HMCS Athabaskan, Delivery of Ultra-Light Combat Vehicles and Nunavut’s High Arctic.
In this episode, the HMCS Athabaskan to be dismantled by July 2019, delivery of the first Ultra-Light Combat Vehicle is underway and Canadian forces getting ready for an operation in Nunavut’s High Arctic.
Show Notes:
Public Services and Procurement Canada recently awarded a contract valued at $5.7m to Marine Recycling Corporation for the disposal of the Royal Canadian Navy's (RCN) former Iroquois-class destroyer, HMCS Athabaskan.
As part of the contract, the company is responsible for towing the vessel to its facility located in Sydney, Nova Scotia. At this location, Marine Recycling will then demilitarise equipment, remedy hazardous waste and recycling of any remaining materials.
ULCV
The Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) has accepted delivery of its first Ultra-Light Combat Vehicles (ULCV). These vehicles, which were procured from Polaris Industries Limited.
In December 2016, the Government of Canada announced a contract valued at $20.6M to Polaris Industries Limited for the acquisition of 52 ULCV along with the option to procure an additional 26 vehicles over a two-year period at an additional cost.
CAF’s Nunavut Exercise
The Canadian Armed Forces has many plans already in place for its annual Nunalivut spring sovereignty exercise, which the Nunavut Impact Review Board is now reviewing.
Every year since 2007, the military, backed by the Canadian Rangers, has headed north to test its soldiers and equipment in cold weather conditions.
This year, according to a Department of Defence submission to the NIRB, most of the exercises during will take place in Cambridge Bay, the home of the Canadian High Arctic Research Station, with some planned for Resolute Bay, where the Canadian Armed Forces Arctic Training Centre is located.
NATO’s Chiefs of Defence meeting and new sanctions against North Korea
In this episode, NATO’s Chiefs of Defence held their first meeting of year, Canada does not have much room to introduce new sanctions against North Korea and Cascade Aerospace to upgrade C-130 aircraft for the Mexican Air Force.
NATO Chiefs of Defence
At the 178th Military Committee in Chiefs of Defence Session held at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on the Jan 16th and 17th, the Allied Chiefs of Defence focused political and military priorities.
At the session, the topics of military contribution to security and stabilization in Europe’s southern neighborhood, the NATO Command Structure (NCS) adaptation, the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and the Global Coalition against ISIS and NATO’s role in Iraq were all discussed.
New sanctions against North Korea
Canada may almost be out of options when it comes to developing new sanctions against North Korea. This is something that came out of the recent summit in Vancouver. Delegates from 20 countries left the summit pledging to consider new measures against Kim Jong-un's regime.
But the way it looks, Canada may not have much room to introduce new sanctions because it already has significant independent measures in place, according to the CBC.
A government official told CBC News that Ottawa will always evaluate its options, but what is in place now is already very strong.
Canada has a wide-ranging ban on trade, financial interactions and weapons with North Korea. The plan includes a few exceptions for humanitarian support.
When new sanctions were put in place last year by the United Nations Security Council, some of those measures were in line with regulations Canada already had in place.
At the summit, participants agreed to "consider and take steps to impose unilateral sanctions and further diplomatic actions that go beyond those required by UN Security Council resolutions."
But what those efforts could look like, were not disclosed.
Cascade Aerospace C-130 Hercules aircraft
Cascade Aerospace has been contracted to perform avionics modernisation of one (FAM) L-100 (C-130) Hercules aircraft for the Mexican Air Force.
The program is contracted through the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the governments of Canada and Mexico in November 2013.
Under the terms of the new contract, the company will be responsible for the installation and integration of Rockwell Collins’ advanced Flight2 digital avionics suite.
