What’s Canada Buying? November 22, 2012

• “The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, (yesterday) announced the contract award for the construction of seven explosive storage magazines at Canadian Forces Ammunition Depot Bedford. The contract was awarded to Three “C” Contractors Limited for over $13.4 million. In addition, Canadian Forces Base Halifax will also see general maintenance improvements through several other contract awards valued at approximately $935 293 ….”       
• What’s Canada Selling?  “It’s only a two-country sample, and a full report won’t be made public until sometime this fall, but it appears Canadian arms companies have been enjoying unprecedentedly good times in recent years.  Foreign Affairs recently released figures detailing how much arms companies asked to export to the United States and Saudi Arabia on a year-by-year basis since 2006. The numbers were made public in response to a question from NDP MP Helene Laverdiere, and the results are surprising.  Canadian companies asked to export $49.6 million worth of guns, bombs, armoured personnel vehicles and other military equipment to the United States in 2007. By 2011, that number had increased to more than $250 million. The main areas of growth came in the form of smooth-bore guns and automatic weapons, both big and small, as well as bullets, bombs, missiles and other ammunition ….”       
• F-35 Tug o’ War (1)  “The NDP accused the Conservatives of using a House of Commons committee to whitewash the auditor general’s scathing indictment of the government’s mammoth F-35 jet fighter procurement.  The NDP levelled the charge in a dissenting opinion to the public accounts committee’s report, tabled Wednesday.  “The NDP remains deeply concerned that this study did not allow parliamentarians to shed light and complete the inquiry on this very important matter,” says the three-page dissenting opinion.  “Only seven hours of testimony were dedicated to this study, and no responsible ministers appeared during the inquiry.”  The committee was responding to the April auditor general’s report that blasted the government for a $10-billion cost overrun on the F-35 procurement.  In its 29-page report,(PDF) the majority Conservative committee offered six recommendations to deal with issues surrounding the cost of the project raised by auditor general Michael Ferguson ….”       
• F-35 Tug o’ War (2)  Government’s answer in the Senate to question on whether other planes were looked at in the “competition”:  “The National Fighter Procurement Secretariat, as I have reported before, is in place to ensure transparency and due diligence in the decision to replace our aging CF-18s. It is informed by independent advice, as I explained before, of individuals, including a former Auditor General of Canada, Denis Desautels. Funding for the acquisition of the CF-18 replacement has been frozen until the due diligence process is complete and all conditions have been satisfied. Canada will not sign a contract to purchase new aircraft until all steps of this process and the seven-point action plan are completed and developmental work is sufficiently advanced.  KPMG, as Senator Cowan questioned me about before, has been hired to independently verify the costs of the F-35, and the report will be made public.  With regard to the specific question about other options, I do not believe that my colleagues in the other place have given an answer any different from what I have just given to the honourable senator ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War (3)  Mark Collins:  “If the government goes ahead with the F-35 it is clear the RCAF’s Hornets will have to be kept in service longer than planned because of the F-35 program’s delays ….”       
• “…. This requirement is to provide the Department of National Defence (DND) with a Red/Black Voice Switch Solution (RBVS solution) for the Canadian Forces Weather and Oceanography Service (CFWOS) Remote Briefing Capability (RBC) and  associated services ….”
• Hat tip to Quotaliciousness for this one  “Canada has ordered upgrades for another of its 66 LAV III wheeled armored vehicles. These 66 will be equipped for reconnaissance as was its predecessor the LAV II Coyote. This vehicle went to Afghanistan a decade ago and proved enormously useful by doing long range surveillance of Taliban and al Qaeda suspects …. The main enemy in Afghanistan was al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who obtained shelter from local warlords, tribal leaders, or gang leaders. Any of these big shots would be hanging out in a walled compound, usually out in an isolated area (so no one can easily sneak up on the place). The Coyote sets up on a distant hill and uses its long range sensors to track who, and what, enters and leaves the compound for days, or weeks. This usually provides confirmation of which bad guys were in there or, at times, when they are driving out to do some mischief. If the former, troops raided the place and arrested the suspects. If the latter, airpower was called in and people on the ground gave the gunmen a chance to surrender or die.  The Coyote was originally conceived as an inexpensive replacement for air reconnaissance. But the ability of a Coyote vehicle to stay in one place and carefully track movements over a wide area for days or weeks proved very useful for intelligence work ….”