Vanguard Magazine

10 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018 www.vanguardcanada.com S Sit REP At a ceremony held on September 16, 2018 at the Gatineau-Ottawa Ex- ecutive Airport in Gatineau, Quebec, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) marked the 78th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. The Battle of Britain was fought from July to October 1940. That sum- mer "was a dark time for the Allied Forces during the Second World War. A large portion of continental Europe had fallen to the Nazis and Hitler was preparing to launch a full-scale invasion of Great Britain," according to the Battle of Britain section on RCAF's website. A few days after France signed an armistice with Germany in June 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed the British House of Commons about the dreadful situation facing the Allies. "The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin," he said. This project, incorporated with WES, will "deliver on-demand geospatial data and products to the required operational environments with com- mercial performance and reliability." It will also enhance NATO's ability to use and apply location-based information. By combining WES into NATO's operational geospatial platform, it will "greatly enhance NATO's geospatial capability contributing to maintaining geospatial information superiority." RCAF marks the 78th anniversary of the Battle of Britain with a parade NATO Communications and Information Agency selects Compusult for GIS Increment 3 project Over 2,300 pilots and aircrew from Great Britain and over 550 from other countries participated in this Battle, of which 544 lost their lives. During the Battle, more than 100 Canadians flew and hundreds more served as ground crew. A total of 23 Canadian pilots lost their lives dur- ing the Battle. Most of the fighting took place on September 15, 1940, with the Allies being victorious. It was two days later that Hitler postponed his planned invasion. Due to the victorious outcome of the fighting that took place on September 15, the Battle of Britain is celebrated on or near that date every year. "The Battle of Britain was a defining moment in our history as air power played a major role in the Allied victory. Our airmen and airwomen draw strength from that past and perform their missions today with pride and professionalism," said Lieutenant-General Al D. Meinzinger, Commander, Royal Canadian Air Force. "The commemoration of the Battle of Britain is a great way for us to reconnect with Canada's proud legacy; let us never forget those brave Canadians who risked and gave their lives seventy- eight years ago. " In honour of those who bravely served in the Battle, RCAF personnel, Veterans, Royal Canadian Air Cadets, and the Central Band of the Cana- dian Armed Forces paraded at yesterday's ceremony to commemorate the victory of the Battle of Britain. The ceremony included "a fly-past of both vintage and current Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft, in honour of those who served and made the ultimate sacrifice throughout the sum- mer and fall of 1940," according to a press release. Historians have described the Battle of Britain as the turning point of the Second World War. In praising the valiant efforts of the aircrew, Churchill said, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." Two pilots race to their awaiting Hurricanes. Photo: National Air Force Museum of Canada. Early in September, Compusult Limited was selected by the NATO Com- munications and Information Agency (NCIA), to deliver the upgrade of the Geographical Information Service Increment 3 (Core GIS Incr. 3) project. Core GIS Incr. 3 is the "third increment of NATO's Core GIS capability and will provide state-of-the-art geospatial information services," a press re- lease from the company states. This will ensure that "the most effective geospatial data management, geospatial support, and geospatial servic- es provision in the NATO enterprise, to the geospatial community as well as consumers, users, and NATO's C4ISR/C3 capabilities." The project will combine Compusult's turnkey, commercial off-the- shelf software solution – Web Enterprise Suite (WES) – for geospatial information management and services and the overall solution for new and augmenting existing services. WES is the company's flagship product that is being used to meet the growing demands of organizations around the world seeking improved decision making through better access to information. According to the company, it is the most comprehensive location-based data discovery and management solution currently available and it provides standards- based geospatial data discovery, access, retrieval, exploitation, dissemi- nation, and collaboration. Image: Compusult

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