On 16 August the government of Canada announced its decision to restore the historic names of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces; Maritime Command is now the Royal […]
Rumours have been swirling ever since Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie submitted his report on transformation to the CDS that there was big trouble brewing. John Ibbitsen writes in today’s Globe and […]
A quick internal polling of the CFPS fellowship on the question posed in this article’s title resulted in a general consensus that the navy’s name change is appropriate but not […]
*Moderator’s Note: This article was published by The Center For Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) as part of their short analysis series “Critical Questions” on 11 August 2011. My thanks to CFPS […]
The ‘Strategic and Operating Review’ underway in the Department of National Defence is primarily a cost-cutting exercise. A message sent to DND and CF members on Friday, 5 August, under […]
*Moderator’s Note: This article was original published in The Nova Scotian on 01 May 2011. On 16 April, I had the opportunity to speak with a number of veterans at […]
The question posed in the second post in this thread by ‘R.M.’ is crucial: “Is our current multi-departmental model for domestic maritime safety/defence/enforcement the one that will meet our future […]
Murray Brewster’s article entitled “DND to drop costly cargo ship” in the Thursday, 28 July, issue of The Chronicle Herald reports on the continuing problems with commercial charter arrangements to […]
In 2007, the federal government launched the National Policy Framework for Strategic Gateways and Trade Corridors. The goal of the strategy is “to provide a quick, reliable, and secure transportation […]
The F-35 “Lightning II” is a ‘5th generation’ fighter. It has capabilities that will theoretically allow Canadian air power to counter and defeat all potential threats for a period of […]
Following the warning published in MarineLink.com on Thursday 24 March that the trend in the use of violence by pirates would escalate into a small war, a major development occurred […]
The Royal Netherlands Navy will not be taking delivery two new Holland-class ocean-going patrol vessels, due to cutbacks in military spending. It would be interesting to read an expert opinion on […]
Social commentary around the F-35 issue is in general acceptance that they are needed, based almost exclusively on the age of the F-18s. There is an interesting comment in the […]
The Australians purchased the surplus Bay-Class LSD(A) Largs Bay from the UK for $100M AUS dollars this month. News reports suggest the ship will be in service with the Royal […]
I am certainly not an expert on the joint strike fighter, so I can’t comment on the technical merits of the purchase. I would, however, like to comment on the […]
Brian Stewart, Senior Fellow with the Monk Centre at the University of Toronto, has raised the spectre of an internal struggle within DND over how to allocate the capital portion […]
Unfortunately it’s like preaching to the choir, but I agree with Eric Lerhe that this dialogue need to be publicized, ‘blogged’ or whatever else works to get some debate going […]
I was squarely in Eric Lerhe’s court until his last paragraph. I am not as convinced as him that all the hoped for procurements outlined in the current government’s policy – whether […]
Once again, Canada is faced with another complicated military procurement decision. Like other examples before this one, the F-35 procurement involves the competing demands of professional military advice on the […]
I agree with much of Ken Hansen’s analysis. While we have indeed done badly at maintaining leading edge capabilities after purchase (note, however, exceptions of Halifax-class, CP-140, and CF-18 mid-life […]
