Nouvelles

ARMY TSI Inc., Shoreview, Minnesota, was awarded a $48,213,673 firm-fixed-price contract for approximately 3,500 M41A1 protection assessment test systems conformance testing certifications, technical documentation and logistics support equipment. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 20, 2025. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911SR-20-D-0003). Federal Contracting Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado, was awarded a $41,906,264 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a Cyberworx building at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of July 12, 2023. Fiscal 2020 military construction, defense-wide funds in the amount of $41,906,264 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity (W9128F-20-C-0038). Fugro Earthdata Inc., Frederick, Maryland (W912P9-20-D-0024); and Quantum Spatial Inc., St. Petersburg, Florida (W912P9-20-D-0025), will compete for each order of the $22,666,666 firm-fixed-price contract for basic site plan mapping, land-use/land-type classification and/or change-analysis mapping. Bids were solicited via the internet with 38 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 20, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis, Missouri, is the contracting activity. Dyncorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $12,853,147 modification (P00071) to contract W58RGZ-19-C-0025 for aviation maintenance services. Work will be performed in Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 8, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $12,853,147 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Raytheon Missile and Defense, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $21,803,804 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for sustainment services associated with the ADM-160B, ADM-160C and C-1 Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammer. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed May 14, 2023. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,500,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8520-20-D-0005). NAVY BAE Systems Surface Ships Limited, Portsmouth, United Kingdom, is awarded a $19,914,240 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost-only contract for Archerfish Destructor full rate production, maintenance and associated technical services. The work to be performed under this contract will include maintenance, spare and repair parts and evolution of the Archerfish Destructors. BAE Systems will manage the destructor configuration as well as integrate new or upgraded capability and assess the destructor configuration for application to in-service upgrade efforts. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative maximum value of this contract to $189,268,826. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, United Kingdom (86 %); Marseille, France (8 %); and Rocket Center, West Virginia (6 %), and is expected to be complete by January 2023. Fiscal 2019 weapons procurement (Navy) (62%); 2020 weapons procurement (Navy) (28%); 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) (9%); and 2018 weapons procurement (Navy) (1%) funding in the amount of $19,914,240 will be obligated at the time of award, of which $1,793,874 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), this contract was awarded on a sole-source basis (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-20-C-6407). MNDPI Pacific JV, Honolulu, Hawaii, is being awarded a not-to-exceed value of $14,000,000 task order (N62742-20-F-0339) as an undefinitized contract under an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for various structural and waterfront projects and other projects at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The work to be performed provides architect-engineer services to conduct a geotechnical investigation in the area west of Dry Dock 3. The investigation is being done to provide data for a proposed future project to construct a new dry dock. All work will be performed in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is expected to be completed by July 2022. Fiscal 2020 military construction (planning and design) contract funds in the amount of $14,000,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (N62742-20-D-0004). KBR Wyle Services LLC, Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded an $8,740,605 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost contract to provide technical assistance, program management, engineering, financial and logistics support for the integrated product teams that acquire and sustain F-18 series aircraft for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers and the governments of Finland and Kuwait. Work will be performed in Lexington Park, Maryland (87.75%); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (3.6%); Kuwait City, Kuwait (3.6%); North Island, California (2.6%); and Patuxent River, Maryland (2.45%), and is expected to be completed in August 2025. FMS funds in the amount of $8,740,605 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(f)(2)(E). The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-C-0032). Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $7,955,000 cost, cost-share order (N00019-20-F-0565) against basic ordering agreement N00019-19-G-0008. This order is to consolidate Lots 12-14 known issues, funding and requirements on a single contract vehicle to ensure the most fiscally responsible business deals for customers. This supports concurrency related modification and retrofit activities for delivered air systems for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas and is expected to be completed in December 2025. Non-DOD participant funds in the amount of $6,235,000; and FMS funds in the amount of $1,720,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Boeing Distribution Services Inc., Miami, Florida, has been awarded a maximum $19,818,043 firm-fixed-price, requirements type prospective-price-determination contract for supply chain management, logistics support and individually priced parts. This was a sole-source acquisition using 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a five-year base contract with one five-year option period. Location of performance is Florida, with an Aug. 20, 2025, performance completion date. Using military services are Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The Defense Logistics Agency, Aviation, Richmond, Virginia, is the contracting activity (SPE4AX-20-D-9412). MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is being awarded an $18,836,895 sole-source, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00375) under previously awarded Aegis Combat Weapon System development contract HQ0276-10-C-0001. The total value of the contract increases from $3,274,230,310, to $3,293,067,205; $65,039,414 of which was obligated for Aegis Ashore Japan (under Contract Line Item Number 0135) and increases to $83,876,309. Under this modification, the contractor will continue performing engineering design support and analysis of alternative services necessary for continuation of planning efforts and risk reduction efforts required to support the Aegis Ashore Japan analysis of alternatives and Foreign Military Sales. The work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, with an expected completion date of Dec. 31, 2020. Funds from the government of Japan in the amount of $18,836,895 are being obligated at the time of award. The Missile Defense Agency, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2321448/

On this episode of the Defence Deconstructed Podcast, we feature a discussion with Colonel Jérôme Lacroix-Leclair, the French Defence Attaché to Canada, about the impact of the pandemic on France's defence affairs, and his experience in Canada. Defence Deconstructed is part of the CGAI Podcast Network and is brought to you by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI). Participant Biography: Colonel Jérôme Lacroix-Leclair: France's defence attaché to Canada. Host Biography: Dave Perry (host): Senior Analyst and Vice President with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. https://www.cgai.ca/frances_defence_priorities_from_the_sahel_to_space

By: Joe Gould WASHINGTON ― House appropriators on Tuesday approved a spending bill that would block plans from defense hawks to give the Pentagon a stronger hand in crafting nuclear weapons budgets. The House Appropriations Committee passed their Energy-Water bill, which contained the provision, by a voice vote. The $49.6 billion spending bill contained $13.7 billion for nuclear weapons accounts ― a $1.2 billion increase over fiscal 2020 that's still $1.9 billion less than the president's request. Lead Republicans voiced opposition to the bill, arguing that Democrats had not consulted with Republicans on pandemic emergency funds in the bill and that Democrats included policy riders the White House will seek to cut. The top Republican on the House Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho, said the bill “still shortchanges funding for the nuclear weapons program.” “While I acknowledge the increase above last year, we must also acknowledge that the threats we face today are not the same threats we faced in the years immediately following the end of the Cold War,” he said. “We must adequately fund the activities necessary to maintain a safe, reliable and effective stockpile.” The bill would bar funding for the Pentagon-led Nuclear Weapons Council, and would prevent it from assisting with the budget of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous agency under the Energy Department. The Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the annual defense policy bill would allow the council to edit the budget request after the Energy Department crafts it and before the request is submitted to the White House budget office. The move was seen as giving the Pentagon extra sway to boost warhead programs and nuclear weapons laboratories. Its introduction came after Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette clashed with SASC Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., who backed a budget request for