In the latest episode of Vanguard Weekly, join host J. Richard Jones for the first of an ongoing series that will discuss the topic of training and upskilling using capstones. He is joined by guests Caleb Walker, Chief Strategy Officer for WithYouWithMe and Major General (Retired) Rupert Jones. Caleb is a 20-year combat veteran with a passion for HR and digital transformation as well as cultural change, and a frequent guest of the show. Rupert is a retired senior British Army officer, who served as the Standing Joint Force Commander from November 2018 to July 2021. Together, they tackle the questions of how to measure the returns on staff training and how to determine what value was gained.

Also in this episode:

• What are capstones, how are they used, and how can they help?
• How to determine if someone has the skills you need?
• Mission rehearsal exercise as practical demonstration of skills
• Capstones as inspiration for solving other problems
• Attracting and retaining the right talent
• Driving training to build capability
• Capstones and the need for digital training
• The CV test versus the capstone opportunity

Welcome to the concluding episode of our 5-part Digital Natives and Modern Military podcast series. Host, J. Richard Jones wraps up his exciting and enlightening discussion with very special guests General Sir James Everard, former senior British Army Officer, and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander for NATO and LTCOL Caleb Walker, Global Vice President of Defence for WithYouWithMe. In the final episode they explore the large and important topic of how to retain digital natives and how to retrain them as necessary.

In this episode:

• Convincing the gatekeepers
• Implementing and supporting retention methods
• Defining career paths and training programs
• Providing diversity of movement
• Performance management
• Mentoring and support networks
• And much more!

Host, J. Richard Jones, speaks with Paul Guindon, CEO, Commissionaires Ottawa and National Business Management Committee Chair. Commissionaires is one of Canada’s leading security solutions providers and the largest private sector employer of veterans. It is founded on the core military values of dedication, responsibility, and sense of mission. It also employs 22,000+ people from coast to coast to coast.

In this episode:

• Digital fingerprinting
• Infrastructure
• Background checks
• Risk assessment
• And many other areas of security

Vanguard Weekly is a weekly podcast produced by the publishers of Vanguard media. Segments include Insights, news and opinion for the Canadian Defence Industry. Vanguard is Canada's leading media source for magazines, events, podcasts and more!

In this episode of Vanguard Radio, we will talk about a major problem that affects naval vessels - that problem is corrosion. How can we detect and assess corrosion behind surface coatings such as paint, insulation, tiles, and seamless decking onboard Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) platforms in order to reduce corrosion’s operational impact and improve the effectiveness of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance?

To tell us more is Tom Hughes, Sandbox and Test Drive Manager for IDEaS (Innovation for Defence, Excellence and Security).

Over a hundred years ago, The Boeing Company became a key partner in the Canadian aerospace industry.  Since that time, Boeing has grown to become a leader in the Canadian aerospace industry with 12 locations across the country supporting Boeing’s commercial and defence industries.

The Government of Canada has tasked EY and WithYouWithMe, a company that helps jobseekers get tech jobs without having to invest years and money into training, to support Canada’s internal cyber capability, through its Cyber Workforce Enablement Program (CWEP).

As part of this, WithYouWithMe is providing Canadian Military Veterans with free transition, including training and support to start a career in technology, post military service. The program will validate the demand for Canadian military members to start technology careers and to roll them into government tech roles.

On the show today, hear from Caleb Walker who served 20 years in the Canadian Army, including three tours to Afghanistan. As a Task Force Commander, he received a Chief of Defence Staff Commendation. While deployed in Kandahar, he saw first-hand the potential of the Canadian veteran and their ability to operate and adapt to complex environments. After retiring from the Canadian Army, Caleb joined WithYouWithMe as the Country Manager and is seeking to solve underemployment across Canada for marginalized communities.

WithYouWithMe has a supply arrangement with Shared Services Canada to deliver technology talent from the veteran and military spouse communities. This summer WithYouWithMe will train 1,000 Indigenous people for free so that they can join this journey.

