Vanguard Magazine

Feb/Mar 2014

Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR

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The value of a JSF deal The government may have received the options analysis from the National Fighter Procurement Secretariat, but it has yet to indicate whether it will proceed with the acquisition of the Joint Strike Fighter or hold an open competition. Not surprisingly, Lockheed Martin has been making the government and Canadians aware of what is at stake if Prime Minister Harper opts for a new competition for the replacement of the CF-18 fighter jets. In January, the company hosted a webinar with Steve O'Bryan, its vice president of busi- ness development and strategic integration for the F-35, and senior execu- tives from six Canadian companies currently delivering on contracts for the multinational program. While O'Bryan reaffirmed Lockheed's efforts to drive down costs on the aircraft while meeting key milestones, the JSF's Canadian supplier base were keen to emphasize the value of contracts and high-tech jobs they al- ready derive from the program and what they expect in the future. O'Bryan said that Canadian companies have been awarded over $600 million in con- tracts even though the government has yet to purchase a single airplane. Larry Glenesk, senior vice president of business development for British Columbia's Avcorp Industries, said work on the outboard wing assembly of the carrier variant has forced the company to develop new techniques for precision drilling and helped it adopt new technology Avcorp will be able to leverage for future commercial work. The company employs 60 people in high end jobs today and will exceed 100 for 25 to 40 years once the program reaches full capacity. "We're in at the ground floor of this program," he said, adding that early participation has helped the company tap into the global supply chains of JSF partners BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and Pratt & Whitney. Larry Fitzgerald, vice president of operations for Centra Industries in Cambridge, Ontario, credited facility and technology upgrades for the JSF program with helping the company land commercial contracts with Boeing and Bombardier. "We had to develop not just new technology but also tech- niques," he said. "These are high paying, high skilled professionals contrib- uting to the Canadian economy. And there are still more contracts to be won." For Gabe Batstone, CEO of Vancouver-based NGRAIN, the JSF program has been a boon for business for almost a decade – it began with training and maintenance solutions and is now providing 3D virtual damage assessment solutions for pilots. "We have received millions of dollars of contracts and we see tens of millions of business ahead of us," he said. "We are developing unique marketable technology." Though NGRAIN has seen growth in jobs and export opportunities, he cau- tioned that much of that could disappear "if we don't follow through with F-35." Sapphire satellite transitions to operations The Sapphire satellite has reached full operational capability. In late January, National Defence confirmed that main element of the Canadian Space Surveil- lance System had completed its commissioning and was now transitioning I INSIDE INDUSTRY 8 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014 www.vanguardcanada.com The Super Hornet economic return As the U.S. Department of Defence prepares its final budget recommenda- tions for 2014, there is considerable speculation about the long-term future of the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler, both of which are ex- pected to complete their current production run in 2016. But Boeing is talking up the value proposition it brings to the table as it awaits a decision by the federal government on the CF-18 fighter replace- ment program. A week after the government issued its new Defence Procurement Strat- egy, Brian Beyrouty, Boeing's senior manager of international partnerships, was in Ottawa to talk about the industrial benefits of the Super Hornet. Like all defence companies, Boeing has adjusted to previous changes to Industrial and Regional Benefits requirements, so a shift in focus to techno- logical benefits and an emphasis on weighted and rated value propositions doesn't dramatically alter its approach. "We can adjust as needed," he said, adding that what was presented to the National Fighter Procurement Secretariat "applies whether you are doing an industrial participation approach, which is the current model, or an IRB or an ITB. We would exercise different parts of the organization, perhaps, in how we would address it." Boeing already draws from a range of Canadian suppliers for components on the Super Hornet, but it would leverage the reach of partners General Electric, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon if the government opts to engage in an open competition. "There is a pretty impressive footprint on the Super Hornet here already," he said. "We would look at where opportunities are across the enterprise. On the defence side, we have 200 different product lines, some big ones like the C-17 and Chinook, some very small that fill niche roles...[W]e tried to high- light that what we bring to the table from a program perspective and indus- into operations as a contributing sensor to the U.S. Space Surveillance Network. The satellite is DND's first dedicated operational military satellite, able to track man-made space objects in Earth's orbit between 6,000 and 40,000 km in altitude. In contributing data to the U.S. Space Surveillance Network, the satellite provides Canada with an important seat at the table. In a recent interview with Vanguard, MGen Mike Day, Chief of Force Development, noted that Sapphire's contribution to space situational awareness allows Canada to "get data back tenfold." "To date, Sapphire has performed exceedingly well – surpassing many of its expected peak performance levels," said BGen Rick Pitre, Director General Space. Sapphire was built by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates of Richmond, B.C and launched in February 2013 from Sriharikota, India. With the declaration of full operational capability, it now begins a five-year operational period.

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