the larger number than Brouillette sought. The Energy-Water spending bill contains language ordering no funds “may be used in furtherance of working through the Nuclear Weapons Council to guide, advise, assist, develop, or execute a budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration.” Separately, the proposed bill would ban the Trump administration's reported plan to resume nuclear weapons testing. The bill would prohibit funding “to conduct, or prepare to conduct, any explosive nuclear weapons test that produces any yield.” “Critically, the bill would prevent the Trump administration from using any funds to carry out its dangerous and short-sighted plan to resume nuclear testing,” House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said in a statement. The Trump administration was reportedly discussing whether a “rapid test” could aid it in negotiations with Russia and China, as the White House seeks a trilateral nuclear weapons pact. The defense appropriations bill introduced Tuesday would also bar funding for explosive nuclear weapons tests. https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2020/07/07/house-panel-blocks-pentagon-from-extra-sway-over-nuke-budget/

Announcement of an SBIR/STTR Opportunity Under Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) HR001120S0019 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) May 13, 2020 The DARPA Small Business Programs Office (SBPO) has pre-released the following SBIR/STTR Opportunities (SBOs): "Compact Modular Detector for Water and Food Contaminants", Announcement Number HR001120S0019-07, published at https://beta.sam.gov/search?keywords=HR001120S0019-07 "Near-Term Forecasting of Nonstationary Dynamic Processes", Announcement Number HR001120S0019-08, published at https://beta.sam.gov/search?keywords=HR001120S0019-08 "Organizational Modeling", Announcement Number HR001120S0019-09, published at https://beta.sam.gov/search?keywords=HR001120S0019-09 “Flexible Manufacturing of Fine Chemical Reagents", Announcement Number HR001120S0019-10, published at https://beta.sam.gov/search?keywords=HR001120S0019-10 These SBOs will open for proposals on May 28, 2020 and close on June 29, 2020 at 2:00pm ET

Dans le contexte de la crise COVID-19 et au-delà, nous prévoyons que plusieurs programmes d'acquisition sur le marché américain de la défense et sécurité seront lancés ou accélérés afin de stimuler l'économie. Plusieurs de ces opportunités seront accessibles aux entreprises de défense et de sécurité du Québec. Aéro Montréal aimerait solliciter votre intérêt pour cette veille d'opportunité du marché américain qui serait réalisée selon des critères de sélection des opportunités spécifiques à votre organisation. Les résultats de la veille seront communiqués en privé à votre organisation via la plateforme B2B SDQuebec. Un maximum de quinze entreprises seront sélectionnées parmi le groupe ayant manifesté leur intérêt. Votre participation à ce programme de trois mois est gratuite. Le programme sera évalué après trois mois. Si vous êtes intéressé, veuillez confirmer votre intérêt en envoyant un e-mail à: Sylvain Lefrançois sylvain.lefrancois@aeromontreal.ca avant le 29 mai 2020.

(Ottawa) Le ministre de la Défense Harjit Sajjan a pu déjouer les velléités protectionnistes de l'administration Trump et obtenir 200 respirateurs destinés au Canada qui étaient retenus à Boston gr'ce aux liens qu'il a pu établir avec le Pentagone au cours des cinq dernières années. Publié le 21 avril 2020 à 4h00 Selon des informations obtenues par La Presse, les respirateurs en question sur lesquels les autorités canadiennes voulaient mettre la main ne devaient plus quitter le territoire américain à la suite de la décision du président des États-Unis Donald Trump d'invoquer le Defence Production Act (DPA), une loi qui remonte à la guerre de Corée et qui permet à l'administration d'imposer des conditions aux manufacturiers américains, par exemple le type de produits qu'ils fabriquent en priorité, et d'en limiter les exportations. Le président Trump a récemment invoqué cette loi pour empêcher la société américaine 3M d'exporter des masques N95 vers le Canada et des pays d'Amérique latine. Cette décision, qui a soulevé l'ire des autorités canadiennes, et en particulier du premier ministre de l'Ontario Doug Ford, a toutefois été partiellement infirmée une semaine plus tard, et l'entreprise a pu reprendre ses exportations vers le Canada. En coulisses, le ministre Sajjan et ses conseillers ont pu contourner les obstacles érigés par le président américain afin d'obtenir les 200 respirateurs flambants neufs en demandant aux Forces armées canadiennes de procéder à leur achat. « Le ministre et son équipe ont persuadé le Pentagone de les envoyer au Canada. On leur a dit qu'il fallait que la commande soit faite par les Forces armées canadiennes et le Pentagone, en raison des alliances militaires existantes, avait l'autorisation de procéder à l'envoi des respirateurs », a expliqué une source gouvernementale. La Presse a accordé l'anonymat à cette source parce qu'elle n'avait pas l'autorisation de discuter publiquement