7 Jan – CF-188 Hornet aircraft heads home after being deployed to Op Reassurance–Air Task Force Romania, at the Mihail Kogӑlniceanu Airbase.
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Feb 25
Former Defence Minister and now Conservatives Party leadership contender Peter MacKay said 25 February that if he eventually was able to form a government, he would not permit Huwei 5G communications technology to be used in Canada. His statement, in which he also said Britain would eventually reverse its decision to permit limited 5G use, came during a wide-ranging interview.
Feb 25
Low-earth orbit commercial satellites from OneWeb and SpaceX are being considered by the U.S. Department of Defense to improve connectivity in the Arctic. At the urging of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, the air force has awarded contracts to test the platforms’ broadband capabilities in regions where satellite communications have traditionally been limited.
Feb 25
The U.S. Congress is being lobbied by a coalition of advocacy groups to “restore the balance of national security powers” between itself and the White House “All Americans have a stake in decisions to go to war, bypass ordinary laws through emergency declarations or sell weapons to foreign regimes,” they say. “However, the system of checks and balances enshrined in the Constitution is broken.”
Feb 25
The deadline for prospective suppliers to submit preliminary proposals for Canada’s next generation of fighters has been extended by three months, to 30 June. Public Services and Procurement Canada said 25 February that the extension was requested by industry.
Feb 25
The Indian government confirmed 24 February that it will spend an estimated $3 billion on new helicopters built by Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Announced during a visit by the U.S. president, the deal includes an initial $2.6 billion for 24 Lockheed Martin SH-60 SeaHawk helicopters and a planned procurement of Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.
Feb 25
Two key Royal Canadian Navy fleet upgrades, the Canadian Surface Combatant and Joint Support Ship projects, have seen significant expenditure of public funds since they were politically launched more than a decade ago. However, details tabled in the House of Commons indicate that it will be years before the first ship in either program is physically launched.
Feb 24
Israeli has launched air strikes on suspected militant positions in Syria and exchanged rocket attacks with extremists in Gaza. The new round of hostilities began 23 February after Israeli troops killed a jihadi trying to plant explosives near its border with the Gaza Strip.
Feb 24
Veterans ombudsman Craig Dalton is pressing the government to explain how it will eliminate a backlog that is keeping thousands of former Canadian Armed Forces personnel from finding out whether they qualify for benefits and support. Veterans Affairs Canada has confirmed that it had some 44,000 applications waiting to be processed at the end of September, up 10 per cent from the spring.
Feb 24
Veterans ombudsman Craig Dalton says his office is being flooded by complaints that the government is tightening access to mental health services for veterans’ families. He blames a “more restrictive interpretation” of the rules by Veterans Affairs Canada.
Feb 24
France and Germany have signed an agreement for technology demonstration elements of a proposed Future Combat Air System. The agreement covers the airframe, engines, related drone technology, data architecture and the simulation environment. The Spanish government, a latecomer to the project but so far strictly an observer, was represented at the signing.
Feb 24
A former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst faces up to 10 years in prison for sharing classified information with two journalists in 2018. Henry Frese has pled guilty. One of the journalists was his girlfriend at the time, a national security reporter for the CNBC business network.
Feb 24
A Chinese citizen has pleaded guilty to taking photographs of a U.S. Navy base in Florida. His arrest is similar to the cases of three other Chinese nationals caught photographing the base in Key West.
Feb 24
Royal Thai Air Force procurement priorities for the coming decade include new fixed-wing transport and light attack aircraft as well as combat SAR helicopters.
Feb 24
A month before his scheduled retirement as CEO of France’s Naval Group, Hervé Guillou is saying that Europe’s naval shipbuilding sector must consolidate to remain globally competitive. “Not one European domestic market is sufficiently large, including the French market, to maintain the skills and levels of competitivity which we currently enjoy,” he says.
Feb 21
Unmanned aerial systems figure prominently in Turkey’s military procurement plan for 2020. They include attack and cargo platforms, some of which are relatively new.
Feb 21
More than 1,100 U.S. veterans have criticized President Donald Trump for his ongoing attacks on LCol Alexander Vindman, who testified during the recent congressional impeachment hearings. “The president should know that, despite taking aim at one Army officer, he has targeted anyone who currently wears — or has worn — the uniform,” the group states in an open letter. “Our service members and veterans deserve the confidence of knowing that our elected leaders will come to their defense.”
Feb 21
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is warning that the U.S. “can’t continue” to tolerate Russian “noncompliance” with the 2002 Open Skies treaty which ostensibly permits signatories to overfly each others’ territories. He told reporters 19 February that while Washington has yet to decide whether to remain involved in the treaty and that he takes “no view one way or the other” on arms control, there are ongoing issues with Russia about where U.S. aircraft can fly and what types of cameras are permitted.
