years. The CAF has only recently received approval to engage in active and offensive operations at scale (though specialized activity has been present for years)." 'A genuine sense of urgency' To compile the report, researchers at CADSI conducted 70 interviews with government and military officials, as well as defence industry leaders. Christyn Cianfarani, the association's president, said the feedback was frank. "There's a genuine sense of urgency for Canada to advance in this space," she said. Even if the public doesn't feel the country is vulnerable, she added, "we could stand to be vulnerable by not moving forward very quickly." The report comes just weeks after a House of Commons committee heard that online attacks on Canada's financial system and other key infrastructure could become far more destructive as more militaries around the globe get involved in cyber operations. That testimony came from security expert and former CIA analyst Christopher Porter, an executive at the U.S. cyber security company Fireeye, Inc. He said the west's imposition of sanctions on "some countries" has in the past been met with denial-of-service attacks on financial services websites, but those attacks have only been disruptive. "In the future, they may respond with destructive attacks," he testified on Feb. 6. Cianfarani echoed that warning. "I think, if you look, other nations are attacking Canada," she said. "Other nations aren't just attacking Canada in a short-game play. They are attacking Canada and trying to influence things in our country in a long-game play." The defence association report also took aim at the federal government's ponderous procurement system, noting that adversaries and allies have "demonstrated their ability to deploy new cyber capabilities in months or weeks, while the CAF remains burdened by a years-long and sometimes decades-long procurement cycle." Time to 'blow up' the procurement system? Cianfarani said the procurement system has to "be blown up" and "torn apart" when it comes to acquiring cyber equipment and services. It should take six months, not 10 years, to get those kinds of products into the hands of cyber operators, she added. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan's office declined comment and referred CBC News to the Communications Security Establishment, which defends the federal government's networks. While CSE spokesman Evan Koronewski did not address the specific criticisms in the industry association report, he pointed to the creation of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, which brings "operational security experts from across the Government of Canada under one roof" — something that is expected to deliver a more unified approach. "Although we cannot speak specifically to the Cyber Centre's capabilities, we are confident our men and women have the tools they need to deliver on their mission," Koronewski said in an email. The study found "government and industry lack the mutual trust required to effectively collaborate in the cyber defence of Canada" and proposed a series of remedies. "This distrust has been sown over time through a history of unproductive engagements, limited communications and inadequate mutual understanding of each other's capabilities," said the analysis. The Council of Canadian Innovators has delivered a similar message to the federal government on many occasions over the last two years, but Cianfarani said she believes that the upcoming federal election and the possibility of interference in it — foreign or otherwise — will focus the attention of both the public and decision-makers. "I think around an election is probably when we have the loudest voice, and it's when we're probably, as a country, the most vulnerable," she said. The report pointed to other countries, such as the United States, where cyber defence strategies are primarily driven by industry, supported by the academic community and funded by the government without bureaucratic limitations. "A similar approach for Canada could mobilize a strong, sovereign line of defence against rapidly evolving cyber threats," the report said. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/a-cyber-war-has-started-and-canada-isn-t-ready-to-fight-it-says-report-1.5045950

DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN MV Asterix is now operating with HMCS Regina in Middle Eastern waters as part of a Canadian-led coalition task force. The Asterix, a commercial ship converted by Davie shipyards in Quebec and leased to the federal government to perform a military supply role, has been going almost non-stop since it was launched. It has refueled both Canadian and allied warships. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said there is no need for a second such interim supply ship and the head of the Royal Canadian Navy, Vice Admiral Ron Lloyd, says he is happy with having the Asterix as the force's only supply ship until 2023 when the first of two Joint Support Ships, to be built at Seaspan in Vancouver, is expected to be ready. Davie, however, has offered to convert a second such ship, MV Obelix, to the same capabilities of Asterix and lease it to the government. At one point the navy had three of its own supply ships supporting its vessels. Information recently tabled in Parliament indicates that even though Asterix has been going full-tilt over the last year, there was still a requirement for Canadian warships to receive fuel and provisions from supply vessels operated by foreign navies or for Canadian ships to head to port to receive fuel and supplies. Here are the details from Parliament: The Asterix is also at the heart of federal government's case against Vice Admiral Mark Norman. Norman has been accused by the RCMP of warning Davie that Liberal cabinet ministers wanted to derail the Asterix project. That development leaked out to the news media and the resulting embarrassment was one of the factors that forced the Liberal government to back down on its plans and Asterix proceeded. Norman has denied any wrongdoing. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had twice predicted that Norman would eventually wind up in court, prompting concerns of political interference and concerns the Liberal government is punishing the officer. Norman's lawyers are in pre-trial trying to get documents they argue are needed so the officer can defend himself. Norman's trial is scheduled for August. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/the-case-for-a-second-interim-resupply-ship-new-stats-show-how-foreign-navies-continue-to-refuel-canadian-navy-ships

Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) has today completed the acquisition of Gemalto (Euronext Amsterdam and Paris: GTO), creating a global leader in digital identity and security. With Gemalto, Thales will cover the entire critical decision chain in a digital world, from data generation via sensors, to real-time decision support. This acquisition increases Thales's revenues to €19 billion and self-funded R&D to €1 billion a year, with 80,000 employees in 68 countries. PARIS — Completed in 15 months, the acquisition of Gemalto by Thales for €4.8 billion creates a Group on a new scale and a global leader in digital identity and security employing 80,000 people. The larger Thales will master all the technologies underpinning the critical decision chain for companies, organisations and governments. Incorporating the talent and technologies of Gemalto, Thales will develop secure solutions to address the major challenges faced by our societies, such as unmanned air traffic management, data and network cybersecurity, airport security or financial transaction security. Thales completes acquisition of Gemalto to become a global leader in digital security This combination creates a world-class leader with an unrivalled portfolio of digital identity and security solutions based on technologies such as biometry, data protection, and, more broadly, cybersecurity. Thales will thus provide a seamless response to customers, including critical infrastructure providers such as banks, telecom operators, government agencies, utilities and other industries as they step up to the challenges of identifying people and objects and keeping data secure. Research and development: inventing the world of tomorrow Thales and Gemalto share a passion for the advanced technologies that serve as a common foundation and focus for their 80,000 employees. Research and development (R&D) is at the core of the new Group, with its 3,000 researchers and 28,000 engineers dedicated to R&D. Thales has been developing state-of-the-art technologies to meet the most demanding requirements of customers around the world for decades. Today the Group has become a giant laboratory inventing the world of tomorrow, with a portfolio of 20,500 patents, of which more than 400 new ones were registered in 2018. Technological synergies The new Thales will cover the entire critical decision chain in an increasingly interconnected and vulnerable world, with capabilities spanning software development, data processing, real-time decision support, connectivity and end-to-end network management. With €1 billion a year devoted to self-funded R&D, the Group will continue to innovate in its key markets, drawing in particular on its world-class digital expertise in the Internet of Things, Big Data, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. The first illustrations are as wide as the Group's portfolio: Banking: Big Data analytics Defence: biometrics Aerospace: unmanned traffic management Ground transportation: Internet of Things Space: Internet of Things Telecommunications: Big Data analytics An extended global footprint Following this acquisition, Gemalto will form one of Thales's seven global divisions, to be named Digital Identity and Security (DIS). Gemalto will interact with all of the Group's civil and defence customers and will significantly strengthen its industrial presence in 68 countries. Thales will considerably expand its operations in Latin America (2,500 employees, up from 600), triple its presence in Northern Asia (1,980, from 700), Southeast Asia (2,500, from 800) and India (1,150, from 400) and North America (6,660 employees, up from 4,600). “With Gemalto, a global leader in digital identification and data protection, Thales has acquired a set of highly complementary technologies and competencies with applications in all of our five vertical markets, which are now redefined as aerospace; space; ground transportation; digital identity and security; and defence and security. These are the smart technologies that help people make the best choices at every decisive moment. The acquisition is a turning point for the Group's 80,000 employees. Together, we are creating a giant in digital identity and security with the capabilities to compete in the big leagues worldwide.” Patrice Caine, Chairman and CEO, Thales About Thales The people who make the world go round – they rely on Thales. Our customers come to us with big ambitions: to make life better, to keep us safer. Combining a unique diversity of expertise, talents and cultures, our architects design and deliver extraordinary high technology solutions. Solutions that make tomorrow possible, today. From the bottom of the oceans to the depths of space and cyberspace, we help our customers think smarter and act faster – mastering ever greater complexity at every decisive moment along the way. Thales generated revenues of €19 billion in 2018 with 80,000 employees in 68 countries. https://montrealgazette.com/pmn/press-releases-pmn/business-wire-news-releases-pmn/thales-completes-acquisition-of-gemalto-to-become-a-global-leader-in-digital-identity-and-security/

