Breaking News
|
Vanguard Features
|
|
Digital edition
Forgot your print copy? On the go with only your iPad, Notebook or laptop? Enjoy the digital edition of the Dec/Jan 2012 issue.
|
|
|
A case for the Joint Strike Fighter
As partner nations continue to evaluate their participation in the Joint Strike Fighter program, Marco Wyss and Alex Wilner make a case for Canada's purchase of the F-35 jet fighters. Notwithstanding valid arguments about the eventual sticker price, they argue that "military interoperability with allies will be of paramount importance if Canada wants to use airpower to do anything other than defend its sovereignty in the coming decades."
|
 Quinn.JPG)
|
|
Warfare centre models Navy’s next ships
Well before and long after the navy’s new ships under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy take to sea, many of their requirements will be assessed by the Canadian Forces Maritime Warfare Centre. Captain (N) William Quinn describes the CFMWC and its role in navy tactics and doctrine.
|
|
|
The lessons of operational support
Dubbed by some as the crown jewel in the nascent operational command structure, CANOSCOM has seen a hectic 18 months of mission activation and closure operations, in addition to sustaining the longest operation since the Korean War. MGen Mark McQuillan talks about changes in how the Canadian Forces supports troops in expeditionary and domestic operations.
|
|
|
Expanded responsibility
The call for Spanish speakers to participate in training exercises at the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre in Wainwright, Alberta, did not grab headlines. But the replacement of an Afghan training scenario with a Latin American one for Exercise Maple Resolve later this fall is part of a larger shift taking place within the Canadian Forces. LGen Walter Semianiw, Commander of Canada Command, spoke with Vanguard about what the change will mean.
|
In the News
|
|
|
Final C-130J headed for acceptance flights
Jan 26 - Lockheed Martin completed final painting this week on the 17th of 17 CC-130Js built for the Royal Canadian Air Force. The aircraft is schedule for delivery in May following acceptance flights.
|
|
|
|
Cassidian protects military vehicles against roadside bomb attacks
Jan 26 - Cassidian has developed a new-generation Vehicle Protection Jammer to protect against attacks by radio-controlled IEDs. The series went into full production late last year.
|
|
|
|
CAE awarded military contracts valued at more than C$100 million
Jan 19 - Montreal-based CAE has been awarded contracts from DND to perform major upgrades to CC-130H aircraft and CH-146 helicopter simulators. It has also received contracts from Professional Way in Malaysia to provide long-term support services for an AW139 full-flight simulator.
|
|
|
|
Irving Shipbuilding celebrates agreement with government
Jan 13 - Prime Minister Stephen Harper stopped in Halifax and North Vancouver yesterday to mark the successful conclusion of agreements in principle to build combat and non-combat vessels under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS). The first stop was the Halifax shipyards and Irving Shipbuilding, where production of four Hero-Class Mid-Shore Patrol Vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard paused momentarily for the announcement.
|
|
|
|
Raytheon wins contract for experimental radar site
Jan 13 - Raytheon Canada has been awarded a $7 million contract to build and install a next-generation High Frequency Surface Wave Radar (HFSWR) system and to assess the performance of this technology in an operational environment. The contract is part of a DRDC project initiated in 2007 to support surveillance by the Canadian Forces of Canadas maritime approaches by exploring the performance of commercially available and developmental sensor systems.
|
|
|
|
Textron Systems Canada moves to new offices
Jan 12 - Textron Systems Canada Inc. has moved its offices a stone's throw from Parliament Hill, setting up shop on Sparks Street. The company, a contender for the Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle, has two business units employing more than 1,800 Canadians.
|
|
|
|
CaseBank SpotLight selected by Lockheed Martin for the C-130J
Jan 11 - Mississauga-based CaseBank Technologies' Spotlight diagnostic management software has been selected by Lockheed Martin for a test and evaluation program with the C-130J Super Hercules. It's the second major application of SpotLight by Lockheed Martin; the software is currently shipping with every F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as the primary off-board diagnostics system.
|
|
|
|
Ultra Electronics TCS receives US Army order
Jan 10 - As the US Army transitions to an Everything-over-IP (EOIP) network model, it has awarded Montreal-based Ultra Electronics, TCS, orders totaling $23 million for tactical communications equipment, specifically shelter upgrade kits and additional AN/GRC-245 radios for the US Army's Warfighter Information Network Tactical (WIN-T) program.
|
|
|
|
Oshkosh Defense expands Canadian operations
Jan 9 - To help support its bids for both the Canadian TAPV program and Standard Military Pattern (SMP) portion of the Medium Support Vehicle System (MSVS) program, Oshkosh Defense opened a new office in Ottawa this week. "Our presence in Ottawa will enable regular dialogue and long-term collaboration from the initial production through vehicle sustainment," Serge Buchakjian, senior VP of international programs.
|
|
|
|
Textron TAPV completes Forces testing
Jan 4 - Textron Systems Canada announced this week that its candidate for the Canadian Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle (TAPV) program survived the physical testing portion of the competitive bid process, conducted between October and early December at the U.S. Army Aberdeen test centre in Maryland. Though the test results have not been released, Textron said its TAPV had met or exceeded the CF requirements in independent testing before it was sent to Aberdeen.
|
|
|
|
Rheinmetall receives Canadian order for Buffel/Buffalo armoured recovery vehicle
Dec 20 - Canada will be the eighth country to field the Büffel/Buffalo armoured recovery after the Rheinmetall Group of Düsseldorf, Germany, won a contract worth around C$54.7 million. The contract includes manufacturing and delivery of the tracked armoured vehicles as well as related training support. Delivery is slated for 2013-2014.
