The following announcement was sent out by the Conference of Defence Associations Institute: Ottawa, 11 June 2014 - The Conference of Defence Associations Institute is pleased to release Vimy Paper 19: "The Growing Gap Between Defence Ends and Means: The Disconnect between the Canada First Defence Strategy and the Current […]
Canada First Defence Strategy
[*This article appeared originally in the February 2013 issue of Marine Matters. It is reprinted here with the permission of the publisher.] It is an odd thing about Canada that, although the number of people who have lived, worked or travelled in the arctic region is probably below ten percent […]
The Government of Canada received the report of Mr. Tom Jenkins, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services on 12 February 2013. The report is entitled Canada First: Leveraging Defence Procurement Through Key Industrial Capabilities. The ‘Jenkins Report’ recommends identifying and supporting ‘Key Industrial Capabilities’ […]
Radio Canada’s le téléjournal ran an investigative report Tuesday and Wednesday on naval ship procurement. The opposition parties are claiming that government incompetence could lead to massive overspending under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. The Radio Canada report uses the Joint Support Ship (JSS) project as an example to assert […]
[*Moderator’s Note: This article appeared originally as part of the ‘Plain Talk’ series in the Fall 2010 issue (Vol. 6, No. 3) of Canadian Naval Review.] Is the announcement of a new $2.6 billion project to acquire two Joint Support Ships good news or bad news for the navy? The […]
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 in the Canada First Defence Strategy or more recently emerging policy statements - is affordable within the current planned defence budget. Having […]
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. […]
Defence Industry Daily (13 Oct 10 – “Canada’s C$2.9 B “Joint Support Ship” Project, Take 2”) and Dave Pugliese's Defence Watch (20 Oct 10 – “Joint Support Ship Less Capable But Air Force Can Pick Up the Slack Says DND”) indicate that the Department of National Defence has decided to adjust the scope […]
Some of the issues in Professor Geoffrey Till’s recent paper found here (Naval War College Review, Winter 2010, pp. 33-60) may not apply to Canada, the strategic nuclear deterrent being a prime example. However, as well as being of interest in its own right, the work neatly summarises many key […]
Ken Hansen has posed an interesting question. It is not a question that is independent of other maritime concerns, namely ‘maritime blindness of the Canadian society’, the future of the Canadian navy, and the national interests of Canada. Irrespective of the scientific reasons for the climatic changes unfolding in the arctic, no […]