Feb 21
German Army BGen Fritz Urbach, the European Union's first defence attaché to Canada, is no stranger to this country. Accredited 19 February for a three-year posting to Ottawa, Urbach was a young Bundeswehr company commander in the 1980s during training exercises at Canadian Armed Forces Base Shilo, Manitoba. Prior to his posting to Canada, he headed the German Military Staff Representation to NATO and the EU in Brussels and he also has been involved in NATO-led missions in Afghanistan.
Feb 19
Growing reliance on the public cloud as a core element of public- and private-sector transition to an increasingly digital world worries Eric Trexler, vice-president of global governments and critical infrastructure at Texas-based Forcepoint, a company partly owned by Raytheon which develops and markets cybersecurity software. While the trend is expected to give agencies more data storage flexibility, he says it also amounts to an “attractive bullseye” for cyberattackers.
Feb 19
John Rood, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy at the Pentagon, is understood on the way out, ostensibly for having lost support among other national security leaders. His department has declined comment.
Feb 19
A Canadian Armed Forces inability to deploy enough women to meet UN requirements in late 2018 for a peacekeeping mission in Sudan nearly scuttled Canada’s involvement. The UN reportedly was persuaded by assurances that the CAF was putting a better personnel rotation program in place.
Feb 18
Ukrainian troops on the Crimean eastern front are reported to have come under heavy bombardment by Russian-backed rebels who claim that Ukrainian forces tried to break through their lines. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says the “provocation” would not derail his government’s push for peace under a currently fragile ceasefire agreement.
Feb 18
A legal text is still be developed but European Union states have agreed on more stringent coastal patrols off Libya to enforce a fragile UN arms embargo. The UN-recognised government in Tripoli is under attack by forces which control most of eastern and southern Libya.
Feb 18
BAE Systems completed its maiden flight of a high-altitude solar-powered aircraft with a 35-metre wingspan. The unmanned platform is designed to fly at an altitude of about 51,000m with a time aloft of more than a year at lower cost than satellites. The project is being underwritten by Britain and Australia., where the first flight took place at the Woomera Test Range.
Feb 18
A century-old military helmet designed in France is considered by biomedical researchers at Duke University in to offer better protection against overhead blasts than many modern brain buckets. They suggest that newer designs could be tweaked with, among other things, a crest such as on the 1915 French Adrian helmet, which they feel would reduce the incidence of mild trauma by deflecting shockwaves.
ISSUES & IDEAS
The Canadian Volunteer Service Medal (CVSM), which recognized the selfless and patriotic act of volunteering for service, must be re-introduced and issued to all veterans; however, the Government of Canada continues to ignore the value of volunteering to serve.
Prime Minister Trudeau convenes the government's Incident Response Group, which is tasked with reviewing national crises or foreign developments of direct relevance to Canada.
Operating unmanned aerial vehicles beyond line of sight improves their effectiveness and potential but this also requires real-time situational awareness for more effective deployment and safety reasons. Calgary-based Canadian UAVs and Lockheed Martin Canada CDL Systems have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop “a complete airspace” solution.
FEATURED ARTICLES 2019 |
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For this year's selection of Top Global Innovators, FrontLine has gathered a select group of organizations that take their Public Safety, Defence and National Security innovative priorities seriously.
The Royal Canadian Navy’s “Canadian Leaders at Sea” is a unique recruiting tool. We need to make sure that our youth know of the opportunities and possibilities that await onboard Canadian ships.
BY KEN POLE
After more than a year of operations, Canada's Air Task Force involved in Operation Presence-Mali has almost completed its mission. All that’s left is to ship eight helicopters and other sensitive materiel safely home.
BY HUDSON ON THE HILL
The Arctic and Northern Policy Framework was quietly released the day before an election was called. What does that signify about priorities for the Arctic?
BY EUGENE GERDEN
With 2020 budget projections in place, Japan is steadily increasing its national defence spending and building aircraft carriers.
What do you do after an 18-year career in the Armed Forces? One answer is consider a career in the cyber security sector.
BY GARRY W.G. CLEMENT
Is ethics at risk in Canada? To understand the public outcry and decision by the Ethics Commissioner, let’s delve into the allegations against SNC-Lavalin and examine related actions taken by the government.
With a federal election underway, what better time to discuss the consequences of incentivizing regional distribution in this Value Prop era?
FrontLine has gathered the key industry leaders in the defence and national security sectors. These are the project primes and specialized subcontractors that provide Top Quality solutions for these critical sectors.