Canadian Military News

[undercoverbrother]

https://leaderpost.com/news/canada/m...2-ca64acec33c5

The Canadian military says it has discovered cracks in the tails of 19 of its 23 Cyclone maritime helicopters.

FFS

[CaptainCrunch]

Yeah, that whole procurement was a crap show. We went with the 148 after Chretien cancelled the 101 contract out of spite.


I mean its great that we finally replaced the Sea Kings, but we should have stuck with the 101 instead of paying the penalties, seeing a flubbed procurement, having one crash out for stupid reasons and now this.

[Baron von Kriterium]

Get to work, Maintenance! And Merry Christmas.

On the bright side, a tech found the cracks early and the CAF and Sikorsky are addressing the problem. All helicopters develop cracks and doublers (think "patches") become normal for the rest of the airframe's life. Sometimes the doublers are included in the design, as with the Griffon.

This won't be the last time a tech discovers that the stresses involved with helicopters unexpectedly manifests itself in cracks. It's normal.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by Baron von Kriterium

Get to work, Maintenance! And Merry Christmas.

On the bright side, a tech found the cracks early and the CAF and Sikorsky are addressing the problem. All helicopters develop cracks and doublers (think "patches") become normal for the rest of the airframe's life. Sometimes the doublers are included in the design, as with the Griffon.

This won't be the last time a tech discovers that the stresses involved with helicopters unexpectedly manifests itself in cracks. It's normal.

Exactly, the maintenance and airworthiness system is working exactly like it is supposed to. Good to see.

The word crack sounds bad to someone who doesn't work on these things everyday but all aircraft have develop cracks, there is no perfect design. Catching them early is key.

[Zulu29]

I get that cracks in airframes are a normal thing, but isn’t it odd that the entire fleet has this problem at the same time? That seems like a flaw in design instead of wear and tear.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by Zulu29

I get that cracks in airframes are a normal thing, but isn’t it odd that the entire fleet has this problem at the same time? That seems like a flaw in design instead of wear and tear.

Yes and no. I guess technically you could call it a design flaw but that sounds a lot more alarming than the reality. It does point to a weakness but I wouldn't get too worked up. You can do everything you want in design and computer modelling etc, but the real world always throws you some curves.

It could be many things, an unexpected transfer of load, a change in design that added an attachment point and caused unexpected loading, a part that went through heat treatment and the whole batch was cured wrong. Heck even a part that had to be even slightly pulled into position to be riveted could start to crack. I've seen that a lot in my career. Getting less common but still happens.

I don't want to speculate cause I know absolutely nothing about the issue in discussion, but it doesn't sound like anything too drastic. When they are still on the ground in three months with no solution in sight that's when you start to worry.

[Madman]

Originally Posted by speede5

I don't want to speculate cause I know absolutely nothing about the issue in discussion

You're in the wrong place then.

[CaptainCrunch]

And the band plays on



https://globalnews.ca/news/8431448/c...medium=twitter

Vice-Adm. Haydn Edmundson has been charged following a military police investigation into a sexual assault allegation against him.
Military police laid one count of sexual assault and one count of indecent acts against Edmundson on Tuesday. The case will be handled through the civilian court system.
Edmundson, who had served as the military’s head of personnel, was placed on indefinite leave in the spring as the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) looked into the allegation.

[undercoverbrother]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nav...hZCcUcsjzOisdE

Ok at some point we just need to burn it to the ground, ####ing navy plugs

Two of Canada's frontline frigates lost electronic storage devices containing classified and top secret data — including electronic warfare material — according to security inventories conducted over the last two years, CBC News has learned.

The devices — USBs, DVDs and a backup hard drive — went missing despite an apparent tightening of security in the wake of a spy scandal almost a decade ago, and a separate internal 2013 board of inquiry which recommended measures to clean up the navy's handling of classified data.

[CaptainCrunch]

Very similar Fighter Jet replacement program in Finland picks the F-35A


https://www.reuters.com/business/aer...ce-2021-12-10/

HELSINKI/WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Finland has chosen U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin's (LMT.N) F-35 fighters to replace ageing F/A-18 combat jets and plans to order 64 planes with weapons systems in a $9.4 billion deal, the government said on Friday.
Lockheed Martin competed in a tender for the deal with Sweden's Saab (SAABb.ST), U.S. rival Boeing (BA.N), France's Dassault and Britain's BAE Systems (BAES.L).

The procurement from Lockheed, including weapons as well as service and maintenance until 2030, is estimated to cost 8.378 billion euros ($9.44 billion), the government said.
The construction of hangars and other equipment will add a further 777 million euros, and 824 million euros will be reserved for the final optimised weapons package and to control future contract amendments, it added.
"When comparing military performance, the F-35 best met our needs," Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen told a news conference.

https://www.defenseone.com/business/...ghters/187452/


I'm not too surprised that the Fat Amy beat the Super Hornet, Rafael and Typhoon. I would be interested in seeing the competition between the Jas-29 and the F-35. but it looks like the F-35 came in at about 152 per copy with advanced weapons package and a maintenance package and a promise of economic benefits.



