Ottawa Police Service is seeking the public’s help in identifying a man who carved a swastika on the gravestone helmet at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 22 October. The damage, described by Veterans Affairs Minister Laurence MacAulay as “disgusting,” has been repaired.

Bombardier Recreational Products has suspended the delivery of its Rotax engines to “countries with unclear usage.” This is in response to reports that the engines, manufactured in Austria and certified for civilian use, are powering Turkish combat drones deployed by Azeri forces fighting Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Five days of talks in Geneva have yielded a UN-brokered ceasefire agreement between Libya's warring factions. UN envoy Stephanie Williams, former Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. embassy in Tripoli, says that “all military units and armed groups on the front lines shall return to their camps” and that this would be “accompanied by the departure of all mercenaries and foreign fighters . . . within a maximum period of three months.”

Pratt & Whitney Military Engines has received a contract to study modernization of the F135 engine which powers Lockheed-Martin F-35s for Block 4.2 and subsequent aircraft. PWME President Matthew Bromberg says “growth in aircraft capability must be met with matched propulsion modernization” and that the F135 “has ample design margin to support agile and affordable upgrades.”

A report released by U.S. European Command recommends that other NATO countries which either don’t operate the Lockheed Martin F-35, or have no plans to do so, should configure their fighters to work with them. Prepared by the Rank think-tank, it's predicated on the concept that the F-35 is the only aircraft capable of initial contact with Russian forces.

Canada and U.S. allies in Europe have increased defence spending for a sixth consecutive year but a new NATO report highlights a continued shortfall. France and Norway are forecast to join eight other countries spending at least two percent of GDP on defence this year.

The U.S. has approved a $1.8-billion arms sale to Taiwan which includes cruise missiles, mobile rocket launchers and fighter-mountable reconnaissance pods. Taiwan says the procurement would help to “build credible combat capabilities and strengthen the development of asymmetric warfare.”

A proposed sale of Lockheed Martin F-25s to the United Arab Emirates is being challenged by two Senate Democrats who have tabled a bill designed to block delivery unless the U.S. administration meets certain criteria. Among other things, they want a report detailing the technical risks of selling the F-35 to non-NATO countries except for a few allies.

A Departmenrt of National Defence report indicates that five years into Operation Honour, the military is still having to deal with bullying and harassment. Many who report abuse complain of having been abandoned by the chain of command despite assurances by senior leaders and the government.

RCAF veteran Karen McCrimmon, the first female navigator and first woman to command a squadron before a tour in Afghanistan and then a posting to NATO Air headquarters in Germany, has been re-elected chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence. 

The National Security Agency has issued an advisory that Chinese-connected adversaries are targetting vulnerable U.S. systems. “It can be hard to prioritize patching and mitigation efforts,” says NSA Cybersecurity Director Anne Neuberger. “While these vulnerabilities are already public, they’re still being successfully leveraged by malicious cyber actors,” highlighting the need for action.

Only days after each side had rejected the other’s latest nuclear Terrence offers, the concept of a mutual nuclear warhead freeze between the U.S. and Russia has been raised by the latter’s foreign ministry. The quid pro quo for Moscow would be an extension of their last treaty.

U.S. Marine MajGen. Stephen Neary, commander of USMC Forces Europe and Africa, has been dismissed due to “a loss of trust and confidence in his ability.” He is under investigation for allegedly asking junior personnel how they felt about the “N-word”.

The Azeri and Armenian foreign ministers are scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington this week in an attempt to quell the territorial dispute in Nagorno-Karabakh, part of Azerbaijan with a large Armenian population. It is not clear, however, whether the two ministers will themselves meet as well as independently with Pompeo.

Europe’s Border and Coast Guard Agency has awarded Airbus Defense & Space and Israel Aerospace Industries a contract to supply a long-range Remotely Piloted Aerial Surveillance system to be operated out of Greece or Malta. IAI’s maritime Heron RPAS can fly more than 24 hours at a time, providing real-time imagery.

Concerned about the environmental impact of growing use of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, the Canadian government has challenged industry to come up with products that won't end up in landfills. A key challenge is transforming contaminated materials into “valuable materials that can further be used in manufactured products.”

Minutes after a weekend ceasefire in the disputed region of Naforno-Karabakh ostensibly took effect, Armenia and Azerbaijan were accusing each of violations. A previous Russian-brokered ceasefire also saw each side violating it through the week.

