Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/560684
16 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015 www.vanguardcanada.com I INSIDE INDUSTRY BRIEF IN On July 20, 2015 LOCKHEED MARTIN entered into an agreement to purchase SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT for $9 billion USD. Sikorsky Aircraft is a leader in military and commercial rotary-wing aircraft, but is well-known to Canadians as the manufacturer involved in the long-running Sea King replacement saga. Canada was the only military customer for Sikorsky's CH-148 Cyclone. It may have taken awhile, but MACK DEFENSE of Allentown, Penn- sylvania was awarded two contracts valued at $725 million under the Medium Support Vehicle System (MSVS) project on July 16, 2015. Mack Defense will deliver more than 1,500 8x8 Standard Military Pattern (SMP) trucks and provide an initial five years of in-service support (ISS) for the fleet. The announce- ment comes as a bit of a coup for rival US manufacturer (and suspected favourite) OSHKOSH DEFENSE. The company had been heavily marketing their HEMTT platform in Canada over a number of years. Canadian-based CAE DEFENCE AND SECURITY has had a strong first quarter. The company recently announced that it has won de- fence contracts valued at more than $150 million to provide sim- ulation products as well as training services for global military customers. CAE will be delivering additional MH-60R training devices for the Royal Australian Navy, additional UH-72A Lakota flight training devices for the US Army, two full-mission simula- tors for an undisclosed customer, and two P-8A operational flight trainers for the US Navy. General Dynamics Canada underwent a name change in July. The company wanted to better reflect its access to the products and technologies within their portfolio, and will henceforth be known as GENERAL DYNAMICS MISSION SYSTEMS – CANADA. Associate Defence Minister Julian Fantino was on hand to award COLT CANADA, the government's long-standing supplier and main- tainer of small arms, a $1.5 million contract to replace the Cana- dian Ranger's aged Lee Enfield rifle. The contract, announced June 23, allows the Rangers to test the design of the new firearm over the summer before Colt Canada ramps up production. Approxi- mately 6,500 rifles will be phased into use between mid-2016 and late-2019. Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada Diane Finley arrived at SEASPAN'S Vancouver Shipyards on June 24 to an- nounce the start of construction on the Canadian Coast Guard's Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel (OFSV). The ship will enter ser- vice as the CCGS Sir John Franklin in honour of the famous British Navy Officer and Arctic explorer. Seaspan's non-combat portion of the NSPS will produce approximately 5,000 jobs over the next 20 years. The Government of Canada has signed a Letter of Intent with CHANTIER DAVIE CANADA INC. to fill the Royal Canadian Navy's gap in supply ship capability until the first Joint Support Ship (JSS) enters active ser vice somewhere around 2021. Chantier Davie was frozen out of the NSPS competition, but has since restruc- tured to become Lloyd's "Top North American Shipbuilder " for 2015. Associate Minister of Defence Julian Fantino fires one of the Canadian Rangers' new custom rifles, supplied by Colt Canada.