Vanguard Magazine

6 JUNE/JULY 2016 www.vanguardcanada.com s sIt REP BlackBerry renews security contract with Pentagon We need new fighter jets now – Sajjan BlackBerry Limited has signed a one-year con- tract with the Pentagon to provide the agency with messaging and emergency notification as well as internal and external alerts services. The announcement renews the Waterloo, Ont.-based mobile company's contract to provide the Penta- gon Force Protection Agency use of BlackBerry's AtHoc Networked Crisis Communications Suite. AtHoc, a division of BlackBerry Limited, is a rec- ognized leader in networked crisis communication. AtHoc's suite of integrated applications provides a seamless and reliable exchange of critical informa- tion among organizations, their people, and devices. The PFPA is a civilian agency within the United States Department of Defense. It is charged with safeguarding the occupants, visitors, and infra- structure of the Pentagon building and sixty-nine other defense installments in the National Capitol Region. The PFPA works with officers of the United States Pentagon Police, anti-terrorism, and protec- The Royal Canadian Air Force's current fleet of CF- 18 fighter jets is no longer sufficient to fulfill the force's domestic and overseas responsibilities, according to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. "Our fleet of CF-18s needs to be replaced now," Sajjan said is his speech last Thursday before members of Canada's defence industry during the Cansec 2016 conference in Ottawa. "The fact they have not been replaced means we are facing a ca- pability gap in the years ahead." The defence chief did not provide any specific timeline for military's CF-18 replacement program, tive services agents, plus threat management agents including chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives technicians. Before implementing AtHoc, important resourc- es inside the Pentagon were not connected to a common messaging and emergency notification network, and the PFPA was unable to effectively communicate directly with organizations outside the Pentagon building during a crisis, according to BlackBerry. AtHoc has enabled the PFPA to establish secure alerting and permission-based crisis communi- cations internally and among numerous external organizations. but stressed that the government risks losing its window of opportunity to modernize its fighter fleet. "Today, we are risk-managing a gap between our NORAD and NATO commitments and the num- ber of fighters available for operations," Sajjan said. "In the 2020s, we can foresee a growing ca- pability gap, and this, I find unacceptable, and it's one thing that we plan to fix." "Now, we did not create this issue," Sajjan point- ed out, putting the blame instead on the Conser- vatives for failing to secure a replacement for the CF-18s. "Unfortunately, I inherited it, but it needs to be dealt with quickly." During the Harper administration, Canada be- came a signatory to the F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter Program. This enabled Canadian defence contractors to win contracts for the inter- national production line of the Lockheed Martin- built aircraft. The single-seat, single-engine, all-weather, stealth multi-role F-35 is a fifth-generation com- bat aircraft. The aircraft took its first flight back in 2006 and by July 2015, the first squadron was declared ready for deployment after intensive testing. However, the aircraft has been plagued by design flaws that caused production delays. By 2014, the program was said to be US$167 billion over budget and seven years behind schedule. The Liberal government put the brakes on the F-35 program. During his campaign, now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised that his govern- ment "will not buy the F-35 fighter jet" but instead procure a more "affordable" alternative. The Liberals have since backtracked on this position, and the F-35 appears to remain a con- tender in the CF-18 replacement program. At Cansec, Sajjan would not categorically say if any manufacturer will not be allowed to bid in the multi-billion dollar program.

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