de ce dossier. « C'est tout de même remarquable ce qui a été fait dans ce dossier. [...] C'est d'autant plus vrai que les relations canado-américaines représentent tout un défi en raison de la crise et que les choses risquent d'empirer encore au sud de la frontière », a ajouté cette source digne de foi. D'un commun accord, le Canada et les États-Unis ont annoncé en fin de semaine que la frontière entre les deux pays allait demeurer fermée pour les voyages non essentiels pour une autre période de 30 jours, soit jusqu'au 21 mai. Ces 200 respirateurs font partie des quelque 400 appareils obtenus par le gouvernement fédéral qui ont été distribués aux provinces au cours des dernières semaines, selon nos informations. Il a été impossible d'obtenir le nombre de respirateurs qui a été remis à chacune des provinces par Ottawa. Au bureau du ministre Sajjan, un proche collaborateur n'a pas voulu commenter l'intervention en coulisses du ministre, préférant braquer les projecteurs sur l'ensemble du gouvernement fédéral durant la crise de la pandémie de COVID-19. « Le ministre a d'excellentes relations avec son homologue de la Défense aux États-Unis. Il s'agit d'un travail d'Équipe Canada », a notamment affirmé ce proche collaborateur, qui a requis l'anonymat. Récemment, le premier ministre Justin Trudeau a annoncé que le gouvernement fédéral avait conclu des ententes avec des entreprises canadiennes comme Thornhill Medical et CAE, entre autres, afin d'acheter 30 000 respirateurs fabriqués au Canada. À la reprise des travaux de la Chambre des communes, lundi, M. Trudeau a indiqué que l'on s'attend à ce qu'une première commande de respirateurs soit livrée en mai. M. Trudeau a d'ailleurs dû expliquer aux Communes pourquoi une agence fédérale avait jeté aux ordures quelque 2 millions de masques N95 et 440 000 gants qui se trouvaient dans un entrepôt de la Réserve nationale stratégique d'urgence (RNSU), qui a pignon sur rue à Regina, au printemps dernier, comme l'a révélé la semaine dernière une enquête de la CBC. La RNSU, qui relève du gouvernement fédéral, permet aux provinces et aux territoires d'obtenir des équipements médicaux qui s'y trouvent en cas de crise sanitaire comme une pandémie. Le premier ministre a indiqué que ces équipements étaient périmés depuis au moins cinq ans, mais il a affirmé que l'on doit revoir les protocoles d'utilisation afin de remettre ces équipements aux provinces pour les utiliser avant qu'ils atteignent la date limite d'utilisation de cinq ans. Cela devrait permettre à l'agence de renouveler son stock en quantité suffisante pour affronter les crises comme celle que l'on vit en ce moment. https://www.lapresse.ca/covid-19/202004/20/01-5270187-le-stratageme-du-ministre-harjit-sajjan-pour-degoter-des-respirateurs.php

The Pentagon on Monday announced a $415 million contract for 60 machines that will stretch the use of dwindling N95 masks, allowing the scarce personal protective equipment to be disinfected and reused up to 20 times. The Defense Department awarded the contract for “Battelle Memorial Institute Critical Care Decontamination Systems (CCDS), that can decontaminate up to 80,000 used N95 respirators per system per day,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Andrews said in a statement. The machines — which will all be available by early May for distribution by FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services — together could sterilize up to 4.8 million masks per day and almost 34 million per week, according to Andrews. The statement added that two systems had already been delivered to New York, and one each to Boston, Chicago, Tacoma, Wash., and Columbus, Ohio. States are struggling to keep hospitals and medical centers stocked with PPE crucial to fighting the coronavirus outbreak, and the National Guard last week said a shortage of such gear might be hindering its ability to administer coronavirus tests. The Pentagon has highlighted its efforts to provide N95 masks to the country in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Defense Secretary Mark Esper in March first announcing that it would give 5 million respirator masks to HHS. Esper later pledged another 5 million from DOD stockpiles. And on Saturday, the Pentagon announced a $133 million project to create more than 39 million masks in 90 days under the Defense Production Act. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/492611-pentagon-awards-415m-contract-for-machines-to-disinfect-n95-masks