A new Dutch defence ministry “vision document” cautions that the country would need to nearly triple its annual military budget, currently some USD$13 billion, to achieve what is described as “a string of vague proposals” designed to yield a multi-use networked fighting force by 2035. Moreover, meeting a NATO target of two per cent of GDP would require an additional $8 billion hike from current spending.

Lockheed Martin and California-based Aerojet Rocketdyne plan to compete jointly for the next-generation U.S. missile defence interceptor. It would replace an earlier Redesigned Kill Vehicle program which was terminated by the Department of Defense last year due to technical challenges, but the goal now is to have a new system ready in 2028.

A compact EASA radar for small and medium-sized platforms has been shown off by Thales. Although still subject to further testing, the French military have already confirmed plans to procure it for their future light joint army helicopter. Some 30 per cent smaller than others in its class, the new unit is said to be easier to integrate and operate.

Contrary to President Donald Trump’s social media messaging, U.S. troops will not be withdrawn from Afghanistan by Christmas. National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien says the drawdown will begin in early 2021.

A €250-million procurement of 12,000 assault rifles has been suspended by the German defence ministry in response to “verifiable information” that the chosen supplier, Haenel, may have breached a patent held by Heckler & Koch. Haenel is owned by Abu Dhabi-based Caracal International, in turn part of the United Arab Emirates EDGE Group.

Russia has dismissed U.S. claims that there has been an “agreement in principle” on extending the New START arms control agreement. The U.S. administration’s arms control envoy, Marshall Billingslea, had said there was a “gentleman’s agreement” at the “highest levels” but Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says Washington’s proposal was “unacceptable.”

A German year-long research mission in the Arctic has confirmed that permanent sea ice continues to disappear due to global warming. “The ice is disappearing and if in a few decades we have an ice-free Arctic, this this will have a major impact on the climate around the world,” the chief scientist says.

The South Korean Army wants to replace its fleet of 103 Sikorsky UH-60P Black Hawk helicopters with domestically-developed KUH-1 Surion utility helicopters. The projected cost of 130 Surions is equivalent to US$ billion, more expensive that upgrading the legacy fleet but considered an important boost for domestic industry.

Two European telecom service providers have chosen 5G technology from Finland’s Nokia Corp. for their networks in Belgium, dropping China’s Huawei. The decision followed months of diplomatic pressure from the U.S., which considers the Chinese technology a national security risk.

In stark contrast to the customary Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial, which usually draws thousands of participants and spectators, this year’s 11 November will reflect the realities of another battle: the ongoing COVID-19 campaign. The Royal Canadian Legion, which hopes to line the site with wreaths, plans to have only 100 actual participants, all masked and within protected barriers, and wants spectators to watch the ceremony remotely.

Integrated navigation and tactical systems developed by B.C.-based OSI Maritime Systems for three inshore patrol vessels built in Cape Town for the South African navy have completed initial acceptance testing. The choice of OSI technology minimized development and shortened the delivery time.

Collins Aerospace has received a contract to build the U.S. Army’s Mounted Assured Position Navigation and Timing System, designed to ensure that troops know their precise location even if GPS is jammed. MAPS will fuse data from multiple sources.

U.S. government departments and agencies have been tasked with developing a plan to address mental health issues exacerbated by COVID-19. The White House has proposed a an “all-of-government” approach to the pandemic’s impact on all vulnerable populations.

The escalating Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict over Nagorno-Karabachk evidently is being “shadowed” by a social-media battle over how it is being portrayed to the outside world. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute says researchers at its Cyber Policy Centre have found large numbers of accounts weighing on both sides, indicating large-scale coordination.

The controversial advent of 5G technologies will dramatically increase the number of internet-connected devices but it also increases opportunities for hackers. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has found the government’s national 5G strategy lacking in that it only partly addresses five of six key concerns and ignores the sixth.

The cost to taxpayers of defending then Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O'Regan in a small claims court defamation case has topped $213,500, according to information prepared by the Justice Department but released in the Senate. Former RCAF intelligence officer Sean Bruyea sued the minister (now at Natural Resources) for $25,000, saying that he had been defamed in a newspaper article written by O’Regan. The suit has since been settled without disclosure.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has unveiled a plan to reshape the U.S. Navy by moving away from large aircraft carriers and using more submarines and smaller, faster unmanned vessels. He has called for an overall fleet of more than 500 by 2045 —355 by 2035 — which would require Congress to increase the navy’s shipbuilding budget.