22 July - RCAF Traffic Technicians load COVID-19 related humanitarian and medical supplies on a CC-177 Globemaster to be flown to Hounduras as part of Operation GLOBE 20-02.
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IN THE NEWS
Oct 01
Driven by controversy over how its military handles major procurements, the Australian government has published revised guidelines on how agencies and departments assess their economic benefits. But a push beyond economics to undefined and unweighted “broader benefits,” such as impact on national sovereignty and supply chains, is raising concern that the new approach could reduce transparency.
Oct 01
As Moscow prepares to assume the chair next year of the eight-nation Arctic Council, which includes Canada, growing military and economic interest in a region made increasingly accessible by global warming has prompted a warning from the internationally-respected journal Nature. “It is imperative that both the incoming chair and the . . . member countries oversee a smooth handover (from Iceland) and ensure that the council’s vital scientific work isn’t disrupted,” it says.
Oct 01
British Chief of Defence Gen Nick Carter wants his government to “fundamentally change” how it counters spreading authoritarianism rivals or risk being overwhelmed. His advice coincides with publication of a new Integrated Operating Concept which underscores the value of improved domestic and international cooperation and equipment modernization. “In an era of persistent competition, our deterrent posture needs to be more dynamically managed and modulated,” Carter says.
Oct 01
NATO members France and Turkey have traded angry recriminations as international tensions mount over combat lashes between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.
Oct 01
The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale to Switzerland of Lockheed Martin or Boeing fighter aircraft as well as a Raytheon Patriot surface-to-air missile defence system.
Oct 01
The U.S. Coast Guard has begun issuing Glock Gen5 9mm pistols to its personnel, a replacement for its .40-calibre Sig Sauer P229 DAKs, which have been in service since 2006. The Army, Navy and Marine Corps has opted for Sig Sauer’s 0mm modular M-18.
Sep 30
Veterans who have suffered emotion and psychological damage from being constrained by operations orders during overseas deployments are the focus of a DND study. The aim is to understand how to not only diagnose “moral injuries” but also prevent and treat them.
Sep 30
Health Canada has approved a new rapid COVID-19 swab developed by U.S.-based Abbott Laboratories and said to deliver results within minutes. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said it will be available across the country “in the coming weeks.”
Sep 30
Erik Myggland, a member of the Canadian Army Reserves in B.C. whose personal political activities are under investigation, says the allegations against him are “rubbish.” Moves to discharge him are prompted by his public role in a U.S.-based survivalist organization and a European white-supremacist group. He says reports of his involvement are biased and fail to cite years of community services.
Sep 30
No, not the common fish-eating bird, but the RCAF’s search and rescue whirlybird. An AgustaWestland CH-148 Cormorant from 413 Sqdn in Nova Scotia, parked overnight at a radar station in northern Labrador earlier this month, evidently suffered “superficial” exterior damage by a polar bear searching for food.
Sep 30
Canada and Western allies need to accelerate the integration of emerging technologies to mitigate the growing threat of “grey zone” conflict, says a new report from QinetiQ. This report provides six strategic defence and security recommendations to help governments significantly review their defence spending and priorities in ways that will allow them to keep pace with the changing nature of warfare.
Sep 30
Lockeed Martin and Boeing proposals for new heavy transport helicopters for Germany have been rebuffed as “uneconomical.” However, what had started out as an “off the shelf” replacement for an ageing fleet of Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallions became increasingly complicated and, hence, more costly as German planners piled on requirements.
Sep 30
Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon have agreed on a plan which would require the aerospace giant to require the defense giant to invest some $70.6 million on addressing an ongoing spare parts problem with F-35 fighters. More than 15,000 spares have been delivered with incomplete or inaccurate “electronic equipment logs” which implies more in-house costs for Department of Defense managers.
Sep 30
As the U.S. Congress considers an administration push for stricter domestic content rules for major Department of Defense procurements, some former DoD officials as well as European interests argue that national security is better served by more collaboration with allies.
Sep 29
Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux is projecting that the federal deficit for this fiscal year will reach $328.5 billion, due in no small way to an estimated $225.9 billion in emergency benefits due to COVID-19. Expected to be a major factor in future spending government-wide, it would represent 15 per cent of gross domestic product, the largest in more than 50 years of comparable data. The government said in July that the deficit would be $343.2 billion, but that did not include either new spending or emergency measures which came in under budget.
Sep 29
Canadian Special Operations Forces Command remains committed to U.S.-led training exercises in Africa despite links to uprisings in Mali, where the country’s president was ousted after a coup last month. Many of the Malian troops had trained at annual exercises in which Canada has been involved for a decade.
Sep 29
U.S. Strategic Command reportedly has been asked by the White House to assess how quickly it could retrieve nuclear weapons from storage if an arms control treaty is permitted to expire next February. It’s suggested that the request is a bid to bring Moscow back to the negotiating table before the upcoming presidential election.
