Vanguard was at the recent Defsec Atlantic conference in September and we found out from the Department of National Defence’s senior official that there will be a bit of a delay in the issuing of a request for proposals to defence contractors for the Navy’s Canadian Surface Combatant program.
The request for proposal for the CSC was originally scheduled for release in September, however, Pat Finn, assistant deputy minister of materiel, said that instead, the document will be issued sometime mid-October.
For certain, there are some bidders to the program that “are not completely happy,” according to Finn, however, he said this delay would allow companies to come up with the final suggestions on the project.
Check out our news and photo coverage of Defsec Atlantic 2016 on pages 28 and 29 of this issue where we delve a bit more into the surface combatant schedule and provide some updates from Irving Shipbuilding and Team Spartan.
Also in this issue, we take a dive into the subject of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. The Navy is looking to procure AUVs for marine mine hunting operations. Rick Gerbrecht of Atlas Elektronik explains why underwater drones are perfect for such a task and also provides us a glimpse of the future of “drone swarms.”
Meanwhile, Ken Chadder and Kevin Young of Hexagon Safety and Infrastructure, explain in their article the critical role that drones will play in the planning of real-time emergency response.
Don’t forget to check out our Dashboard which focuses on the U.S. Defence Department’s future plans for deploying AUVs. In the previous issue of Vanguard, we featured the first installment of an exclusive interview with Gen. Jonathan Vance. Now, we provide you with the second part of that interview. This time, the CDS focuses on policy, procurement, and his working relationship with the government.
Our Game Changers series continues and for this issue our Game Changers are: Heather Pilot, president of business consulting firm Pilot Hill and lead organizer of the Best Defence Conference; Bodo Gospodnetic, president of Dominis Engineering Ltd., a pioneer in the design, machining and measurement of marine propellers, water jet impellers, and hydro turbine runners; and George Palikaras, founder and CEO of Metamaterial Technologies.
Serge Bertrand a former adviser to commanders of the Royal Canadian Navy and a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute writes about the key global trends impacting ocean politics and how the Canadian Navy needs to prepare for this new reality.
These are just some of the articles we have for you on this issue. Enjoy.
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