Cascade Aerospace will also be responsible for delivering operational and technical training for the Mexican Air Force personnel at the company’s facility and headquarters in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
SMP trucks delayed and President Trump and NAFTA In this episode, delivery of new SMP trucks delayed, Canada is convinced that President Trump will pull out of NAFTA, and Lockheed Martin enhances capability of its Aegis Missile-Defense System. Show Notes: There has been a delay in the delivery of the Standard Military Pattern or SMP trucks from Mack Defense. The Canadian Armed Forces was supposed to start receiving the first of its new SMP trucks by the summer of 2017 but that was pushed to the end of 2017. But now the truck delivery has been delayed once again. This is due to issues with certain aspects on the trucks that has to be dealt with. “The qualification testing has led to necessary changes in the vehicle that will be incorporated prior to delivering the equipment to the Canadian Armed Forces,” said Department of National Defence spokesman Andrew McKelvey. NAFTA Canada is increasingly convinced that President Donald Trump will soon announce the United States intends to pull out of NAFTA. One of the Canadian government sources also said later it was not certain that Trump would move against the treaty and that Ottawa was prepared for many scenarios. But even the prospect of potential damage to the three nations’ integrated economies sparked market concerns. The Canadian dollar weakened to its lowest this year against the greenback on Wednesday as the NAFTA concerns tempered bets that the Bank of Canada will raise interest rates next week. Mike Archibald, associate portfolio manager at AGF Investments in Toronto, cited “a tremendous amount of uncertainty on the horizon”. Canadian government bond prices rose across the yield curve and railway, pipeline and other tradesensitive stocks weighed on the country’s main index. Mexico’s currency also weakened and stocks extended losses. Royal Bank of Canada’s Chief Executive Dave McKay said on Tuesday he believed there was now a greater chance that NAFTA could be scrapped. Separately, a U.S. source close to the White House quoted Trump as saying “I want out” as the talks drag on with little sign of progress. Aegis Missile-Defense System Lockheed Martin Corp said on Thursday it had connected key components of its new long-range discrimination radar (LRDR) with its Aegis Ashore missile-defense system to enhance Aegis's capabilities. With this technology, the Aegis missile-defense system - a collection of radar stations and interceptors - will be simultaneously able to detect threats from longer distances and combat targets with reduced reaction time, the U.S. weapons maker said.
Global arms sales on the rise and Canada invests in quantum technology
In this episode, Marcello Sukhdeo talks about the rise in global arms sales, Canada and UAE sign defence cooperation agreement and the investment of the government in quantum technology.
Show Notes:
The world’s 100 biggest weapons companies have increased arm sales for the first time in five years, reaching more than 370 billion dollars annually.
In its annual assessment of global arms sales, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute recently published a report that shows that last year saw the end of five consecutive years of decline with a 1.9 per cent increase in total sales.
“The growth in arms sales was expected and is driven by the implementation of new national major weapons programmes, ongoing military operations in several countries and persistent regional tensions that are leading to increased demand for weapons,” the report states.
Those weapons programmes include substantial investment in naval and air capacity, including submarines in the US and UK, as well as new-generation combat aircraft such as the F-35, made by Lockheed Martin. The US, with the world’s largest defence budget, has identified spending last year of $45bn on aircraft and related systems and $27bn on shipbuilding and maritime systems.
Canada and UAE sign defence cooperation agreement
Canada and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed a defence cooperation arrangement that will make it easier for the Canadian defence industry to access one of the world’s most lucrative arms markets and bolster military ties between the two countries.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan signed the agreement during his five-day tour of the Middle East that included stops in Jordan, the UAE and Kuwait.
“The signing of the Canada-UAE Defence Cooperation Arrangement is a testament to the enduring partnership between our nations,” Sajjan said in a statement. “We will continue our joint efforts to counter violent extremism in the Middle East as we work to build a more peaceful and prosperous world for both Canadians and the Emirati people.”
The UAE ranks among the top 15 defence spenders in the world, according to Business Monitor International.
Government of Canada invests in national security technology
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is awarding $1.5 million to the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) to lead the science of a mission called the Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat), which will protect the communications and data of Canadians on Earth and in space.
It is estimated that within 10 to 20 years, the encryption codes used by computers today will be easily decoded by high-performing quantum computers, making current encryption technology obsolete.
This investment will advance encryption methods, which use highly advanced computing technology to create unbreakable security codes.