Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/139409
execuTive INTERvIEW e Q Take me back to your early days in Afghanistan when the ScanEagle was first deployed: how new was this for your people? It was all new for everyone. The key was partnerships. In a good partnership everybody brings their best part so that the whole thing succeeds, and we did exactly that in 2008. We showed up with brand new technology, an 18 kilogram aircraft that was considerably lighter than the Sperwer, and within weeks were able to conduct 12 hour missions to their three and a half. If you show up with something that isn't meant to fly at those altitudes or in those condition, it's a struggle. That's not a people problem, that's a technology problem. Our key was the right technology at the right time that was persistent and covert and could fly in just about any weather. We had the right dedicated knowledge set on the civil side that allowed our people to rotate through without disruption, and we got better and better at it as we cycled guys through. In fact, the first UAV troop commander and the first UAV troop warrant officer came back from Afghanistan and a year later came to work for me. And I sent them back to Afghanistan as a key partner in the defence team. Q What were the keys to building that working relationship? First, I had a long time to think about this problem space, so I knew what skills I wanted. I was fortunate to bring in retired MWOs and warrants who had been air space controllers. My thinking was if you can vector a jet at 700 knots to its refuelling tanker while you are flying at 600 knots in an AWACs, you can safely manage this aircraft. And that proved to be a great choice. Having a credible senior retired military team on my side made it really easy for the young warrants and captains to work with them. We were also clear on our boundaries and responsibilities – we took care of the flight critical piece to get the airplane into the sky and 15 hours later we would take back control from the operator and safely get it down; we did all the maintenance and we were the super help desk, but we were never involved on the operational side. Q Were you able to apply the lessons from working with the army to the navy or were their cultures and requirements quite different? There are technical differences. Our job was to make the technology work and then work with the operators for safe launch and recovery. For the navy, there is a continuous process of learning about flight operations with the UAV versus the Sea King, and we have seen a transformational shift on board the ship as they come to understand what the UAV can do for them. Initially there were some technology and procurement-related challenges, but once they started to see the results, almost everyone bought in. I've heard that General Beare and Vice Admiral Maddison have said they wouldn't deploy without a UAV. There were some big challenges culturally with the navy. I once wrote a study for DRDC that concluded contractors on a ship would never happen. On the Charlottetown, we were shoved in the starboard torpedo room with the control station and three births as they figured out where OUR FOUNDATION IS OUR TECHNOLOGIES OUR MISSION IS EXPANDING YOUR CAPABILITIES To develop innovative solutions that provide the comfort, protection and performance you need, we work backwards. First, we consider the requirements of the end user. Then we assess every element of design and apply the latest technology to develop comfortable, low-burden equipment so wearers can focus on the task at hand. Europe: +44 (0) 1695 727171 scott.sales.uk@tycoint.com North America: +1 800.247.7257 sh-sale@tycoint.com © 2011 Scott Safety ®, ScottSafety.com®. All Rights Reserved. © Crown Copyright/MOD. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office www.vanguardcanada.com JUNE/JULY 2013 31