The Jas-29E/F is expected to be 85 to 90 million per aircraft.

[Baron von Kriterium]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Very similar Fighter Jet replacement program in Finland picks the F-35A

Let me know where the PM's bar tab is the next time she goes clubbing.

Sixty-four planes for a population of 5.5 million? That probably puts them at the top of the F-35-Per-Capita-Pyramid. That's equivalent to about 3800 planes for the USA.

I guess they take their defence seriously.

Mind you, maybe they think they need 64 to operate 12.

[CaptainCrunch]

In depth story on the pistol replacement shyteshow


https://nationalpost.com/opinion/mat...box=1642181463

There is no better example of our atrophied state capacity — the ability (or lack thereof) for Canadian governments to get stuff done — than our decade-long failure to buy a pistol for the Canadian Armed Forces.
Article content

The Armed Forces use Browning 9mm pistols as its standard-issue sidearm. Some specialized units use other pistols purchased for a specific purpose in smaller batches, but the Browning 9mm is the standard.
It’s a fine pistol, but it has an old design — the first “HiPower,” as they’re branded, was built in 1935. More to the point, the ones the Canadian Forces use were built during the Second World War.
Let’s repeat that for explicit clarity: the pistols in the Canadian military’s inventory were built during the Second World War, which ended, as you may recall, 77 years ago. They are old, they’re worn out, they break down a lot and spare parts are increasingly hard to find.

Canada hasn’t quite lived up to that standard of basic competence, sadly. We first tried to replace the pistols in 2011, a mere, uh, 11 years ago. We failed — the contract was so picky and restrictive, it failed to attract bidders.
In 2016, the government tried again. The proposed budget was between $50- and $100-million. The “anticipated timeline” for the delivery of the new pistols was somewhere between 2026 and 2036 — 10 to 20 years out! To be clear: with a budget of up to $100 million, the Canadian government anticipated needing as much as 20 years to do something the British did in two years for under $15 million.
If that sounds like a disaster in the making, don’t worry. It never happened. That procurement process failed, too. Or, more precisely, it just fizzled and went nowhere, until 2020, when the government said it would move forward, this time with a goal of procuring the pistols in two years — by the end of 2022.
In early 2021, the government had a draft proposal ready, seeking 8,000 pistols by the summer of 2022 (with options for 16,500 more). But then one of the would-be bidders complained that the process was rigged, so it was reviewed, and then, in November, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal agreed that the proposal was inappropriately written, in part.
So the federal government cancelled it, again, and hopes to try again in the spring. Which is just one season before we’d hoped to actually have the guns. (Thanks to the Ottawa Citizen’s David Pugilese for his work over the depressingly many years on this file — most of the above timeline was assembled by simply reading through his various reports going back far, far too long.)

But I mean right now the most urgent purchasing need is not new pistols, or figuring out why the ship building process is so messed up, or replacing our fighters, or looking at the soon to be needed sub replacement. Its redesiging our uniforms to be more comfortable and unisex, probably with footie attachments and a matching snuggy or something like that. I expect that Bombardier will win a 6 billion dollar contract to produce new uniforms.

[Monahammer]

With all due respect to service members here, does anyone else look at this abject mess and sometimes think "we have to throw out the whole damn thing and start again"? I mean the current bureaucracy and leadership specifically, but even the processes and systems in place seem to be deeply, catastrophically flawed.

[Baron von Kriterium]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

With all due respect to service members here, does anyone else look at this abject mess and sometimes think "we have to throw out the whole damn thing and start again"?

As a currently serving member, I don't care anymore. I'm 3.5 years from compulsory retirement so I'm sticking it out for the pay and pension. But I do shake my head at how something as simple as a handgun purchase can be so royally cocked up. Give me that budget and I could go to any gun show and sign a contract in an hour.

Have you heard about our medium machineguns? That's another example of taking a simple solution and creating a major problem. It's unbelievable. We have a dope of a Foreign Affairs Minister suggesting providing the Ukrainians with weapons. How about providing our own military first?

The reality is the Canadian people (read voters) don't care. It doesn't affect them. Health care, environment, education and that kind of stuff resonates with them.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Baron von Kriterium

As a currently serving member, I don't care anymore. I'm 3.5 years from compulsory retirement so I'm sticking it out for the pay and pension. But I do shake my head at how something as simple as a handgun purchase can be so royally cocked up. Give me that budget and I could go to any gun show and sign a contract in an hour.

Have you heard about our medium machineguns? That's another example of taking a simple solution and creating a major problem. It's unbelievable. We have a dope of a Foreign Affairs Minister suggesting providing the Ukrainians with weapons. How about providing our own military first?