|
|
|
|
First structural upgrades on Aurora completed
Dec 9 - The first of 10 CP-140 Aurora aircraft received its completed set of structural upgrades through the Aurora Structural Life Extension Project (ASLEP). The project, launched in 2008, involves major upgrades to the body of the aircraft, including the replacement of the wings and horizontal stabilizers, and will increase the structural life and operational availability of the fleet into the 2020 timeframe.
|
|
|
More industry news
|
|
|
Appointments
|
|
|
Beaudoin, Castelli appointed to CEO trade forum
Jan 5 - The government named six business leaders to the new Canada-Brazil CEO Forum, created in August to foster trade and investment between both countries. The six appointees include two with ties to the defence sector, Pierre Beaudoin, president and CEO of Bombardier, and Ray Castelli, CEO of Weatherhaven, which among other things builds military shelters. Castelli previously served six years in government as deputy chief of staff to the prime minister and chief of staff to the minister of national defence.
|
|
|
|
Batstone named new NGRAIN CEO
Nov 9 - Gabe Batstone has been appointed NGRAINs CEO after returning to the company earlier this year to become its chief operating officer. He had been serving as managing director for CAE Flightscape. He takes over from Paul Lindahl, who is joining NGRAIN's board of directors.
|
|
|
|
Blott joins OSI Geospatial board
Oct 14 - Patrick A. Blott, founder of Blott Asset Management L.L.C. in 2005, has joined the Board of OSI Geospatial. He was an original member of Borealis Capital Corporation and has served as a senior investment professional at JP Morgan & Co, BMO, and Banc of America Securities. OSI also announced the resignation of Prashant Pathak as director of the company.
|
|
|
|
Grubb to chair NATO police chiefs' committee
Oct 6 - Colonel Tim Grubb, the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal (CFPM), has been appointed chairman of the NATO Nations Military Police Chiefs Committee. Grubb, the CFPM since 2009, has overseen significant transformation in the CF military police organization. Earlier this year, CFPM assumed command and control of all MP personnel performing policing duties.
|
|
|
|
Beare appointed CEFCOM commander
Sept 15 - National Defence confirmed a number of senior promotions that have taken place over the past few months. Of note, Marquis Hainse was promoted to LGen and appointed Deputy Commander Joint Force Headquarters in Naples, Italy; Stu Beare was promoted to LGen and appointed Commander Canadian Expeditionary Forces Command; Richard Blanchette was promoted to MGen and appointed Military Advisor to the National Security Advisor at the Privy Council Office; and Steve Bowes was promoted to MGen and appointed Commander Land Forces Doctrine and Training System, in Kingston.
|
|
|
Reports
|
|
|
Securing the Continent
Nov 15 - As Canada Command redefines its area of responsibility, Colonel (Ret'd) Alan Stephenson looks at the role of NORAD in a paper for CDFAI. Though the Command remains important to North American security, he highlights "the challenges of NORADs three stated missions in the domestic realm where overlapping jurisdictions and interagency authorities complicate operations due to national laws and regulations" and addresses the challenges of Maritime Warning where interagency cooperation is crucial.
|
|
|
|
What Canada should learn from Afghanistan
Oct 20 - Following a decade of war in Afghanistan, David Bercuson and Jack Granatstein have asked the paramount question in many peoples' minds: "what were the lessons of the war?" In a paper for CDFAI, they note Canada's limited "situational awareness" of the geopolitical landscape, NATO's shortfalls, and the political manoeuvring and sham fights in Ottawa over the Afghanistan commitment through a succession of minority governments" that weakened public support. Canada was right to participate, they argue, unless politicians and bureaucrats "also learned the lessons of the Afghan War, the price paid by Canada and Canadians will have been far too high.
|
|
|
|
Expand the Reserves
Sept 21 - It's no secret that the Reserves have played a critical role in Afghanistan, but despite numerous calls over the years for an expanded Army Reserve with an improved mobilization framework, all efforts have been thwarted, according to a report by Jack English, a military historian and former infantry officer, for the Strategic Studies Working Group. In The Role of the Militia in Todays Canadian Forces, he suggests that with the Regular Army stretched as thin as it currently appears, the Reserves could be an answer: "the army cannot help but benefit from an expanded Militia capable of fielding fulltime citizen-soldiers as required."
|
|
|
|
Navy and Coast Guard: Can they cooperate or just simply co-exist?
June 24 - With many eyeing the Arctic as a great lake, and therefore a responsibility for the Coast Guard, the Strategic Studies Working Group has released a timely report examining cooperation between the Navy and Coast Guard. Retired Vice-Admiral JY Forcier writes that while Canada operates distinct Navy and Coast Guard fleets, they have just two things in common: "both contribute to the maritime search and rescue and both are occasionally tasked to support the RCMP...." In fact, he says, "there are no day-to-day coordination mechanisms ashore for resource allocation for all other national tasks. There is no whole-of-government strategic direction body that provides coherent direction and guidance in matters of maritime issues."
|
|
|
Featured Event
January 23-26, 2012
Soldier Technology 2012
Effective soldier systems modernization to lighten the load and increase situational awareness for the soldier.
Location: Marriot Gateway, Crystal City, Arlington
Web: www.wbresearch.com/soldiertechnologyusa
|
|
Conferences and Exhibitions
|
|
Canadian Government Executive
|
|
|
