* Moderator’s Note: This article was original published in The Nova Scotian on 13 November 2011. Nova Scotians and Atlantic Canadians have reason to be proud and to celebrate the recent awarding of the combatant portion of the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS) to Irving Shipbuilding Inc. This will also […]
CP-140 Aurora patrol aircraft
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 projects), I would not immediately accept your second point that the F-35 is entirely for conflict against a peer competitor. […]
The Canadian Forces took delivery of the first CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft in May 1980; the 18th and last CP-140 was delivered in August 1981. The original requirement for 24 aircraft was unilaterally reduced by the Trudeau government without a commensurate reduction in tasks to be performed. Consequently, the […]
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 […]
During the past few months there has been increasing speculation that the project to upgrade the CP-140 Aurora (the Aurora Incremental Modernization Project or AIMP) would be terminated. The decision by government is expected on 20 Nov 2007. The Auroras were purchased in the early 1980's and were optimised for […]
The problem [of acquiring nuclear submarines, as suggested by Keith Spicer,] is not so much the acquisition cost as it is the cost of training, infrastructure and operating the boats. The political aspects cannot be ignored either. The result I suspect is that the nuclear submarine becomes as onerous to […]
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 […]
For much of February 2007, a small group of academics that included serving and former naval officers engaged in an electronic debate on the future of Canada's defence and naval policies. What follows is an attempt to gather up the key points of that debate in the hope that they […]