Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/196923
Maritime M plexity, but already the Halifax is teaching the rest of the fleet and our strategic partners how we can accelerate delivery. The entire navy is learning apace in our school systems. You mentioned the synthetic environment: we will have the systems and the high level architecture aboard to be able to communicate to simulators and virtual environments ashore. The ship is now as integral to the Canadian synthetic environment as the big simulator systems ashore. Moreover, our training system has already modeled every ship of the fleet: you can walk around the ship from your laptop at home. With that we can push training to the individual. They can control their training and they are burrowing into their courseware at their own rate from home or in the schoolhouse with far more interactive and exciting tools. It is increasingly less about the lecturer standing in front of the class and much more the operator exploring his or her way through the complexity of their training. Indeed, the navy is moving quickly towards an integrated synthetic and virtual effect for improved training and greater impact on learning at the individual and collective training levels. Q The navy has been a pioneer in the use of UAVs from the deck of the frigates. Where are you looking for your next technology breakthroughs? We want to see the UAV and underwater vehicles become key elements of a greater C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) effect in Canada's defence and security capability. Right now we are feeding off the lessons of Afghanistan and operating UAVs with great success on the Op Artemis mission, for instance. HMCS Toronto currently has employed UAVs persistently in full coordination with shipboard sensors, the embarked helicopter, and information received from ashore. We need a long-term program to deliver a capability that isn't just the actual bird, but also the whole shore-side capability of data fusion, analysis, information sharing between the services and specialist operators, all the while improving our working with domestic agencies who help us survey the sea lanes of approach to Canada. We have just created the first range for UAVs off the coast of Nova Scotia so we can train and operate without a lot of the regulatory issues. I think we are on the front end of AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicles). As an example, Kraken Sonar of St. John's is working with Defence Research and Development Canada and the navy on developing a higher speed, precision mapping autonomous vehicle for underwater route survey, mines, bottom debris and wrecks. We are also investigating with laser replicators in our fleet maintenance facility. This developmental system allows our technicians to download a three dimensional model and build a component much like a 3D plastic printer but instead out of a host of metal alloys. We have been able to build and employ components for our ships, so we're now exploring which components have high failure rates and can be replicated using this system. We are keying on components from ships of the increasingly old fleets like Tribal Class destroyers and replenishment ships, parts like impellors for water pumps in the tanker, boiler control systems and the likes. We potentially have the technology at hand to address one of the key resource challenges when operating older but still very useful naval capabilities. Be prepared! Practice to improve skills. RUAG Schweiz AG | RUAG Defence Allmendstrasse 86 | 3602 Thun | Switzerland | Phone +41 33 228 22 65 marketing.defence@ruag.com | www.ruag.com www.vanguardcanada.com OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013 15