Hear more about the Cyber Workforce Enablement Program and how WithYouWithMe is working with Canada on this, Canada's digital talent accessibility problem, the government's skill gap, why does government talent need to be agile and skills over controls.

COVID-19 is affecting all facets of society today and life as we know it. This pandemic is creating havoc around the world and is being used by threat actors to perpetrate grey zone actions and to infiltrate security vulnerabilities.

In this episode of Vanguard Radio, J. Richard Jones talks with Valarie Findlay, American Society for Evidenced-Based Policing member and a research fellow for the Police Foundation (USA). Valarie has two decades of senior-level expertise in cybersecurity and policing initiatives. She has worked extensively on federal cyber initiatives and is a member of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police eCrimes Cyber Council and AFCEA DC. She has a Masters in Sociology and a Masters in Terrorism Studies with her dissertation addressing the impacts of terrorism on law enforcement in Western Nations.

In a time of crisis, there are a number of areas of potential exposure for malicious threats and non-malicious threats. The latter is more a part of a pandemic. Learn more about how one aspect is affecting other aspects of society, resulting in a broader state of vulnerability.

Hear about grey zone actions that can create vulnerabilities for a nation to be attacked and who it can be used to erode a nation's democracy. These are covert and often hard to detect actions. But how we respond to them is important in maintaining a democracy and the overall stability of a nation. When a country is in a state of crisis or vulnerability like the COVID-19 pandemic, it leaves that nation more susceptible to grey zone actions. The question at that point is, does that nation have the ability to handle additional threats in a state of crisis?

Valarie talks about Prevention, Detection, Response and Recovery strategies and how these can help in a crisis, the inconsistency of messages across social media, how governments need to have a consistent message for the social wellbeing of citizens and result of misinformation as a grey zone action that results in destabilization and phycological impact on people.

As a family-owned Canadian business, Thordon Bearings Inc. has made a mark on the international scene by designing and manufacturing non-polluting bearing systems in the marine and clean power generation industries. The 100-year old company has an international network of agents, distributors and regional sales representatives in 90 countries, its stellar marketing support providing high performance, oil and grease-free bearing systems, seals and other shaft line products.

Thordon Bearings Inc. is a true Canadian success story. In this episode of Vanguard Radio, J. Richard Jones talks with George A. ‘Sandy’ Thomson, Innovator at Thordon Bearings Inc.

We know that communications in the North is always a challenge. Recently, two communications companies teamed up to offer a new service to help solve this issue.

Galaxy Broadband and Hunter Communications have recently announced a new service to provide high-power Ku-band satellite service to Canadian federal departments and agencies using the new Hunter Ku-band satellite coverage. And now, for the first time this service is available through Shared Services Canada.

In this episode of Vanguard Radio, J. Richard Jones talks with Doug Harvey from Galaxy Broadband and Brent Perrott from Hunter Communications about this new service.

Learn more about what prompted these companies to get together, what this means for Canada’s military, the coverage or reach, in-flight connectivity, the Hunter beam and their experience in providing service in the North.

To learn more go to https://huntercomm.net/and http://www.galaxybroadband.ca/.

In this episode of Vanguard Radio, J. Richard Jones talks with Astrid Neuland, Business Development Executive at Thales Canada. Astrid is an active volunteer at Wounded Warriors Canada, an organization that is dedicated to honour and support Canada’s ill and injured Canadian Armed Forces members, veterans, first responders and their families.

Hear about the upcoming bike ride programs that Wounded Warriors is organizing to raise funds to increase awareness of PTSD issues and for mental health programs. Astrid shares her experience of participating in these bike rides at home and overseas and the camaraderie and support from fellow riders and the public.

To learn more about Wounded Warriors and how you can support, go to https://woundedwarriors.ca/.

