MILNEWS.ca Highlights – May 7, 2019

What’s Canada Buying?

• “U.S. officials have warned the Trudeau government that its plan to hold an open competition to replace its aging CF-18s is incompatible with Canada’s obligations as a member of the F-35 stealth-fighter program. The warnings are in two letters sent to the government last year that were obtained by defence analyst Richard Shimooka and released in a report published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think-tank …”
• “Trump administration claims Ottawa’s jet procurement plan is unfair to F-35, says report”
• “Trump may have given Trudeau the excuse he needs to ditch the F-35 once and for all”
• “U.S. threatens to pull F-35 from jet competition over industrial requirements”
• “F-35 : le «contenu canadien» contesté à Washington”
• “The Catastrophe: Assessing the Damage from Canada’s Fighter Replacement Fiasco” (Macdonald-Laurier report, PDF)
• Big Honkin’ Ship Document Leak Case
• “Andrew Leslie set to testify for the defence in Mark Norman’s breach of trust trial”
• “The roots of the Mark Norman trial — For over a decade multiple governments bungled efforts to replace the navy’s supply ships. It all led to the current case now haunting the Liberals …”
• “There’s beauty in a clearly defined chain of command”

Way Up North

• “Washington plans to send U.S. Navy through Northwest Passage”
• “Mike Pompeo: Canada’s Claim To Northwest Passage ‘Illegitimate’ “
• ” Pompeo says Canadian claim to Northwest Passage is ‘illegitimate'”
• “La revendication canadienne sur le passage du Nord-Ouest est «illégitime», selon Pompeo”
• “China military expanding reach into Arctic region, Pentagon says”
• “US warns Beijing’s Arctic activity risks creating ‘new South China Sea’ “
• “China’s Arctic ambitions threaten the West, Pompeo warns in Europe”
• “China military expanding reach into Arctic region, Pentagon says”
• “US warns Beijing’s Arctic activity risks creating ‘new South China Sea’ “
• “Pentagon warns of risk of Chinese submarines in the Arctic”
• “Admiral: The US Is ‘Operating Blind’ In the Arctic”
• “NORTHCOM: Arctic now America’s ‘first line of defense’ “
• “Pompeo: Russia is aggressive in Arctic, China’s work there also needs watching”
• “Pompeo, in Finland, Calls China Claims to Arctic ‘Lawlessness’ “
• “US warns China, Russia against ‘aggressive behaviour’ in Arctic”
• “Vanguards of the Thawing Arctic”
• “Inside the West’s Plans for Arctic War Against Russia”
• “China planning to expand military presence in Arctic”
• “China says to play constructive role in Arctic”
• “Pompeo calls out Canada, China, Russia over Arctic policy”

#LVA/Europe – Op REASSURANCE/Cold War 2.0

• “This Is Where Russia and NATO Could Start a War (And You Likely Never Heard Of It)”
• “Lithuania–Poland border” (includes Suwalki Gap) (Wikipedia)
• Suwalki Gap (globalsecurity.org)
• “Albanian Soldier on NATO Mission Killed in Mine Explosion in Latvia”
• “Official: NATO Soldier Killed, 2 Injured as Mine Explodes at Army Base in Latvia”
• “Albania Army Officer Accidentally Killed in Latvia”
• “Is Russia Really Cutting Its Military Spending?”
• “An Armed Forces Officer has been killed and two others were injured by the explosion of some ammunition during the combat operations in NATO’s mission to Latvia …” (Albanian MoD, in Albanian)
• “How Much Did Orthodox Church Help Revive Russia’s Military and Nuclear Complex?” (Russian Military Reform blog)

#MLI – Op PRESENCE/Africa

• At least 18 civilians were killed in two related attacks last week in central Mali, the United Nations MINUSMA peacekeeping mission said, as the death toll from fighting between local hunters and herders climbs …”
• “Malijet Massacre d’Ogossagou : Le Rapport de la Mission d’Enquête Spéciale des Nations Unies épingle les chasseurs traditionnels”
• “MALI : LA MINUSMA PRÉOCCUPÉE DE LA FORMATION DU NOUVEAU GOUVERNEMENT”
• “New cabinet appointed in Mali”
• “GICS Report: Survival and Expansion, the Islamic State’s West African Province”

#CHN/Pacific Rim

• “China ramping up military operations for potential invasion into Taiwan”
• “Satellite Images Reveal Construction Of China’s Third Aircraft Carrier”
• “PLA on high alert to safeguard national sovereignty: spokesperson” (CHN mil media)
• “Images show construction on China’s third – and largest – aircraft carrier”
• “China Rejects US Military Passage in South China Sea”
• “China warns US ships to leave sea” (CHN mil media)
• “The Pentagon’s 2019 China Report” (Federation Of American Scientists analysis)
• “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2019” (USA DoD, PDF)

The Koreas

• “North Korea fires first missile into the sea since 2017”
• “False Analogies: North Korea’s History of Missile Test Moratoria” (38 North)
• “DPRK Firing Drill: Message to the Blue House” (38 North)

Internal Security

• “Latvia offers Canada help in ‘likely’ election interference”
• “Canada needs a plan to deal with hostile cyber campaigns”
• “Canada pressures US to help resolve dispute with China over arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou”
• “Mosque security a top priority as Toronto Muslims prepare for Ramadan”
• “The Trudeau regime is misleading Canadians” (Col. Ted)

Veterans & Helping Veterans (or Not?)

• “First of possibly one thousand suits … filed … by soldiers and veterans forced to take mefloquine on deployment”
• “Hiring Veterans For Public Service Positions” (Veterans Ombudsman)

Other Military News

• “Canadian Army Command Team completes trip to visit soldiers overseas” (DND info-machine, via NZ OSINT)
• “L’équipe de commandement de l’Armée canadienne conclut sa visite auprès de soldats déployés outremer — Le lieutenant-général Jean-Marc Lanthier, commandant de l’Armée canadienne, et l’adjudant-chef Stu Hartnell, sergent-major de l’Armée canadienne, ont conclu aujourd’hui leur visite auprès des soldats déployés dans le cadre de l’opération PRESENCE au Mali et de l’opération REASSURANCE en Lettonie …”
• “Exercise MAPLE RESOLVE 19: Canadians and Allies train for complexities of modern conflict” (DND info-machine)
• “Shedding the weight: Project aims to lighten the load with updated soldier clothing and equipment”
• “Education-to-employment pathways for Canadian Armed Forces members”
• “Minister Harjit S. Sajjan to Host General Ngô Xuân Lịch, Vietnam’s Minister of National Defence” (DND info-machine)
• “A ceremony was held to commemorate a new headstone for a fallen soldier — Today would have been his 48th birthday but instead his family gathered by his grave, under the warm spring sunshine almost twenty five years since his passing to replace a less accurate head stone. He was only twenty three, serving with Canadian forces in Rwanda, when corporal Scott Fraser smith died by suicide …”
• “Canada liberated the Netherlands. Now guess who has the better-equipped military today?”

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