Vanguard Magazine

20 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2023 www.vanguardcanada.com erations and maintenance, training facilities maintenance, and security management. The RCN finds itself in a critical juncture with recapitalization of the entire fleet over the coming two to three decades. During this period the NTS must maintain train- ing for the current fleet, while ensuring it will be ready to respond to the progressive introduction of new and upgraded ships, systems, and equipment of the future fleet. Once introduction of CSC begins, we an- ticipate a transition period of at least a de- cade before steady-state is achieved. Q As systems continue to evolve and professional standards demand various certification processes how do you see the FNTS incorporating certification into the overall training system beyond what it is today? Members of the profession of arms in Can- ada possess a specialized body of military knowledge and skills acquired through education, training and experience that is necessary for accomplishing their assigned mission. The occupational qualifications of RCN sailors will continue to evolve to reflect changes in the nature of the tasks performed by sailors at sea. Internal accreditations will continue to exist within the RCN across the spectrum of training as a way of validating qualifi- cations. We are likely to encounter new requirements with the introduction of a Future Fleet featuring the Aegis Combat System. Professional certification generally refers to some form of formal attestation to the qualifications attained by an individual (or organization) reflective of their occupa- tional competencies and experience. The Canadian Forces Military Equiva- lencies Program provides direction on managing Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR). PLAR benefits the navy by allowing training authorities to accredit individuals for equivalent civilian training. In other words, if a Canadian citizen holds a professional certification upon enrollment in the RCN, it may qual- ify them to forego some or all of certain trades training. PLAR is intended to make the RCN a more attractive employment option while decreasing demands on its training system. Q Naval Reserve Division (NRD) training has long been a geographical challenge with units dispersed across Canada. How do you see FNTS address- ing historic challenges for reservists with different levels of availability to train? The goal of more fully integrating the Na- val Reserves into the "One Navy" concept will be greatly assisted with the realization of the FNTS vision. The RCN requires a FNTS that is enabled by modern method- ologies and technologies to be accessible, flexible, saleable, and sustainable to meet the learning needs of Regular and Reserve Force officers and sailors, and support per- sonnel. We foresee a significant benefit to Re- serve Force personnel from a training sys- tem with expanded Distributed Learning (DL) resources in order to achieve and maintain operational currency. Training sites, such as Naval Fleet School (Quebec) and NRDs will likely re- quire both secure and non-secure training spaces. Reconfigurable, multi-functional networked spaces are at the heart of the FNTS infrastructure vision. These spaces are essential to meet innovative training approaches that fuse modern instructional methodologies with the latest technology enabled solutions that accelerate learn- ing, improve retention, encourage critical thinking, and enable easy and timely ac- cess to training at the Point of Need re- gardless of whether the member is Regular or Reserve Force. Q The previous questions have been focused on individual occupation training and education; how do you see the FNTS influencing traditional naval collective training? Beyond the capabilities of the simulators in use today, how do you see technology impacting traditional "at sea training"? Since the early days of sail, technological innovation has been the primary catalyst Q Understanding of the intent to have industry take on some facets of naval training that has historically been con- ducted by uniformed personnel and not- ing the impact a commercially delivered set-piece training system could have on sea/shore ratio and operational experi- ence currently provided from the fleet - how much change to traditional naval training delivery is foreseen? Analysis is ongoing that will define the fu- ture composition of RCN staffing through- out the phases of transition to the Future Fleet. The three main human resource ele- ments that form the current NTS are mili- tary personnel, DND civilian employees and contracted support. The exact numbers and type of staffing has yet to be determined and will be con- tingent on many factors including the fu- ture composition (numbers, qualifications and experience) of both the RCN estab- lishment and the Federal Public Service as well as demands to crew the ships of the Future Fleet which will vary until reaching steady state. Some roles are more suitably performed by uniformed personnel including com- mand and control functions as well as in- struction in areas relating to leadership, naval culture, ethos, and code of conduct. Governance and related management functions as well as specialty training func- tions may be suitably executed by a combi- nation of military and civilian staff. We heard through the replies to our RFI that industry is ready to respond to a spec- trum of demands from turn-key solutions inclusive of training facilities and training support personnel, to provision of person- nel, technologies, and/or software to sup- port an RCN lead training system. Flexibility and scalability will be key to respond to fluctuations in training develop- ment and delivery demands especially dur- ing the period of transition to the Future Fleet. We foresee industry supporting areas such as: Life Cycle management, Operations management, training development, train- ing delivery, training technology operations and maintenance, digital framework op- We are committed to ensuring the training systems we create are easily and affordably modified and feature multi-purpose, adaptable and reconfigurable trainers which will make NPTG a more agile, efficient and effective change management organization. INTERVIEW

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