In this show, Marcello Sukhdeo talks about the call by the Senate’s defence committee to scrap the purchase of Boeing Super Hornets, also he touches on the grilling of Defence Minister Sajjan and developing the super soldier.
Show Notes:
The Senate's defence committee is recommending that the Trudeau government forget about buying an interim fleet of Boeing’s Super Hornet fighters and instead look at replacing the entire fleet of CF-18s.
The Senate committee said that the interim Super Hornet purchase would hinder more than help. They are urging the federal government to hold a quick competition to pick a permanent solution for Canada’s next fighter plane and make a decision by end of June, 2018.
A few weeks ago, the same committee released another report which reveals that our current defence spending is at an historic low — at around 0.88 per cent of gross domestic product. The committee recommends that the federal government lay out a plan to increase spending to two per cent of GDP over an 11-year period.
This report is not binding on the federal government and in the past, the previous administrations have ignored what Senate committees say. But, given what is going on currently in the political realm, with the Trump administration really pushing allies on defence spending, we can see what the Senate committee is recommending may push the federal government to increase defence spending.
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The minister and his fellow Liberal MPs are trying to shift the conversation and by blaming the conservatives of inconsistent investment in defence over the years.
MPs on the other hand are trying to make the case that he should no longer serve as Defence Minister. The motion says, “the House has lost confidence in the Minister of National Defence’s ability to carry out his responsibilities on behalf of the Government since, on multiple occasions the Minister misrepresented his military service and provided misleading information to the House.”
A vote on the matter is expected anytime soon and it looks like Liberal majority in the Commons will vote for the motion to not pass.
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In the battlefield, maintaining a competitive advantage not only requires sound military strategy and weaponry, but also a consistently high degree of performance by soldiers, operating in multi-dimensional roles.
To get to the level of super soldiers, military leaders and defence experts are looking to enhance the critical, social, cultural and ethical skills and knowledge of soldiers to improve overall military performance.
This subject will be addressed at the twelfth annual Kingston Conference on International Security (KCIS).
The two-day event has six panels that will delve into overcoming human limitations, emerging technologies to successfully accelerate the physical limits of troops, processing and analyzing information for optimal decision making in operational environments.
The panels on the second day will include increasing social, cultural, and gender-based awareness, the multiple dimensions of resilience and how we should approach military performance enhancement.
This event will take place from June 12 to 14 in Kingston, Ontario. If you would like to know more, please go here.
The major challenges of body-worn cameras
In this episode, Marcello Sukhdeo talks about body-worn camera technology and the benefits and challenges of it. Also, he shares the latest Vanguard's game changers that will be published in the Apr/May issue.
Body-worn Cameras
Over the recent months and years, we have seen incidents of the use of force by law enforcement officers triggering a public outcry and civil rights concerns.
Many police services have started experimenting with body-worn cameras to help protect their officers while having a record of their interactions with the public.
But this according to an article written by Valarie Findlay there is uncertainty about how much body-worn cameras will help with officers' interactions with the public — and whether it will improve the behaviours of both the public and police officers in all situations?
Recently Ottawa Police Services announced they will be launching a body-worn camera pilot project to test the effectiveness of this technology.
But the question to ask is: Are Canadian law enforcement organizations — and the public — ready for the challenges that come with the technology?
To get the answer we need to take a look at the early body-worn camera programs, such as the one with Devon and Cornwall Police (UK). The focus was on getting evidence and preserving victim first-disclosure. Also, to reduce public complaints and inappropriate behaviours while being a tool to reduce the use of force.
In the U.S., for example, the demand for body-worn cameras and rapid adoption have ramped up as a result of increased racial conflicts and race-related shootings in interactions with police. In in the U.S. in 2013, about 95 per cent of the 17,500 state and local law enforcement agencies were either committed to body cameras or had completed their implementation. That's a high percentage.
Many of these pilot programs have produced data indicating high success rates, but what does the research say? Studies showed that body-worn cameras did improve complaints and interactions, but further examination of the data revealed that some officers wore cameras only half of the time, on the positive side, complaints were resolved quickly due to the accessibility of video evidence.
As the acceptance of this technology by the public and by officers grows, there are concerns over privacy.
Privacy and the cost to implement and sustain this program are the main challenges that the body-worn camera project faces.
