Richard Fadden — a former former National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, former Deputy Minister of National Defence and former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service — has received the 29^th Vimy Award from the Conference of Defence Associations. He used his acceptance speech to say, among other things, that perhaps one of the greatest threats faced by a “dysfunctional” West is a lack of a common threat assessment. Fadden also said China and Russia are strategic adversaries, not just aggressive competitors.

The Aerospace Industries Association of Canada announced the election of Keith Donaldson, Vice-President, APEX Inc, as Chair of the AIAC Board of Directors. Mr. Donaldson succeeds Pat Mann, President of Patlon Aircraft & Industries.

The U.S. Justice Department has unveiled an interagency Procurement Collusion Strike Force it says will “deter, detect, investigate, and prosecute antitrust crimes and related criminal schemes.” Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen says that when prospective suppliers rig bids for government contracts, it results in inflated prices and added costs for all taxpayers.

Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio wants the Department of Defense to look into reports that Chinese surveillance technologies are in use at U.S. military facilities. In a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Rubio says “every day that passes only provides our adversaries additional time to infiltrate and exploit our national security.”

The cost of buying and preparing to operate two Boeing 747s for Air Force One presidential transport has increased to some $5.3 billion, nearly one-third more than the White House has said. The latest price tag, set out in 2020 Pentagon budget documents, is the first time a formal cost has been detailed.

Nearly 100 contracts will be up for grabs, including a dozen valued at more than $100 million, when the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency’s 2020 budget is finalized.

Asked to respond to French President Emmanuel Macron’s comment that NATO is near “brain death”, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the alliance plays a key role as a group of countries which have shared values and a commitment to security.

Aventura Technologies Inc. of Long Island, N.Y., is alleged to have sold some $20 million in Chinese surveillance and other sensitive security equipment to U.S. customers after claiming they were manufactured in the U.S. Its customers included the Defense and Energy departments. U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said the situation, which has led to a criminal complaint, raises “a grave concern” about cybersecurity.

The Iranian government is accelerating its nuclear development program by injecting uranium gas into centrifuges at its underground Fordo nuclear facility, a critical step back from its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. It also has preventing an International Atomic Energy Agency official from visiting the site. The stepped use of centrifuges eventually would enrich uranium up to 4.5 per cent, just above agreed-to limits but will short of the 90 per cent required for weapons-grade uranium.

German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer says her country plans to spend two per cent of its gross domestic product on defence by 2031, the goal set by NATO leaders five years ago. She says that while the alliance will remain “the anchor of European security,” it was clear that Europe “must increase its own complementary ability to act.” Only seven members currently meet the two per cent target.

Three days before Nov. 11, the non-profit Angus Reid Institute says many Canadians will use the commemoration as an opportunity to reflect on the service and sacrifices of the Canadian Armed Forces. It says a new poll indicated that 25 per cent of Canadians will attend a formal Remembrance Day service and that an addition 25 per cent have suggested they might. A significant 80 per cent say Canada must to more to honour its veterans.

Having doubled its spending on directed energy weapons over the past two years, the Pengaton’s investment evidently is bearing fruit. The U.S. Air Force recently tested five systems with a view to deploying at least two overseas next year.

Four companies have been chosen by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to develop prototype sensors capable of detecting and tracking hypersonic weapons. Northrop Grumman, Leidos, Raytheon and Harris Corp., each awarded a $20 million contract, were among 12 potential suppliers. The MDA is contemplating a constellation of hundreds of low-earth orbit satellites.

A U.S. defence budget bill for 2020 has stalled in the Senate amid partisan fighting over the President Donald Trump’s diversion of military funds for his border wall project. With Democrats withholding support, a vote on the bill was defeated 51-41.

Moving in to prevent oilwells from coming back under Daesh control, U.S. Army Bradley armoured vehicles and troops have rolled into eastern Syria. Meanwhile, other U.S. forces continue to withdraw from northern Syria.

Saab and Raytheon are getting ready to show off a new precision-guided munition designed to double the range of the Swedish company’s Carl-Gustaf recoilless rifle to 2,000 metres. The laser-guided weapon has a reduced back-blast which means it is safer to fire within confined spaces.

Less than a week after Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi committed suicide rather than be captured by U.S. forces, the jihadist group has announced that it has chosen a replacement. He is identified as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurashi, which is believed to be a nom de guerre, but the group provided no other details except that he was a “prominent figure in jihad” who has fought U.S. forces.

