Vanguard Magazine

April/May 2014

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

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F FWSAR 24 APRIL/MAY 2014 www.vanguardcanada.com NARROWING THE SEARCH Alenia Aermacchi C-27J Spartan Team Spartan, as it has dubbed itself, consists of Finmeccanica subsidiary Alenia Aermacchi North America, General Dynamics Canada, DRS Technologies Canada, Provincial Aerospace and, just recently, Kelowna Flightcra . Long considered the front-runner, the Spartan has been challenged about its ability to operate at lower speeds needed while performing aerial searches and operate on northern and so airfi elds. It features a new Rolls Royce AE 2100-D2 engine and will be "missionized" to RCAF requirements. When the conservative government released the Canada First Defence Strategy in 2008, it include a commitment to deliver a new fl eet of fi xed-wing search and rescue aircra to the Royal canadian Air Force by 2015. It appears the government might meet part of that commitment – sort of. At the recent Air Force Outlook in April, RcAF offi cials confi rmed that a much anticipated request for proposal will be issued in 2014, followed by a contract award in 2015. It's not quite the actual aircra , but it's something worth acknowledging. Over a decade has passed since the FWSAR program was fi rst announced as a "top priority" in 2003 and granted dedicated funding of $1.3 billion for 15 aircra in 2004. the program will likely be a test case for the criteria laid out in the government's new Defence Procurement Strategy, announced in February. Just how the DPS and its requirements for value propositions, key industrial capabilities and technological benefi ts will aff ect the bids, though, remains to be seen. First, the FWSAR program will a capability-based rather than platform-based procurement, meaning that in addi- tion to aircra performance specifi cations, companies will also have to provide basing solutions (including number and type of aircra and personnel) to meet national search and rescue needs. Second, FWSAR is one of three capital procurement projects already operating under a dedicated secretariat, which could ease or complicate matters. earlier this year, Public Works and Government Ser- vices canada, which will house a new dedicated defence procurement secretariat, released a source list of fi ve com- panies that intend to submit proposal for the FWSAR re- placement program: Airbus Defense and Space (formerly Airbus Military); Alenia Aermacchi; Bell Boeing; Lockheed Martin; and embraer Defense and Security. notably absent from the list was Viking Air, which had proposed a new version of the venerable cc-115 Buff alo. Here are the fi ve contenders:

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