Canada moves to 2% GDP end of FY25/26 - PMMC

[HavokFour]

Since you're all on the topic. The barrage balloon enters the C-UAS game, and still leagues cheaper that traditional missiles.

Ukraine develops new drone-and-aerostat air defense system to counter Shahed attacks on Kyiv​

 

[FJAG]

What an odd way of saying $250 million and $400 million.

When it comes to major equipment we need to start thinking in billions.

The army needs a lot of gear. It won't be had for fractions of billions. That's just perpetuating the "one set of equipment for the deployed force; another for the folks at home" way of thinking. We need to define our force structure and then equip it.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

A ordinary hanger will provide protection against a homemade/civilian based drone attack if the bay door is closed. It does mean that you need a protection team in place when bay doors are open and aircraft are being moved. Protecting the fighters will be easier than the larger aircraft. You may have to build "net tents" that the aircraft can fit under. Likely incorporated in with protective berms. Permanent jammers in place that can be switched on and off as needed and optical trackers. Which will no doubt cue onto every fricking bird that goes by. Hopefully energy weapons will become reliable enough to be used near urban areas to avoid falling shrapnel. A couple of dudes with shotguns on duty with a truck mounted optical tracker is also required to escort aircraft as they move or hangers/nets are open.

For airfields not in urban areas, but near non-military structures (ruralish) I have to think that 20mm gives you some reach, but with a smaller safety zone for falling shells/debris, for airfields closers to other structures, a smaller caliber. The internet gives me a danger zone of a 20mm at roughly 6.5km. So for Comox, you would have to stick to 5.56 or 7.62 and you need gunners well trained to avoid shooting your own buildings, antennas, etc.

 

[PrairieFella]

Remote weapon stations have fire inhibit zones programmed in to prevent you from shooting yourself and your antenna mounts. I imagine the same can be done with CUAS guns.

 

[lenaitch]

A ordinary hanger will provide protection against a homemade/civilian based drone attack if the bay door is closed. It does mean that you need a protection team in place when bay doors are open and aircraft are being moved. Protecting the fighters will be easier than the larger aircraft. You may have to build "net tents" that the aircraft can fit under. Likely incorporated in with protective berms. Permanent jammers in place that can be switched on and off as needed and optical trackers. Which will no doubt cue onto every fricking bird that goes by. Hopefully energy weapons will become reliable enough to be used near urban areas to avoid falling shrapnel. A couple of dudes with shotguns on duty with a truck mounted optical tracker is also required to escort aircraft as they move or hangers/nets are open.

For airfields not in urban areas, but near non-military structures (ruralish) I have to think that 20mm gives you some reach, but with a smaller safety zone for falling shells/debris, for airfields closers to other structures, a smaller caliber. The internet gives me a danger zone of a 20mm at roughly 6.5km. So for Comox, you would have to stick to 5.56 or 7.62 and you need gunners well trained to avoid shooting your own buildings, antennas, etc.

Made all the more complicated for those who advocate to move CAF bases to urban areas because that's where folks want to live.

I would imagine firing weapons in anger on Canadian soil who require a whole command structure behind the few folks who would have to pull the triggers.

 

[brihard]

Made all the more complicated for those who advocate to move CAF bases to urban areas because that's where folks want to live.

I would imagine firing weapons in anger on Canadian soil who require a whole command structure behind the few folks who would have to pull the triggers.

And from looking at video of drone attacks, those people would need to be empowered and trusted to pull the trigger independent of any command input. Because when it happens, the OODA loop might take not much more time that it did to read this reply. The difference between decision and delay could be a destroyed CC-177 or CC-330.

