Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/139409
E Executive Interview The civil-military partnership Integrating disruptive technology On May 23, HMCS Toronto disrupted her fourth narcotics shipment in two months during counter-terrorism operations in the Arabian Sea. Key to her success was the deployment of a ScanEagle unmanned aircraft, operated by a Canadian Army team and supported by civilian contractors from Ottawa's ING Robotic Aviation. Contractors have long played a vital role in the delivery of defence capability. In recent years, however, they have become a target of austerity measures. The 2011 Leslie report on transformation flagged the expansion of contracted services as an area ripe for cuts. But as the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to introduce new technology in more effective and cost efficient ways, civilian-military partnerships have their value. Ian Glenn is the chief executive and technology officer and founder of ING Robotic Aviation (formerly ING Engineering). An armoured officer with 22 years of service, including degrees from the Royal Military College and the US Naval Postgraduate School, he created the company in 2001 after leading the CF's efforts in the intelligence/unmanned aviation field in his last posting. In 2008 at ING, he deployed a small civilian team to Afghanistan with the army to provide maintenance and support of a new capability, the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle. Since then, ING has helped the Royal Canadian Navy experiment with the same aircraft from three different ships, assisted the CF with exercises from Op Nanook to Maple Resolve, and aided training for Special Forces. Although the company continues to work with the CF, ING is now aiming to "reinvent aviation" with expansion into commercial airspace, providing both services and products to Canadian and international customers for energy, mining, utilities, security and other sectors where unmanned systems are garnering attention. Glenn spoke with Vanguard about the keys to civil-military partnerships. 30 JUNE/JULY 2013 www.vanguardcanada.com Photo: Corporal Rick Aye