Canadian Greens question procurement decisions

September 16, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Canada, Contract Awards, Grohman, logistics, production program 

In a rather bizarre demonstration that all politics is local, the Head of the Canadian Green Party, most likely not a friend of the military-industrial complex, asked why a non-Canadian company was chosen as the provider of knives to Canadian paratroopers. It was recently decided to start buying Chinese knives over the Grohman Knives made in Canada. Grohman has been a supplier for years to the Canadian military. Most likely the cash strapped forces chose the new supplier based on “best value”.

See the Nova Scotia News for the story.

Canada starts over on Coast Guard upgrade program

The Canadian Federal Government had to reject both proposals for a mammoth contract to upgrade their surface fleet. Canada had planned to build a new fleet of patrol vessels and support ships, but both proposals were considered too expensive. This means that the Government will either have to scale back their requirements or increase the planned budget. Give them credit, as usually an attempt to award a contract like this with a plan to get costs lower or under control would probably not work.

For more see GlobeandMail.com.

The UK buys refit on their C-130s

L3 was awarded a contract by the UK’s Ministry of Defence to perform replacement of the outer wings of three C-130 aircraft. The contract is worth over $18 M. The actual work will be done in Canada. Like many European companies expanding in the US market; it also behooves US ones to work there. Especially with so much originally American equipment being used by the UK, Germany and other NATO countries.

For the actual press release see MarketWatch at the Wall Street Journal Digital Network.

US buys more artillery

BAE Systems received a contract for M777 howitzers. See a story here. The M777 is a light weight towed piece that is used by the US, England and Canada. These countries have ordered 700 of the weapon. The contract is worth over $80 M.

Canada looks at new armored vehicles

May 27, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Canada, General Dynamics, production program 

This story says that GD is pitching upgraded Light Armored Vehicles (LAV) used by the US to the Canadian Defense Department. Because the US chose a variant of a Canadian assembled vehicle originally designed in Europe the GD proposal is actually made in Canada. Kind of a win-win for the Government there. Canada is not necessarily looking for a new vehicle, but due to operational experience in Afghanistan a heavier, more armored vehicle is attractive. More to come, I am sure, on this issue.

SAC sliding Canadian contract

The story out of Canada is that the contract to buy 28 H-92 aircraft from SAC is sliding to the right. There are also rumors of cost increases. The Canadian government is threatening to cancel the contract if delays and cost increases are true. Normally for a contract like this to buy an established system starts experiencing slips or cost growth there are usually requirement changes or the contractor didn’t really provide what the customer desired. There is no word yet on what has happened. It may be that Sikorsky was just a little aggressive in their schedule.

Fear of US export control laws lead Canada to deny sale of company

April 10, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Acquisitions, Alliant Techsystems, Canada 

According to this article the Canadian government denied the sale of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.’s satellite business to Alliant Techsystems Inc. See a previous post about the planned sale here. Canada cited the fact that if the company became American the laws protecting US technology exports would deny Canada access to the company’s satellite that focuses on the Canadian Arctic. Due to several scandals in the Nineties the US ramped up the laws governing technology transfer and export and make it very difficult to do this. Read more

Canada requests old US helicopters for Aghanistan

February 10, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Boeing, Canada, production program 

According to this story in The Canadian Press, Canada is requesting from the US older CH-47D aircraft to support their efforts in Afghanistan. Canada is planning on buying some CH-47F, but until those are available they are trying to get some refurbished US Army aircraft. Read more