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. — With a major arms control agreement between the U.S. and Russia set to expire next February, members of the nonproliferation community have been watching for signs that negotiations may begin in earnest. For those observers, some welcome news: Movement on the Trump administration's arms control plan is “imminent,” according to a senior defense official familiar with internal administration discussions. However, what that looks like appears to be up in the air: a short-term extension of the New START agreement with Russia; something that involves nuclear-armed China; a combination of those two; or all parties walking away entirely. “All the options are literally on the interagency table,” the official told Defense News on condition of anonymity. The New START agreement, signed in 2010, is an arms control pact between Russia and the U.S. that restricts each country to a total of 1,550 warheads deployed on bombers, submarines and in underground silos. Following the dissolution of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, New START is the only major nuclear arms control agreement left between the two nuclear powers. China has traditionally refused to sign onto arms control agreements. But Beijing has become a focus for those in Washington convinced that any new arms control agreement must include the Asian nation. China is estimated by the Federation of American Scientists to have 290 nuclear warheads, compared to more than 6,000 for Russia and the U.S. each, and the country is investing in nuclear modernization efforts. Though top Chinese officials made clear that Beijing will not participate in trilateral talks, U.S. President Donald Trump in December expressed optimism that a deal could happen, saying Chinese officials “were extremely excited about getting involved. ... So some very good things can happen with respect to that.” While traveling last week to tour the intercontinental ballistic missile fields at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, Defense Secretary Mark Esper declined to speculate on the state of negotiations and what he would recommend Trump do. But he did indicate there would be a meeting at his level “soon” on the issue. “If we proceed forward [with New START], we have to include Russia's new strategic weapons. They have to be included in the treaty. Number two, we should include Russia's nonstrategic nuclear weapons. They have nearly 2,000 of them,” Esper said. “Then I think we should put on the table: Can we bring China into the fold? We're trying to create strategic stability. It's hard to do that if you have a country of China's capacity and capability outside of that treaty.” Speaking at Minot later, Esper added: “If we want to preserve strategic stability using arms control as a counterpart of that, as a tool in that toolkit, then China should be in as well.” State of discussion While some have theorized that the Trump administration is trying to run out the clock on negotiations, the official ascribed the slow public movement to myriad “distractions” around Washington that has sucked attention from Trump, Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The official added that the outbreak of the coronavirus known as COVID-19, which originated in China, has made discussions with Chinese counterparts difficult. There have been ongoing meetings on the issue at the assistant secretary level across the Defense Department, the National Security Council, the State Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration. “Ultimate decisions haven't been taken yet, but [a proposal] should be imminent,” the official said. The first challenge, timewise, is the Feb. 5, 2021, expiration date for New START. Getting something done before then may be a challenge, especially if the goal is an expanded arms control agreement that loops in China, but “physically, you could do it because it doesn't require senate ratification, just a couple of notes signed by just getting everyone — the three sides — to agree to something,” the official said. The question of New START's fate is complicated by the desire to loop in China on a new agreement. Administration officials have been working to develop a compelling case for how to convince Beijing to join a trilateral nuclear deal. The argument largely comes in two forms. First, that if China does not sign onto a nuclear arrangement of some sort, it could lead Russia or the U.S. to consider growing their own arsenals — ensuring China's nuclear inferiority at a time when the Pacific power is racing to grow its stockpile. The second argument is that great powers work on nuclear agreements together — and so joining one as equals with Washington and Moscow should appeal to Beijing's desire for recognition on the global stage. Meia Nouwens, an expert on Chinese military affairs with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, says those two arguments are the most sensible ones to put forth to Beijing, particularly the appeal to China as a great power. She also speculated that if China's economy takes a downturn, it may find cooperating with the rules-based international system to be a “greater priority” than a China-first agenda. But, Nouwens predicts, “it will require the U.S. and Russia to make the first steps though before China decides to agree to reducing what it views as an already significantly smaller Chinese nuclear arsenal. The trust isn't there.” Rose Gottemoeller, who served as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security at the U.S. State Department during the Obama administration, before becoming deputy secretary general of NATO from 2016-2019, believes a careful calibration of what, exactly, is being