By Kevin Dougherty QUEBEC—Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos offered hope on Friday that the Chantier Davie shipyard in Lévis, across the St. Lawrence from the provincial capital, would soon be busy working on federal shipbuilding contracts. Chantier Davie is well-placed to be awarded contracts to build three new federal ferries and is also a contender to win contracts to refit Canada's 12 naval frigates, noted Duclos, who is also MP for Québec riding, taking in the city's core. Morneau has been using a pause this week in Parliament to travel across Canada touting the benefits of the budget he presented March 19. He was asked after his chamber of commerce speech about specific commitments for the Quebec City region, such as Mayor Régis Labeaume's proposed tramway and the repainting of the rust-marred Quebec Bridge. “The money is there for the tramway,” Morneau said. There is also federal money to repaint the bridge, the finance minister added. But negotiations are continuing with the province. Asked about a proposal for more rapid, more frequent passenger rail service between Montreal and Quebec City, Morneau said, “We need to have more information.” Then he added, with a smile, “If we had more Liberals MPs (from the region), that would make it easier.” Last January, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau left his chamber of commerce audience in Quebec City cold, rejecting appeals to grant Davie a contract to build a new supply ship for the Royal Canadian Navy. “The navy doesn't need a second supply ship now,” Trudeau said, in reply to representatives of Davie's union and representatives of nearly 900 companies in Davie's supply chain. Chantier Davie, as Canada's oldest and largest shipyard has been known since a 2012 ownership change, is dependent on the boom-bust cycles of stop-and-go government contracts. In 2011, when the Conservative government was awarding billions of dollars in shipbuilding contracts, Davie, then bankrupt, was excluded, with all future navy and coast guard ships to be built by smaller shipyards, Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax and Seaspan in Vancouver. In 2015, before the federal election, Davie proposed to the Conservative government of Stephan Harper that it convert a German container ship into a supply ship for the navy. Ottawa was in a jam then after Canada's two outdated supply ships had been scrapped and the navy was relying on the Spanish and Chilean navy supply ships. Davie delivered the Asterix supply ship on time and on budget in 2017. Since that time, the company has been calling on Ottawa to order the Obelix, a twin supply ship to the Asterix for the navy. On Thursday, visiting Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said if he was prime minister, the Obelix would go ahead, winning applause from his chamber of commerce audience. Scheer also endorsed the “third link,” Premier François Legault's pet project, the plan, which is yet to reach the planning stage, to build a third bridge or tunnel across the St. Lawrence. Joël Lightbound, who with Duclos makes up the two-MP Liberal caucus in Quebec City, where the Conservatives dominate, deadpanned to reporters, “One more step and Mr. Scheer would have promised world peace and the return of the Nordiques.” On Friday, it was the turn of the two Liberal ministers. Asked by a reporter what commitments the Trudeau government was prepared to make for Davie, a major employer in the region, Morneau called Davie “important for our industry in Canada.” Morneau suggested that if reporters spoke to Davie representatives at the luncheon, “You will see the smiles on their faces.” Duclos added that Davie was “wrongfully harmed” by being excluded from the Harper government's National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. “There are things that the previous government did that our government cannot undo,” he added. In helping Davie, the federal government agreed to its offer to convert three icebreakers, built for cancelled offshore oil-drilling projects, for the Canadian Coast Guard. “You saw the three icebreakers we acquired a few months ago,” Duclos said. “The first icebreakers the government has acquired in 25 years.” Frédérik Boisvert, vice-president of Davie and one of the Davie representatives at the chamber of commerce luncheon, said the ferry and frigate refit contracts have not been awarded yet. But Davie is confident. “We're extremely well-positioned,” he said. “You can quote me on that, given that the other two shipyards are at full capacity.” The Morneau budget called for replacing the MV Madeleine, linking Quebec's Îles de la Madeleine with Prince Edward Island; the MV Holiday Island, running between P.E.I. and Nova Scotia; and building a new ferry for Marine Atlantic, linking Newfoundland to the continent. “They have to be built in Canada,” Boisvert said. “The two other shipyards are at full capacity so, logically, it's coming to us,” he said. “Maybe (there will be) an announcement before the end of June.” On the frigate refits, Davie is hoping to get contracts to refit at least four of the warships. “Negotiations are underway, and they should be wrapped up soon.” https://ipolitics.ca/2019/03/29/two-federal-ministers-offer-lifeline-for-quebecs-chantier-davie-shipyard/

