The latest revelation in the F-35 saga came last week when Lee Berthiaume reported that the military would be unable to refuel the new fighter while in flight using existing equipment. More stunning yet was the finding in the KPMG report that the government and the military intend to “rely […]
logistics
23 posts
The Federal Auditor General’s Fall Report for 2012 has an especially important section in Chapter 5, which is entitled “Real Property – National Defence.” The Auditor General (AG) states very clearly the importance of this issue: "Real property infrastructure is essential to the Canadian Forces’ ability to undertake core missions […]
Word is reaching me that two Canadian infantry battalions, 3rd Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry Regiment and 3rd Royal Canadian Regiment, have received ‘warning orders’ to prepare for operations and possible deployment to the Middle East. This is apparently related to the steadily worsening situation in Syria. The implication of such […]
After my recent posts describing the SC and HX eastbound convoy systems, I received an email that said, in effect, “What was the big deal about loosing one ship out a 50-ship convoy? With an average loss rate of between 0.6% (for HX convoys) and 2.1% (for SC convoys), surely […]
Lee Berthiaume’s Postmedia News article on 8 May, entitled “Armed Arctic vessels face delay in latest procurement setback,” reports a further three-year delay in procurement of these ships. If true – the NDHQ procurement website continues to quote an in-service date of 2016 for the first ship - that is […]
Word is reaching me that the number of designs under consideration for the AOR-JSS ship is down to only one. Apparently, the Spanish have been told that their Cantabria-class AOR [an enlarged version of the Spanish Patino-class] is no longer in the running. This leaves only the German Berlin-class design. […]
Canada’s decision to terminate the lease agreement for MV Wloclawek (IMO Registration No.: 8302313, pictured above) leaves the military without ready access to a sealift capability. You can read more on the original charter on the Operational Support Command website here. The department will now have to hire a ship […]
On Tuesday, 19 January, Murray Brewster of the Canadian Press filed a report that described the logistical problems confronting the Canadian Forces as they ramped up for Operation Hestia. Quoting Lt.-Col. Chris LeMay of Canadian Expeditionary Force Command, Brewster reported: “In comparison to peacekeeping deployments in Bosnia and even the […]
[*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 […]
The navy is in a bind, and it is a bad one. The money needed to run the service and to reinvest in new ships is not in the budget. To make matters worse, it is approximately 20 percent short of people, mostly in the technical trades. What to do? […]