For Canadian law enforcement organizations, they are in a good position to glean lessons learned in the U.S. and the U.K. before implementing and by then the cost of this technology and deployment will hopefully be more affordable to warrant implementation.
Vanguard's Game Changers
· Len Anderson, CEO of Renaissance Repair and Supply and Terra Nova Eng
· Philippe Dupuis, President of Precision 3D
· Duane Barry, VP of Business Development and acting Managing Director of QinetiQ Canada
For the full interviews, go to VanguardCanada.com and click on the Game Changers tab.
The government hast just extended the CAF's anti-ISIS operations. But that's not the only change that's worth reporting about the military's mission in Iraq.
Also, a team of former and current military experts are recommending an overhaul of the Royal Military College of Canada's training module.
New collaborations and contracts are reported by defence industry firms Airbus, SITA, Mannarino Systems & Software, Lockheed Martin, Field Aviation and CAE.
Links:
http://www.vanguardcanada.com/2017/03/31/field-aviation-to-upgrade-ct-156-harvard-aircraft/
That’s right, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with its 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, represents several procurement contract opportunities worth several billion dollars for Canadian defence companies.
And NITEC17, the NATO Communications and Information (NCI) agency industry conference, is bringing more than 600 high-level defence experts from across the allied militaries, industry and academia to Ottawa for a three-day conference from April the 24th to the 26th.
The theme of this year’s event is Sharpening NATO’s Technological Edge: Adaptive Partnerships and the Innovative Power of Alliance Industry.
Vanguard Radio recently spoke with Peter Scaruppe, director of acquisition for NCI,and during our brief interview outlined some of NATOs procurement needs and its current focus on building its cyber capabilities.
Hear more of what Scaruppe had to say in our podcast…
“NITEC17 will be of interest to the Canadian security and defence industry because it will inform them on what are the future contracting opportunities in the pipeline over the next one to three years within NATO,” according to Scaruppe. “The conference will help Canadian industry understand the NATO system better – how we do acquisition, which technologies are in demand with NATO, and how to successfully take part in the procurement process.”
Podcast time stamp:
00:55 – The role of the NCI director of acquisition
01:53 – NATO’s $4.2 billion procurement programs
02:13 – Why NITEC17 is important for Canadian companies
04:46 – What are the potential contract opportunities within NATO
07:25 – 10 upcoming main competitions
08:39 – NATO’s IT procurement needs
09: 18 – Focus on Infrastructure as a Service
10: 38 – Featured speakers and business and networking opportunities
13:19 – Advice on how to make the most out of NITEC17
To find out more about NITEC17 and to register, click on this link
In this episode of Vanguard Radio:
Links:
http://www.vanguardcanada.com/2017/02/08/dod-looking-to-rent-space-at-trump-tower/
http://www.vanguardcanada.com/2017/02/08/black-canadians-at-vimy-ridge/
http://www.vanguardcanada.com/2017/02/09/l3-proposes-spydr-ii-system-for-dnds-manned-isr-program/
In this episode of Vanguard Radio, we cover the latest C4ISR and Beyond 2017 conference in Ottawa, an upcoming competition, between Lockheed Martin’s F-35 and Boeing’s Super Hornet, the promotion of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s first ever female second in command, and the Ranger’s unique snowmobile expedition.
Show Links:
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re likely well aware that cybersecurity and state-sponsored hacking a really major nice topics these days.
One only needs to dial in on the social media chatter from U.S. about its intelligence community
and their recent briefing on Russian hacking operations in the U.S. to president elect Donald Trump and his strong reactions to what he had to say
To gauge the how much cybersecurity has entered the public discussion.
Here in Canada, we just found out that our government systems as not as secure as we would want to believe. Checkout the vanguard article: Government computer networks can’t standup to cyberattacks: Report Documents from Public Safety Canada indicate that the country is a prime target for cybercrime, state-sponsored cyberattacks, and lone wolf-type hackers. Consulting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers prepared for the federal public safety and emergency organization by which revealed that Canada’s federal information technology systems are ill-equipped to handle potential cyberattacks.
Today, we have with us French Caldwell, chief evangelist of governance, risk and compliance company Metric Stream to discuss with us what this could mean to the government and the military and defence establishment as well as companies doing business with them.
We hope you enjoyed and found a lot of useful information from our interview with French Caldwell.
This is your host Nestor Arellano
Saying see you again on the next episode of Vanguard Radio.