 

[Kirkhill]

A ordinary hanger will provide protection against a homemade/civilian based drone attack if the bay door is closed. It does mean that you need a protection team in place when bay doors are open and aircraft are being moved. Protecting the fighters will be easier than the larger aircraft. You may have to build "net tents" that the aircraft can fit under. Likely incorporated in with protective berms. Permanent jammers in place that can be switched on and off as needed and optical trackers. Which will no doubt cue onto every fricking bird that goes by. Hopefully energy weapons will become reliable enough to be used near urban areas to avoid falling shrapnel. A couple of dudes with shotguns on duty with a truck mounted optical tracker is also required to escort aircraft as they move or hangers/nets are open.

For airfields not in urban areas, but near non-military structures (ruralish) I have to think that 20mm gives you some reach, but with a smaller safety zone for falling shells/debris, for airfields closers to other structures, a smaller caliber. The internet gives me a danger zone of a 20mm at roughly 6.5km. So for Comox, you would have to stick to 5.56 or 7.62 and you need gunners well trained to avoid shooting your own buildings, antennas, etc.

How about when working with programmable ammunition?

Is the danger zone the same?

Wouldn't you just get a cloud of pellets tumbling to the ground at the detonation point?

 

[Kirkhill]

And from looking at video of drone attacks, those people would need to be empowered and trusted to pull the trigger independent of any command input. Because when it happens, the OODA loop might take not much more time that it did to read this reply. The difference between decision and delay could be a destroyed CC-177 or CC-330.

That seems to be why the US is looking at AI solutions. They are being forced to consider trusting AI precisely because of short OODA loops.

Drone defenses will need to act first, ask later, commander says

“We will push the boundaries on that, because we have to,” Lt. Gen. Gainey said.

www.defenseone.com

Recent interactions in the Middle East, plus Russia’s relentless assault on Ukraine, have shown that even smaller adversaries like Iran are able to quickly produce ever-larger swarms of drones, in addition to other missiles. While U.S. forces have shown that they can handle the current volume of threats, they are increasingly relying on expensive missiles to do so.

Taking humans out of the decision loop may sound like a brave new world of unthinking killer robots, but the technology behind autonomous defense against threats like drones isn’t actually new. The Navy has long relied on the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System to protect ships from fast-moving threats at sea. The currentPhalanx system uses radar to detect rapidly incoming objects and shoot at them without requiring human permission or input.

Of course, for a Navy ship in open water, shooting at the boat that’s barreling toward your destroyer is unlikely to result in a collateral damage catastrophe, though it is possible.

Greater autonomy is also creeping into land-based drone defense systems.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

How about when working with programmable ammunition?

Is the danger zone the same?

Wouldn't you just get a cloud of pellets tumbling to the ground at the detonation point?

Not sure, you likley still get a casing falling to the ground.

 

[Kirkhill]

Not sure, you likley still get a casing falling to the ground.

I am minded of a tale I heard about WW2 in Britain. The place was covered in anti-aircraft guns. 40mm was Light and 3.7" was heavy. If thse were firing solid shot then I reckon their misses would have caused more damages than the Luftwaffe. Instead the proximity rounds generated clouds of shrapnel so that the gunners were happy to have their tin pan helmets. Apparently the shrapnel pattered down like rain.

 

[MilEME09]

I am minded of a tale I heard about WW2 in Britain. The place was covered in anti-aircraft guns. 40mm was Light and 3.7" was heavy. If thse were firing solid shot then I reckon their misses would have caused more damages than the Luftwaffe. Instead the proximity rounds generated clouds of shrapnel so that the gunners were happy to have their tin pan helmets. Apparently the shrapnel pattered down like rain.

Give me a medium cargo truck, and one of those new dragon fire lasers the British developed. Merge them together with a palletized battery pack with quick disconnects in the cargo hold. Bam got out counter CUAS.

 

[YZT580]

Give me a medium cargo truck, and one of those new dragon fire lasers the British developed. Merge them together with a palletized battery pack with quick disconnects in the cargo hold. Bam got out counter CUAS.

get CESSNA to re-open the Skymaster assembly line. Ukraine has proven that you don't need a sophisticated aircraft and the O2 could withstand a fair bit of punishment and bring the pilot home. Use them to meet the drones on the way in with your lasers as local defense.

