Vanguard Magazine

www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 7 s siT REP Government to hire outside help in fixing NSPS Dark clouds over F-35 program in US S co t t S a fe t y a re wo r l d l e a d e r s i n t h e d e s i g n a n d d eve l o p m e n t o f Re s p i ra to r y P ro te c t i o n Eq u i p m e n t ( R P E ) . We h ave a d e t a i l e d u n d e r st a n d i n g o f t h e p hys i o l o g i c a l a n d p syc h o l o g i c a l b u rd e n R P E c a n p l a ce o n u s e r s . Th a t i s w hy we te st i n t h e f i e l d . We a p p l y w h a t we l e a r n t h e re – a s we l l a s e m e rg i n g re s e a rc h a n d te c h n o l o g i e s to eve r y d e s i g n to e n s u re s u p e r i o r c a p a b i l i t y, f u n c t i o n a l i t y a n d co m fo r t . I r re s p e c t i ve o f w h e t h e r yo u r re q u i re m e n t i s fo r C B R N p ro te c t i o n , B re a t h i n g A p p a ra t u s fo r E O D, U SA R , D a m a g e Co n t ro l , L aw E n fo rce m e n t , F i re F i g h t i n g o r fo r s p e c i a l i st a p p l i c a t i o n s S co t t c a n m e e t yo u r re q u i re m e n t s - Co m fo r t a b l y OUR FOUNDATION IS OUR TECHNOLOGIES, OUR MISSION IS EXPANDING YOUR CAPABILITIES. For more information visit: ScottSafety.com/EMEA Follow us on Twitter @ScottSafetyEMEA Visit the Scott Safety stand at: DSEI 2015 15 - 18 September • Stand S4-451 The government has set out to hire a shipbuilding expert in order to quickly repair the faulty National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy that threatens to go grossly over budget. The development sur- faced following reports that the cost component of the NSPS dealing with the procurement of 15 warships has more than doubled from its initial $14 billion price tag to more than $30 billion. Apart from hiring a shipbuilding expert to ad- vise the government on how to deal with the NSPS's problems, Public Services Minister Judy Foote office will also move to develop a new sys- tem to evaluate costs, and provide quarterly pub- lic updates and annual reports to the Parliament, according to a report on CBC News. The NSPS was launched by the Conservative government in 2010 in order to rebuild the Royal Canadian Navy's fleet and boost the local industry as well. The strategy was broken into three sec- tions; the combat package, the non-combat pack- age and the smaller vessel package. Companies that won one of the larger ship packages were not able to bid on the smaller vessel package. The NSPS had an initial budget of $39 billion to build 30 large ships. So far the project has moved slowly and initial costs for the contracts that have been given have gone up. For example, the total cost $26.2 million ap- proved by the government for the purchase of those 15 ships and an additional 6 Arctic Patrol Ships will now cost about $16 billion more and balloon to $42 billion. However, it is no surprise that the costs are bal- looning, according to Ken Hansen, a professor of political science at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Initial costs estimates were off because the navy has been absent from the shipbuilding mar- ket for more than 20 years, he said in an interview with the Canadian Press. He called the estimate "a pie-in-the-sky esti- mate" that was "wishful thinking." Hansen also said the navy was looking for top-of-the-line vessels and there was no com- promise yet on the "needs-vs.-wants aspect of the wish list." The U.S. Air Force is facing a budget crunch in the next six years that could impact several military procurement programs such as the F-35 program, according to Congressional Research Service. The CRS is the public research arm of the US Congress. "The four procurement programs (F-35A, KC- 46, C-130 and RPA) account for 99 per cent of the Air Force's aircraft acquisition budget," wrote J.J. Getler, author of the report. "The net effect of starting these new programs atop a full procure- ment budget is a classic 'bow wave' of procure- ment, with increasing numbers of programs with growing budgets all trying to fit within a fixed budget topline at the same time while building re- quirements for increased future funding." Among the hard decisions authorities may have to take, according to Getler: • Raising the Air Force topline • Reductions in Air Force programs and activities other than modernization • Reducing annual quantities of the F-35A • Further retarding the growth of R&D programs • Deferring the KC-Y follow-on tanker • Funding the long-range strike bomber (LRSB) through a non-Air Force budget Judy Foote

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