In the show today, J. Richard Jones talks with Simon Olsen, Director of Business Development for Strategy and Partnerships at Sentient Vision. Hear about Simon’s perspective on the future of marine search and rescue for Canadians, the challenges officers are facing when it comes to water defence and marine SAR and new technologies to consider.

He also shares his insight on new approaches and technologies that the US Coast Guard, the UK Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy are using that Canada should consider adopting and the world’s first Optical Radar - ViDAR. This is an airborne persistent wide-area maritime search system that autonomously detects objects on the ocean surface and provides the operator with a detailed image of objects that other search methods often miss. A "game-changing" system for search and rescue!

As the Director of Business Development, strategy and Partnerships at Sentient, Simon has extensive networks within the aviation, unmanned systems, general aircraft integration, sensors and exploitation markets both in Australia and around the world. He is also a former member of the board for the Australian Association of Unmanned Systems.

To learn more, go to: http://www.sentientvision.com/

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology has evolved significantly over the past decade, with innovative new drones hitting the enterprise and consumer market regularly. While the focus has been primarily on how drones can be used to enhance enterprise applications -- everything from Public Safety applications, to military deployments, hydro and telecom infrastructure inspections, and even to agriculture -- there are some security risks that are inherent with drone availability.

In this episode, J. Richard Jones talks with Marc Bouvrette, President of Gap Wireless, a stocking distributor of mobile broadband and wireless solutions including one of the most impressive suites of vendor partner UAV solutions in North America. Marc delves into the security aspects of the UAV market and how the latest technology is enabling protection from rogue drones and their pilots.

In this episode of Vanguard Radio, J. Richard Jones interviews Astrid Neuland, Business Development, Thales Canada Defense & Security, about her participation in the Highway of Heroes Ontario Bike Ride 2018. Listen and learn about her experiences on the road, the rewards and lessons learned, as well as why this is such an important event to support.

In this episode, J. Richard Jones talks with Lee Obst, President and Managing Director of Rockwell Collins in Canada.

Since 2011, Lee has been serving in his current role in overseeing the Canadian operations and production facilities. Prior to joining Rockwell Collins in 2000, Lee served for 21 years as a test pilot and fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and three years as a program manager/business director with Spar Aerospace, Canada.

In this Vanguard Radio podcast, hear about the future growth strategy of Rockwell Collins in Canada and what they are doing to align investment with the mandates of the new Defence Procurement Strategy. Learn about Wideband HF and the role the Canadian subsidiary of Rockwell Collins played in its development.

Also, Rockwell Collins Canada will be at CANSEC this year. Hear more about their ‘Made in Canada’ NSS offering and how it will be represented at CANSEC, and other capabilities that they will be exhibiting at the event.

Rockwell Collins Canada will be exhibiting at Booth 1103 at CANSEC 2018 at the EY Centre in Ottawa on May 30-31. 

Thanks for listening.

In this episode of Vanguard Radio,  J. Richard Jones chats with Brent Perrot, President of Hunter Communications.  They discuss the challenges of satellite communications and how technology is winning the battle,  what satellite communications are doing to help the defence industry and Hunter Communications participation at CANSEC 2018.  All this and more on this episode of Vanguard Radio.

In this episode, J. Richard Jones guest hosts Vanguard radio. He interviews Mathew Overton, Executive Director, Conference of Defence Associations and CDA Institute about the need to understand AI technology and its impact, upcoming events and projects that are being worked on. All this and more, on this episode of Vanguard radio.

In this episode of Vanguard radio, J. Richard Jones joins the show as guest host. He discusses Towed Reelable Active-Passive Sonar, (TRAPS) a new program for reservists and Canada’s role in the Iraq mission. All this and more, in this episode of Vanguard radio.

In this episode, Uber self-driving car killed a woman in Arizona recently, was that accident avoidable? There are many calls coming from different quarters to quite Facebook and streaming is taking over the music industry, so what's next?