MDA continues positive momentum to provide game-changing defence capabilities MONTREAL, April 1, 2019 /CNW/ - MDA, a Maxar company (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX: MAXR), today announced that it has signed a CAD $4 million contract with Lockheed Martin Canada for the initial phase of design work for the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) ship's Electronic Warfare system. Lockheed Martin Canada was selected as the winning bidder for the CSC program by Irving Shipbuilding. Irving Shipbuilding is the CSC Prime Contractor and will build 15 ships at Halifax Shipyard. This design work is expected to become the basis for the manufacture, integration, installation and commissioning of the Electronic Warfare equipment on the Royal Canadian Navy's next-generation CSC ships. "MDA is very pleased to be able to play such a critical role in supplying systems for the Canadian Surface Combatant program," said Mike Greenley, group president of MDA. "We are proud to support Lockheed Martin Canada by leveraging MDA's deep Canadian expertise in project management, system engineering, electronics, antennas, signal processing and software. This initial contract represents the first phase of what we anticipate will become a decades-long journey as a tier-1 partner on the Lockheed Martin Canada team." 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'sCombat 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. About Maxar Technologies As a global leader of advanced space technology solutions, Maxar 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. The operations of DigitalGlobe, SSL and Radiant Solutions were unified under the Maxar brand in February; MDA continues to operate as an independent business unit within the Maxar organization. As a trusted partner with 5,900 employees in over 30 global locations, Maxar 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. 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. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements and other information included in this release constitute "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") under applicable securities laws. Statements including words such as "may", "will", "could", "should", "would", "plan", "potential", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate" or "expect" and other words, terms and phrases of similar meaning are often intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, expectations, projections, goals, forecasts, assumptions, risks and uncertainties, as well as other statements referring to or including forward-looking information included in this press release. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in this release. As a result, although management of the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. The risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, the risk factors and other disclosures about the Company and its business included in the Company's continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time with Canadian and U.S. securities regulatory authorities, which are available online under the Company's EDGAR profile at www.sec.gov, under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com or on the Company's website at www.maxar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. All such forward-looking statements are based upon data available as of the date of this release or other specified date and speak only as of such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this release as a result of new information or future events, except as may be required under applicable securities legislation. Contact Leslie Swartman | MDA Media Contact | 1-613-736-6917| leslie.swartman@mdacorporation.com Jason Gursky | Maxar Investor Relations | 1-303-684-2207 | jason.gursky@maxar.com SOURCE Maxar Technologies Ltd. https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/maxar-technologies-mda-to-provide-design-services-for-the-electronic-warfare-suite-for-the-canadian-surface-combatant-877885915.html

The Government of Canada has recently awarded Rheinmetall Canada a major support contract pertaining to Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (ISTAR). The frame contract is currently worth up to CAD 57 million. The contract will take place over the next five years and will be expensed using a task mechanism over this period. The contract is part of the sustainment of the Land Command, Control, Communication, Computing, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) program and as the prime contractor, Rheinmetall Canada is to provide ISTAR in-service support services (ISS). “At Rheinmetall Canada, we are delighted to provide an important part of the ISTAR program” said Mr. Stéphane Oehrli, President and CEO of Rheinmetall Canada. “This contract represents a great opportunity to showcase our knowledge and capabilities in this high-end area of advanced technology”, he added. The ISTAR capabilities of the Rheinmetall Group are well established around the world. The goal of the ISTAR ISS contract is to provide the Canadian Armed Forces with an ISTAR Command and Control Information System (C2IS) capability. Rheinmetall Canada will maintain and enhance the specialized capability through the support contract. Rheinmetall Canada was selected under a competitive process where Value Proposition and the Industrial and Technological Benefit Policy (ITB) were applied. As one of the few companies to have reached over 1 billion dollars in ITB transactions since the inception of the policy, Rheinmetall Canada has put forward an outstanding Value Proposition. The Canadian supply chain of Rheinmetall Canada will benefit from this contract over the next years. About Rheinmetall Canada Rheinmetall Canada is a proud member of Germany's Rheinmetall Group, one of Europe's largest suppliers of systems and equipment for the armed forces. With approximately 300 employees at locations in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ottawa, Rheinmetall Canada has demonstrated expertise in the development, integration, and production of platform-independent systems for more than 30 years. https://www.rheinmetall-defence.com/en/rheinmetall_defence/public_relations/news/latest_news/index_19712.php