F
Fwsar
22 JUNE/JULY 2016 www.vanguardcanada.com
MEETING MAjoR
L
ook at it on a globe. The vast
Canadian landscape is daunting.
Huge swaths of empty forest and
lakes stretching north to scat-
tered, frozen islands in the Arctic, and
ultimately to the top of the world. The
Hudson Bay, the giant island of Baffin
in the east, and the Yukon Territory in
the west. And if that is not challenging
enough, the Rocky Mountains of Alberta
and British Columbia comprise much of
the most rugged and forbidding high
country in North America.
Canada is an imposing challenge for
search and rescue operations but cer-
tainly one within the realm of modern
aircraft and well-trained crews. If the C-
27J Spartan is chosen to become the na-
tion's next fixed-wing search-and-rescue
(FWSAR) aircraft, the mission of Team
Spartan will be to make the SAR mission
challenge much more manageable.
As a team member of the Team Spar-
tan, DRS Technologies Canada will bring
the training system solution for the new
FWSAR aircraft and its advanced on-
board systems and equipment. The DRS-
led training systems team would also
build a training center in Comox, British
Columbia.
DRS has developed an integrated so-
lution that combines elements from es-
tablished suppliers across Canada for the
training of all FWSAR aircrew members
and maintenance personnel. The Comox
location on the eastern shore of Vancou-
ver Island is considered ideal because of
its proximity to nearby mountain ranges
as well as other government and military
training centres that will play a key role in
the training initiative.
The DRS solution combines top-tier
training elements from established suppli-
ers located across Canada. They include
Bluedrop Training and Simulation of
Halifax and TRU Simulation + Training of
Montreal. Bluedrop would supply sophis-
ticated courseware to meet the design re-
Search and reScue
challengeS