Show Notes

Last Sunday, in the city of Tempe, Arizona, Elaine Herzberg who was 49 years old, attempted to cross a busy road. She was pushing a bicycle across the road about 100 meters from the closest pedestrian crosswalk when she was hit by a vehicle, which was travelling at 38 miles per hour in a 35 mile-per-hour zone.

The Police Chief of Tempe said the crash may have been unavoidable.

One analyst who follows autonomous vehicles, said laser and radar systems can see in the dark much better than humans or cameras and that the victim was well within the range.

He said, “It absolutely should have been able to pick her up. From what I see in the video it sure looks like the car is at fault, not the pedestrian.”

Delete Facebook

How often do you post on Facebook? A lot of people are calling for others to quit Facebook. Even the hashtag #DeleteFacebook is trending.

Many are wondering if it is time to say goodbye to Facebook.

At its best, Facebook is a nice way to stay in touch with friends around the world, in business to learn what’s important to the people we serve and to share the work we’re doing. But there’s a concern to all of this. The very data that make it work so well, have power, power that can be used for good or evil.

And because of this, many are now waking up to the concerns over privacy and how our personal information is being shared.

Streaming Music

Over the years we have seen the evolution of the way music is consumed. From cassettes to cds, then onto digital downloads. For a little while now streaming is the main way of getting our music.

Streaming music is taking over the music industry, and that can be seen with digital download sales which have fallen so much in the past few years that they’re now smaller than sales of CDs, vinyl, and other physical media.

A recent report shows that digital downloads fell to $1.3 billion last year, whereas physical media, while also falling, only declined to $1.5 billion.

CF-18 replacement suppliers shortlisted and marijuana legalization in the CAF

In this episode, Canada issues a shortlist of suppliers for CF-18 replacement competition. The Canadian military is trying to decide how to handle marijuana legalization and a look at an interview with Andy Smith, Deputy Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard.

Show Notes:

The Government of Canada has released a list of eligible suppliers who would be invited to submit bids for the country’s future fighter aircraft fleet competition. The Royal Canadian Air Force plans to purchase a total of 88 advanced fighter jets. These jets will replace the current CF-18 aircraft fleet, which has been serving Canada for more than 30 years.

The companies shortlisted to submit bids are:

· Boeing Super Hornet

· Lockheed Martin F-35

· Eurofighter Typhoon

· Dassault Rafale

· Saab Gripen

Speaking about the release of the suppliers, Canada Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains said, “The Government of Canada is leveraging procurement to create jobs, drive innovation, and grow small businesses. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to drive investment in innovation and research across all sectors of our economy, including with post-secondary institutions.”

The contract for the aircraft development program is expected to be awarded in 2021 or 2022.

Canadian military trying to decide how to handle marijuana legalization

With the legalization of marijuana being a topical issue in Canada, the military is looking at how to apply this to members of the CAF. Chief of defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance said, “We’re going to try to be smart about it. But in the end, this is dangerous duty, this is serious duty for the country, and we don’t want people doing it stoned.”

Gen Vance made these comments during an appearance before the Senate defence committee.

“We are looking at it,” Vance told the committee. “I am very soon to make decisions on the specific and unique circumstances associated with military service that would preclude someone from using cannabis at a particular point in time.”

Interview

Vanguard recently conducted an interview with Andy Smith, Deputy Commissioner, Strategy and Shipbuilding, Canadian Coast Guard. In that interview, we asked him what are his top 3 short-term goals? Where he sees the future of shipbuilding for the Coast Guard given the average age of the fleet –

can it be done within the service lives of the current fleet or do you see a reduction in fleet capability/capacity? If he sees a long-term fleet capital investment program similar to the Navy for the Coast Guard? Also, he touches on maintenance and life extension, success stories - CCGS Sir John Franklin and strategies and programs of the Canadian Coast Guard that he is really excited about.

For the full interview, please go to VanguardCanada.com.