If we keep on dithering with Arctic Ocean policy, it will be the 'Arctic Desert' before the academics, politicians, military and bureaucrats get anything done - and by then it will be too late to do anything. Clearly we need to establish our footprint on, over and under the Canadian […]
Canada First Defence Strategy
22 posts
The fall out of the recent federal election, amidst the worldwide economic swirl, opens an opportunity for the Canadian government to invest in Canadian jobs and Canadian technology through Canada’s navy building sustainable long-term employment and, at the same time, increase Canada’s overall security and ability to execute a robust […]
The announcement on the evening of Friday, August 22, 2008 of the cancellation of the JSS procurement should have been no surprise to any observer of naval and military affairs. The proposed ships were too innovative and too complex to succeed in the Canadian political and military environment. In a […]
Dear Senator Kenny, Bravo Zulu on a plainspoken wake up call to Canadians. Jack Granatstein's classics - "Who Killed Canadian History?" and "Who Killed the Canadian Military?" have fallen on essentially deaf ears, particularly where it counts in government. Let us hope yours and the work of the Senate on […]
Amid all of the discussions and commentaries about the defence policy announcement, something has been overlooked. Neither in the speeches nor in the Backgrounders was there any mention of the CH-148 Cyclone helicopters (known in the U.S. as the H-92 Superhawk). While all other equipment programmes, both actual and intended, […]
I would like to bring two important news items to the attention of our readers. First, a CBC report indicates that the Canadian government’s self-imposed deadline on a decision to replace the CP-140 Aurora aircraft has now been delayed from 20 November to 18 December, which is four days after […]
Murray Brewster’s article [The Globe and Mail, “DND may be shopping for new subs, sources say”] casts an interesting light on the future of Canada’s submarine fleet. The existing four Victoria-class submarines are consuming the largest portion of the navy’s maintenance budget. A midlife refit to keep them operating into […]
This February, David Pugliese reported that a leaked copy of the Canada First Defence Strategy would retire our current AOR in 2010, two years before the JSS was delivered in 2012. Many critiqued this plan as it cut a critical capability without providing any savings. I called the plan "harebrained" […]
This story should be a wake-up call for the Canadian policy makers that are still in the midst of fine-tuning the Canada First Defence Policy (CFDP). The influential Center for Naval Analyses cites climate change as a national security issue, and threat multiplier. Their recommendations: The national security consequences of […]
Today's article by David Pugiliese suggests concerns about sole sourcing may have resulted in a scuppering of plans to fast track a $500M purchase of General Atomics' MQ-1 'Predator' drones. While I fully support some of the more recent accelerated purchases made by this government, I too probably have to […]