The reality is the Canadian people (read voters) don't care. It doesn't affect them. Health care, environment, education and that kind of stuff resonates with them.

Not really kiling it in these areas either. You can bet your bottom dollar, if we can find a way to screw up/complicate something, we'll find it for sure.

[btimbit]

Amazing to me that they manage to screw up handguns.

Take budget, decide how many you want. Place an order for Glock 17's. Done, easy. No, you won't be able to write into the contract that they give technical data to Diemaco. Who cares, they're sidearms.

[CaptainCrunch]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/poli...medium=twitter

The world is getting more dangerous by the year, and this country is unprepared.
Russia threatens Ukraine. China threatens Taiwan. The United States is a house divided and, post Afghanistan, wary of new commitments.
We have long relied on an American-centred system of alliances for national security. “Those systems are failing,” said Paul Mitchell, a professor of defence studies at Canadian Forces College.
Canada needs to come to its own defence. But the greatest threat to Canadian security “is the complacency that Canadians have about security,” Prof. Mitchell said.

Last year, in a submission to the UN, Russia asserted that its share of the extended continental shelf stretches right up to Canada’s economic exclusion zone. China, which describes itself as a “near Arctic state,” has an aggressive icebreaker construction program to support what it calls the “polar silk road.”
While Canada today can play only a minor role in Europe or the Pacific, it could contribute heavily to collective security by playing a greater role in North American defence, especially in the Arctic.
For Prof. Mitchell, that means major new investments in crewing ships, finally acquiring a fleet of new jet fighters and expanding airlift and refuelling capacity.
Andrea Charron, director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba, believes this country needs to contribute more to NORAD, the North American aerospace defence command. Canada and the United States have already begun modernizing advanced radars, satellites and sensors.
But NORAD must go beyond technological solutions, Prof. Charron said. The continent is vulnerable to cyber attacks and misinformation campaigns, and both Russia and China have developed advanced hypersonic missile technology, requiring a fundamental rethink of continental defence.

rom the founding of NORAD in 1957, Canadians have been content to let the United States assume most of the responsibility for this country’s defence.But America went through four years of president Donald Trump, who antagonized and undermined the Western alliance. And he or someone very much like him could be president again in 2025.
“When I showed up at the G7 … I said, America is back,” President Joe Biden said in a speech earlier this week. “And the response was, ‘For how long? For how long?’”
Canada cannot and should not decouple from the American and Western alliance. But we can at least stand on our own two feet through an increased NORAD/Arctic commitment.

n a post-pandemic debate over beds-versus-bombs, many Canadians will prefer to spend on health care over defence. But Australia is developing nuclear submarines. Norway, Finland and Denmark are acquiring fleets of F-35s. Yet their social programs are at least equals of ours.For too long, Canadians have relied on Americans to protect us. We need to count on them less and on ourselves more. It’s time for Canadians to rise to the defence of their country, from sea to sea and especially to sea.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by Baron von Kriterium

As a currently serving member, I don't care anymore. I'm 3.5 years from compulsory retirement so I'm sticking it out for the pay and pension. But I do shake my head at how something as simple as a handgun purchase can be so royally cocked up. Give me that budget and I could go to any gun show and sign a contract in an hour.

Have you heard about our medium machineguns? That's another example of taking a simple solution and creating a major problem. It's unbelievable. We have a dope of a Foreign Affairs Minister suggesting providing the Ukrainians with weapons. How about providing our own military first?

The reality is the Canadian people (read voters) don't care. It doesn't affect them. Health care, environment, education and that kind of stuff resonates with them.

Mark Milley - the currrent US JCS has a winner of a quote on about pistol procurement and the mere 2 year process it took to replace the M9 from 1985:

"We're not figuring out the next lunar landing. This is a pistol. Two years to test? At $17 million?" Milley said to an audience at a Washington, D.C., think tank on March 10. "You give me $17 million on a credit card, and I'll call Cabela's tonight, and I'll outfit every soldier, sailor, airman and Marine with a pistol for $17 million. And I'll get a discount on a bulk buy."

If anyone isn't familar with the problem with the C6A1 7.52 GPMG (FN MAG) that BVK is talking about here's an article:

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/natio...ew-machineguns

Problems with the feed channel. Sounds like a machining problem and probably not a hard fix, but considering the basic design of these goes back to the 50's - it's a bit surprising it happened.

[CaptainCrunch]

Govt lacky 1 - "Hey there are major problems with the ship building program, its over budget, way off the timeline. We should roll up our sleeves and take a look at how to fix this"


Govt lacky 2 - Nah, that sounds like work, we should just hire social media influencers to spout how awesome the program is"


https://ottawacitizen.com/news/natio...ilding-program

[CaptainCrunch]

Sobering look at the Canadian Forces currently.



https://nationalpost.com/opinion/joh...g-our-military