negotiated will be key to any negotiation involving the Chinese. “I think you can make a case for the Chinese to come to the table early on intermediate-range constraints of ground-launched missiles because they are staring at the possibility of a deployment of very capable U.S. missiles of this kind,” she said at a January event hosted by the Defense Writers Group. “But I am concerned, they have so few warheads that if you put an emphasis on controlling their warheads, the incentive is for them to run the other direction rather than come to the table,” she added. Gottemoeller also indicated that the question of extending New START is a separate one from trying to bring China into the arms control fold. “The way the expansion program of New START is written, it's written so that it remains in place four to five years, so from '21 to '26, or until superseded by a new treaty. So it's not as if the administration is stuck with New START for another five years,” she said. “Go for it. Work on the new treaty. Get it done. And then New START would be superseded by the new treaty entering into force,” if ratified. “Let's just get on with what we need to do in negotiating new treaties. I am concerned that there will be a lot of gamesmanship going on, and as I said, the Russians are excellent in that kind of game as well,” she added. “Let us not play around with leverage in this case, but simply extend the thing for five years and then get done what we need to get done, which is to negotiate these new treaties." https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2020/02/26/arms-control-decisions-by-trump-administration-could-be-imminent-will-china-be-involved/

By Charlie Pinkerton. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says Canadian Forces deployed to Afghanistan contributed useful insights to American forces, whose past military operations in the country have drawn new scrutiny following The Washington Post's publication of the so-called Afghanistan Papers. The documents obtained and published by the Post are the product of hundreds of interviews carried out by the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR). SIGAR was mandated to complete a series of reports exploring the effectiveness of its nearly two-decade, close to trillion-dollar mission that it began as a retaliation against al-Qaeda for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The documents fought for in court by the Post include notes, transcripts and audio recordings that the subjects had been promised would not be made public by the government. They provide a thorough look at the frustrations and concerns of top U.S. brass and a lack of understanding of the conflict by the American military and its government. One of the revelations of the Afghanistan Papers is the that as the conflict continued, top American military officials considered it an unwinnable conflict. Sajjan completed three Afghanistan tours, where he worked in intelligence before working directly with top American troops as an adviser. In giving his take on how the Canadian perspective compared to that of the Americans during the mission, Sajjan said the Canadian Armed Forces had a better understanding of the realities of the conflict than its closest allies. READ MORE: A year-end Q&A with Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan “I would say the insights the Canadians provided were actually very useful. That's one point that I'm trying to get across here, and I appreciate the Americans coming out and talking about this now,” Sajjan said. “Canadians were providing a very good perspective, very early on, to have a much more, I would say, accurate account of what is happening,” One passage the Post highlighted from the thousands of pages of documents to underscore the discontent with the conflict by U.S. officials was an interview with Douglas Lute, a former top army general who became an adviser on the Afghan war in the White House. “We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan — we didn't know what we were doing,” Lute said. “What are we trying to do here? We didn't have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking.” Sajjan said good decisions were made only with an “accurate” and “good understanding” of the Afghanistan conflict. From 2001 to 2014, 40,000 Canadians served in Afghanistan. There were 158 Canadian soldiers killed. On top of its military effort, Canada has provided more than $3 billion in international assistance to Afghanistan since 2001. In talking about Canada's operations in Afghanistan, Sajjan also defended well-known Canadian-led aspects of the mission, such as the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT, but known colloquially as omelette) and its stabilization-focused whole-of-government approach to the conflict. “What I'm trying to say here is that the work that Canada did there was highly valued and I appreciate other allies coming out with different perspectives,” Sajjan said. https://ipolitics.ca/2019/12/19/canadian-forces-had-valuable-insights-in-afghanistan-defence-minister-says-following-damning-u-s-report/