Vanguard Magazine

6 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016 www.vanguardcanada.com s sIt REP Defence, aerospace, energy industry lines disappear at ConvergX Shipbuilders decry lack of competition in NSPS Canadian vessel sent to combat migrant smuggling CF-18s hit ISIS weapons cache The worlds of aerospace, defence and energy came together in Calgary this month during the one-of-a-kind ConvergX conference. WaVv, which specializes in business expan- sion, improvement and development for clients in the aerospace, defence, security, and oil and gas industries, worked with industry leaders in the defence and energy sectors and brought them together in Calgary, Alberta for ConvergX conference this week." "Opportunities lie where people are not used to looking, and that can be as simple as look- ing across to another industry with close or the same capabilities and standards," according to Kimberley Van Vliet, founder and CEO of WaVv. "It is critical for any industries to think about market diversification early," said Nicole Ver- kindt, president of OMX, "Large companies use the OMX platform to reduce their costs by sourcing across sectors and to leverage the innovation lessons already in play in other industries." Delays in the delivery of vessels for the Royal Canadian Navy and the skyrocketing cost of buildings ships can be blamed on the short- comings of the National Shipbuilding Procure- ment Strategy, according to Canadian ship- builders. "A shortage of shipbuilding capacity within the existing framework has resulted in an unaffordable and untenable fleet renewal pro- gram," the Shipbuilding Association of Canada said in a recent statement. In its review of the NSPS, the Liberal govern- ment must make sure that competition is built into the procurement process, according to the association. "With only two shipbuilders with limited fa- cilities, they (Conservative government) had to choose between the urgent operational re- quirement of either the Canadian Coast Guard or the Royal Canadian Navy – rather than look to other shipbuilders to meet the lack of capac- ity," the SAC said. "Because of the delays ema- nating from a lack of capacity, the anticipated costs of the future program ballooned." The Canadian Navy's HMCS Fredericton has been ordered to head for the Aegean Sea imme- diately to be part of a NATO flotilla ordered to put a stop to the smuggling of refugees fleeing war- torn middle eastern nations. In the final weeks of the Canadian Air Force's CF- 18's mission in the fight against ISIS, two of the fleet's jets struck a weapons cache of the terrorist group. "On 10 February 2016, while taking part in coali- tion operations in support of Iraqi security forces, two CF-18 Hornets successfully struck an ISIL weapons cache in the vicinity of Al Habbaniyah using precision-guided munitions." On the same day, two CF-18 Hornets also at- tacked an ISIS fighting position north of Ramadi. The air strikes took place two days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canadian CF-fighter jets will be winding down their airstrike mission against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria by February 22 and that Canadian forces will transi- tion to a "training and assisting mission" in the region. No less than 972,000 migrants and refu- gees arrived by sea in Europe in 2015, another 34,000 arrived by land that same year. The people are fleeing violence and war in coun- tries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. During the first two months of 2016, about 75,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Greece by sea, according to the United Nations. Of that number, 45 per cent came from Syria. More than 400 people have died attempting the journey.

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