Sep 29
NATO Deputy Secretary Mircea Geoană says the alliance is adapting to cyber security threats despite vulnerabilities exploited during the COVID-19. Among other things, the Romanian career diplomat points out that NATO is creating up a Cyberspace Operations Centre in its command structure, setting the stage for an Article 5 response which could see all NATO members responding in concert to a cyberattack against any one member.
Sep 29
The U.S. has contracted with Maryland-based On Demand Pharmaceuticals to further develop production of drugs at the point of care. The contract flows from a 2016 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency project aimed at providing immediate care on the battlefield and in other harsh environments.
Sep 29
The Finnish telecom giant Nokia has contracted with British Telecom to provide 5G technology for BT’s “radio access network” as well as replacing its Chinese competitor, Huawei, in BT’s other networks. The government announced in July that all service providers would be prohibited from installing new Huawei technology next Jan. 1 and remove all existing installations by 2027 due to U.S.-driven national security concerns.
Sep 29
A flare-up of a long-standing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia has resulted in battles in the mountainous Nagorno-Karbakh region. Part of Azerbaijan, it has been controlled by ethnic Armenians since a war in the 1990s and there is concern that the latest conflict could draw in neighbouring powers, including Turkey, Russia and Iran.
Sep 29
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has weighed in on complaints that RCMP policy requiring front-line officers to wear tight-fitting medical grade face masks discriminates against personnel who don’t shave their beards for cultural reasons. “The presence of diverse Canadians in our police force and all our systems of authority is something extremely important for all Canadians and it is something that I certainly hope the RCMP rectifies quickly,” he said.
Sep 29
An already shaky global order will deteriorate further if leaders fail to come together on human rights, climate change and other challenges, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has warned. “The world is in crisis, and not just because of the last few months,” he said in a recorded message to the UN General Assembly. “Not just because of COVID-19, but because of the last few decades -- and because of us.”
Sep 28
The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher Wray, has told a Senate committee that his plan to “impose risks and consequences on cyber adversaries” will involve closer cooperation with the broader intelligence community. He also cited a recent escalation of indictments against alleged cyber criminals, including some linked to the Chinese, Iranian and Russian governments.
Sep 28
A paper-thin majority of Swiss voters have approved their country’s plan to replace its fleet of legacy Boeing F/A-18 Hornet fighters. Critics of the proposal had said the procurement was unnecessary, given that Switzerland is surrounded by friendly countries, but it received 50.1 per cent support, a margin of some 9,000 votes, in a national referendum.
ISSUES & IDEAS
This year’s biennial two-week Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) has finished off with a bang. In fact, lots of bangs that resulted in the sinking of a ship.
Three bids for replacing Canada's ageing fighter aircraft were received before the 31 July deadline. In advance of that much-delayed decision, contracts for new fighter facilities at 4 Wing Cold Lake and 3 Wing Bagotville are moving forward.
Ross Fetterley reflects on annual defence budgets and the impact on capabilities from long-term funding shifts as COVID continues to force the federal government to implement measures that will inject liquidity into the economy.
FEATURED ARTICLES 2020 |
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BY ROBBIN LAIRD
The Royal Australian Navy plays a big part in Australia’s extensive transformation process. The new procurement approach has been labelled a “continuous shipbuilding process,” and has the potential to impact defence procurement processes of its allies.
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.
General Jonathan Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), announced, in March 2020, the list of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) appointments, promotions, and retirements for 2020, and then announced his own retirement in July.
Personnel changes in your defence community include: Raytheon, DRS, ADGA, MDA, DND, Canadian Embassy in Washington, Cdn Forces College, and Climatopolis.
BY KEN POLE
Accurate plotting of a potential enemy's next moves has seen militaries worldwide rely increasingly on sophisticated technologies for strategic advantage, and that's where NATO's Airborne Early Warning & Control force comes in.
In naval warfare, one of the best tools for area denial is the anti-ship missile system. Iran is developing sophisticated anti-ship missile systems to counter any offensive advantage posed by its adversaries.
BY CHRIS MACLEAN
Will 2020 finally be the year in which listening turns to hearing, and then to action? Change has begun. Hopefully our leaders will embrace and assist this grassroots progress, but if not, to borrow from General Mattis, we can still do it together. What will you do?
BY KEN POLE
As 2020 rolled in, few could have guessed that members of the Canadian Armed Forces would soon be helping elderly Canadians battle an invisible enemy: the novel coronavirus that had emerged in China's Wuhan province in late 2019.
BY EUGENE GERDEN
Despite the pandemic, many European NATO members are considering raising their combat potential as one way to stimulate economies that were negatively affected by efforts to control and mitigate the effects of COVID-19.
BY JAMES FRYER
A clearer distinction between 'compulsory' and 'discretionary' missions will help ensure the military's relevance for the most important challenges facing Canadians.
BY ROSS FETTERLY
As COVID continues to force the federal government to implement measures that will inject liquidity into the economy, now is the time to reflect on annual defence budgets and the impact on capabilities from long-term funding shifts.