Archive for the ‘F-35 Fracas’ Category
MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – January 9, 2015
#CANvsISIL
- “Strikes on ISIS in Iraq sparing civilians: Canadian commander” – “Canada Certain CF-18s Airstrike Participation Hasn’t Killed Civilians In Iraq …Yet” – “Canadian Armed Forces updates state of Operation IMPACT” – more
- From the RCAF Info-machine “Operation Impact: Aurora crews benefit from simulation training”
- “Editorial: Government needs to take more responsibility for welcoming Syrian refugees”
- More on Canada’s Operation IMPACT here, and on news from around that part of the world here (list of links) and here (Twitter list)
Internal Security
- “New anti-terror laws coming as jihadis ‘declare war,’ Harper says” – “New anti-terror laws coming” – “We are not immune to terrorism” – “Charlie Hebdo attack could signal a battle for title of world’s top terror group” – “Jihadists have ‘declared war,’ Stephen Harper says after Paris attack” – “PM addresses terror concerns during Delta visit” – more – more
- “Michelle Rempel calls on Canadians not to ‘explain away’ extremism”
- “Canadian appears in terror group’s propaganda video two years after being killed in Somalia”
Attacks on CF in Canada
- “Kevin Vickers named ambassador to Ireland — Kevin Vickers, the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms who was called a hero in October after the shooting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, will be Canada’s next ambassador to Ireland, replacing Loyola Hearn ….” - more – Official announcement
Ukraine
- “Militants completed 50 attacks against Ukrainian positions”
- “(UKR) Colonel General Stepan Poltorak: First wave of mobilization in 2015 will be launched on January 20″ – “Donetsk Republic’s military: Mobilization wave in Ukraine is provocation against civilians”
- “Ukrainian Defense Ministry to allocate UAH 14 bln (CDN $1 billion)for arms development in 2015 – Poltorak” – “Ukraine to increase army strength to 250,000, drafting new military doctrine – Poltorak” – “Poltorak vows soon to sack up to 200 people in offices of Defense Ministry and General Staff” – “Ukrainian Defense Ministry not planning to transfer Navy headquarters from Odesa to Mykolaiv”
- “Russian Armed Forces Shell Ukrainian Positions from the Residential Neighborhood in Styla”
- “Update on the Crimean Military Group of the Russian Army”
- “EU mulls response to Russia’s information war”
- “Russian convoy returns to Rostov Region after delivering aid to Donbass”
- “Ukraine may apply for NATO membership, but only after referendum – Yatsenyuk”
Veterans & Helping Veterans
- “Fantino Furloughed” – “No surprise Fantino sacked”
- F-35 Tug o’ War Commentary “…. The last time a Canadian pilot got into a dogfight was during the Korean War. Just about the last time anyone got into a dogfight worthy of the name was during the Gulf War, and those fights tended to be very, very brief. Remember how Iraq had the fourth largest air force in the world? After two days they had the largest collection of rapidly disassembled aircraft parts in the world. Canada last upgraded its fighter aircraft decades ago. There is no question that we need something. But what do we need? Who are we going to fight with our new hypothetical jets? ….”
Other
- Well done! “Two Canadian Rangers found a 15-year-old North Caribou Lake (Ontario) youth after he had been missing for more than 10 hours. The boy was last seen shortly before midnight on Wednesday when he drove a truck to drop off several of his friends at their homes. The vehicle was known to have only a quarter tank of gasoline. The temperature with wind chill was -35C. Concerned relatives and members of the band council asked the Canadian Rangers in the community to assist them in an overnight search for the boy ….”
- Letters to the Editor “Defence ignored”
- From the Info-machine “REGULUS program keeps sailors’ skills sharp”
- “Canadian Recipients of the Victoria Cross Honoured”
World War One
MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – December 16, 2014
What’s Canada Buying?
- Big Honkin’ Ships “Report suggests radical solution to navy woes”
- F-35 Tug o’ War “F-35 saga soars to ineptitude, piled upon bungling” – ” ‘Reset’ button on F-35s won’t work”
- Wanted: Someone to design/build new building at Bagotville for ~$30million
- “CAE Inc. has received $115-million worth of contracts for training equipment and services from military customers in Poland and elsewhere. The Montreal-based company will design and build a full flight simulator for the Polish Air Force, to be delivered in 2017, to train crews for C295 transport planes ….”
- “IMP Aerospace Delivers First Interim Beyond Line of Sight (IBLOS) CP-140M Aurora Aircraft to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)”
- “Cubic has secured a contract amendment to deliver an urban operations training system (UOTS) capability to the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND). The $12m agreement requires the company to work on the initial phase of the project, which includes the integration and validation tasks for the system instrumentation used in the UOTS environment. The UOTS complements the weapon-effects simulation (WES) force-on-force engagement training system deployed by Cubic in 2006, by adding an urban village training capability in several regions across Canada ….”
- Wanted: “…. charter service of a commercial aircraft to provide air drop test and associated services at the Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges ….”