Details are sparse but Richard Neal, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, is scheduled to visit Ottawa Nov. 6 for talks with Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland about the new North American trade agreement. Neal also is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Japan’s request for an upgrade package for 98 of its Boeing F-15 Eagle interceptors has been approved by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency within the U.S. State Department. The estimated cost of new Raytheon radar, Honeywell mission computers, BAE electronic warfare systems and integration of new Lockheed Martin munitions is estimated at $4.5 billion.

Turkey has condemned two U.S. House of Representatives resolutions designed to prohibit most U.S. weapons sales to the other NATO member. Legislators say the relationship has been deteriorating for some  over Turkey’s incursion into Syria and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to procure a Russian air defence system.

Afghan forces supported by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency are being accused by Human Rights Watch of abuse which amounted to war crimes. Based on discussions with locals, HRW says in a new report that the abuses included extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and attacks on healthcare facilities.

The U.S. Air Force wants a centralized computer system to improve how military and other government space systems respond to threats such as jamming attacks or orbital debris. The Government Accountability Office says since earlier in-house efforts have been behind schedule and over budget and difficult aspects have been deferred, the USAF should include independent software development reviews to improve its acquisition strategy.

Machine learning technologies could become the U.S. military’s first line of defence against cyberattacks and other suspicious activities. The Defense Information Systems Agency has begun seeking out commercial cybersecurity tools that could detect and respond to incidents across the agency’s numerous networks without direct input from humans. Automation and machine learning are seen as a way to free Department of Defense personnel to concentrate on other threats.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu says Kurdish forces have withdrawn from a buffer zone between Turkey and northeastern Syria while Russian and Syrian troops have moved into the area. A deal struck last week by Russia and Turkey halted the latter’s invasion of the contested area after most U.S. troops allied with the Kurds had pulled out.

The latest quarterly financials from Virginia-headquartered General Dynamics Corp. show that Saudi Arabia still owes some $3.4 billion in payments for Light Armoured Vehicles built by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada in London, Ont.

A day after the U.S. Department of Defense announced a $34-billion buy of 478 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning IIs, the DoD says the price of the Joint Strike Fighter is not declining as much as expected. The F-35 program director, USAF LGen Eric Fick, told reporters Oct. 29 that engine costs are a key factor even though Pratt & Whitney says it has already cut costs by more than half.

Derek Tournear, acting director of the seven-month-old Space Development Agency within the U.S. Department of Defense, has been confirmed as director. A physicist, the veteran government scientist and research who also has worked in the private sector, succeeded the agency’s first director, Fred Kennedy, a retired USAF General who left in June.

Entry into service of the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation aerial refuelling platform, the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus tanker, apparently is being delayed by problems with its remote vision system, an array of cameras and sensors used by the boom operator. There also have been issues with cargo and seat locks.

The Boeing X-37B unmanned test vehicle developed for the U.S. Air Force has returned to earth in Florida after 780 days in orbit. USAF Secretary Barbara Barret says the platform continues to demonstrate the utility of a reusable spaceplane. The mission began in September 2017 with the launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 lifter.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper says U.S. armour and troops will remain in eastern Syrian to guard Kurdish-controlled oilfields from Daesh. However, he told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, the withdrawal of other troops will continue.

Two models of turboprop light attack aircraft are being acquired by the U.S. Air Force. The initial procurement is only for two or three each of the Textron Aviation AT-6 Wolverine and the Sierra Nevada Corporation/Embraer Defense and Security A-29 Super Tucano, but the manufacturers hope that an initial two-year operational test will lead to more. The aircraft are to be used to support “allies and partner capacity, capability and interoperability via training and experimentation.”

Steel has been cut for the first of five new 4,500-tonne frigates for the French Navy, a platform the government is promoting for export as well. Defence Minister Florence Parly attended the ceremony in the company of Adm Nicolaos Tsunis, Greece’s naval chief of staff whose government has contract for two of the new ships. Representatives of New Zealand and Poland also attended the steel-cutting ceremony.

Opposition parties in the British House of Commons are gearing up for a Oct. 29 vote on whether to call a snap election – a day after defeating a motion by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to have an snap election to reinforce his Brexit campaign. Meanwhile, European Union leaders have agreed in principle to what the European Council’s Polish president, Donald Tusk is calling a “flextension”of the European Union’s deadline, until Jan. 31.

VAdm Charles Richard, nominated by President Donald Trump to head U.S. Strategic Command, comes across as carefully critical about an administration proposal to withdraw from the 1992 Open Skies treaty whereby signatories can overfly each others’ territory. The White House proposal is predicated on claims that Russia has been restricting access. Richard says it is important for all signatories to comply and acknowledges that the U.S. does derive some benefits.