- Wanted: Virtual stuff for virtual reality training environments – more on the system in question here
- Wanted: 6200 x “overalls, extreme cold weather” + 6200 x “cold weather parkas”
- Wanted: 720 x “sniper weapons scope mount” - some technical details in the Statement of Work here
- Wanted: Equipment to help detect nasty little bugs more easily
- Wanted: Armoured vehicle makers interested in sitting on a team to make even better armoured vehicles “Companies operating in Canada in the value chain for armoured vehicles and/or personal protective equipment (from advanced materials suppliers to OEMs) are invited to submit the candidacy of a member of their leadership team to become a member of the Canadian Security Materials Technology Roadmap Steering Committee …. Canada’s armoured vehicle (AV) and personal protective equipment (PPE) industry is globally competitive. This industry is based upon conventional engineered materials such as Kevlar, polymer matrix composite laminates and monolithic ceramics, which are rapidly approaching their performance limits. While there are continuing advances in constitutive material properties such as fibres and monolithic ceramics, these advances are occurring at a relatively slow rate compared to the rapidly evolving demands for higher performance and lower weight protection systems …. New transformational technologies are required to continue to improve armour mass-efficiency ….” – more on the Canadian security materials technology roadmap here
#CANvsISIL
- BBC News Hour speaks to mother of Canadian jihadi (27:25 minutes into podcast) – more on Damian Clairmont
- “The Assad Regime Under Stress: Conscription and Protest among Alawite and Minority Populations in Syria”
Way Up North
Veterans & Helping Veterans
- “NDP calls for inquiry into defoliant use at CFB Gagetown — The veterans affairs critic for the NDP is calling for an inquiry into defoliant spraying at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick and is encouraging anyone who was exposed to the chemicals file a claim with the federal government ….”
Other
- “Early retirements and weak recruitment has the Canadian military facing a shortfall of personnel — The Canadian Forces is short hundreds of full-time members and thousands of reservists, due in part to an unexpected spike in the number of personnel hanging up their uniforms and difficulties attracting and training new recruits ….”
- “Harper urged to award Memorial Cross to mom of ‘one-penny’ soldier”
- “Ex-soldier says her dismissal was payback for accusing superior of rape”
- From the Info-machine on the CF’s search and rescue work “Practice makes perfect” – “Setting up for success”
- “(P.E.I.) Military centre reaching out to ‘extended family’ “
- “Taliban school shooting shocks local Pakistani community” – “Ottawa shares in grief, shock over Pakistan school attack” – “Canada condemns terrorist attack” – “(Foreign Affairs Minister John) Baird Condemns Taliban Attack in Pakistan”
MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – December 10, 2014
Attacks on CF in Canada
- “House of Commons security guards to be honoured by MPs”
- “Islamic students make donation to families of fallen soldiers”
- Nathan Cirillo, R.I.P. “Nathan Cirillo funeral cost almost $400K” – “More than $30,000 raised for Marcus Cirillo Trust” – more
#CANvsISIL
- “Ottawa imams ‘categorically’ denounce local ISIL member’s calls for violence” – News release “Canadian Muslims denounce ISIS threats against Canada”
- “ISIS extremist’s name means “The Light of Canadians,” counter-terrorism expert says”
- Commentary “A Muslim Message to Those Leaving Canada to Join ISIS”
- Easiest job at the Pentagon: Headline Writer for stories on fighting ISIL “Dec. 10: Military Airstrikes Continue Against ISIL in Syria and Iraq” - See the variety of headlines here at Central Command’s Info-machine web page
- “Canadian Joint Operations Command Deputy Commander Expeditionary pays visit to Kuwait”
- “U.S. lawmakers skeptical of Obama strategy against Islamic State”
- “The US Military Just Released Videos Of A Strike Against An ISIS Electronic Warfare Unit”
- “US official: Fight against IS in ‘earliest phases'; lawmakers complain US is not doing enough”
- “Russian official discusses peace effort with Assad”
- “Airstrikes Target ISIL Terrorists’ Facilities, Capabilities”
- “Syria accused of using chlorine gas on ISIL”
- More on Canada’s Operation IMPACT here, and on news from around that part of the world here (list of links) and here (Twitter list)
Internal Security
- “Montrealer charged with terror offence was planning ‘something big,’ says Crown — A 36-year-old Montrealer was arraigned Monday on a terrorism charge for allegedly planning “something big,” says the Crown ….” – “Arrestation à Montréal d’un homme soupçonné de terrorisme” – “Canadian authorities have arrested a citizen for making online statements linked to terrorism” (Saudi Research & Mktg Group, in Arabic)
- “Stephen Harper rebuffs call to rescind federal torture directives — The official Opposition pointed to a new U.S. report that discredits torture in enewing a call for the Conservative government to rescind its information-sharing policy ….” – “Ottawa urged to review relationship with CIA”
- “Vigilance 101 – how to see and report terrorist activities”
F-35 Tug o’ War
- “Rising F-35 price tag setting up tough choices, DND report suggests — A new DND report says the cost of the F-35 has continued to rise, and suggests the Conservative government will face a tough choice if it goes ahead with the controversial stealth fighter ….” – 3D’s Mark Collins on “Can Canada Afford 65 F-35s if Government Chooses the Plane?”
Other
- “Veterans Affairs allowed tens of millions of dollars in approved funding on veterans programs – such as death and disability benefits – to go unspent last year while exceeding its budget for internal services like communications ….”
- Commentary “Fantino not suited to job”
- “Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence to make an announcement (tomorrow)”
- Canadian officer scheduled to speak at military Flight Training conference
- “Nurse who sold steroids at army base loses sentence appeal” – “CFB Edmonton nurse charged with trafficking steroids”
- From the Info-machine “DRDC supports safer landings at sea for RCAF helicopters”