 

[markppcli]

get CESSNA to re-open the Skymaster assembly line. Ukraine has proven that you don't need a sophisticated aircraft and the O2 could withstand a fair bit of punishment and bring the pilot home. Use them to meet the drones on the way in with your lasers as local defense.

That of course is predicated on you detecting the drones well before launch. I think the primary concern here would be little green men. Ref the firing weapons inside Canadian cities - we have a whole series of organizations that are carrying firearms inside Canadian cities every single day. Non factor.

 

[Kirkhill]

get CESSNA to re-open the Skymaster assembly line. Ukraine has proven that you don't need a sophisticated aircraft and the O2 could withstand a fair bit of punishment and bring the pilot home. Use them to meet the drones on the way in with your lasers as local defense.

How many LAU pods of Hydra/CRV7/APKWS could one of those carry?

 

[MilEME09]

How many LAU pods of Hydra/CRV7/APKWS could one of those carry?

Probably 2 pods of 19 rockets

 

[Czech_pivo]

Interesting.

Armoured-vehicle maker Roshel partners with Swedish producer to make ballistic steel in Canada​

Roman Shimonov, the CEO of armoured-vehicle maker Roshel, in Brampton, Ont., in January. The company signed an agreement with Swedish steel producer Swebor on Monday to manufacture ballistic-grade steel in Canada.Jennifer Roberts/The Globe and Mail

Roman Shimonov, the CEO of armoured-vehicle maker Roshel, in Brampton, Ont., in January. The company signed an agreement with Swedish steel producer Swebor on Monday to manufacture ballistic-grade steel in Canada.Jennifer Roberts/The Globe and Mail
65 Comments
Share
Save for later
Listen to this article

Canadian armoured-vehicle maker Roshel is partnering with Swedish steel producer Swebor to manufacture ballistic-grade steel in Canada, filling out the company’s production line as the country looks to bolster its domestic defence industry.

The two companies signed the agreement Monday in the presence of federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, who is currently travelling through Stockholm, Sweden, and Helsinki, Finland, with Stephen Fuhr, the Secretary of State for Defence Procurement, to discuss industrial partnerships.

Using domestic production capacity and Canadian-mined iron ore, Brampton, Ont.-based Roshel says it will utilize the expertise of Swebor to establish a new segment in the country’s steel manufacturing industry and contribute to Canada’s national defence industrial base.

Ontario Shipyards partners with province and Italy’s largest builder to ready bid for navy corvettes

“This project goes beyond steel – it is about establishing industrial sovereignty. By bringing ballistic steel production to Canada, we are reducing a critical dependency, protecting our supply chain, and laying the groundwork for long-term resilience in the defence and manufacturing sectors," Roman Shimonov, chief executive officer of Roshel, said in a press release.

Intellectual property for the facilities will be jointly held by Roshel and Swebor. Mr. Shimonov said Roshel’s steel production will happen in stages, with stage one carried out at the company’s facilities in Brampton and Mississauga, and stage two, which requires higher hydroelectric capacity, completed at a location that’s yet to be determined.

In June, Roshel inked a deal with ST Engineering to produce the Singapore-based company’s ExtremV all-terrain vehicle in Canada. The company is pitching the vehicle, which is designed to navigate tough terrain, as a candidate for the federal government’s Domestic Arctic Mobility Enhancement project, through which Ottawa hopes to procure a new fleet of Arctic carriers to be used by the Canadian Armed Forces.

This is one of several examples of projects or contracts for which Roshel requires substantial volumes of ballistic steel, Mr. Shimonov said. Through the new facility, the amount of Canadian-made content in its products will increase, along with the value it generates for its clients through Canada’s industrial benefits policy.

The new facilities will produce different types of ballistic-grade steel, with varying thicknesses, hardness levels, resistance properties and specialized alloys. They will cater to both domestic and international markets, and supply industries such as agriculture and mining, in addition to defence.

The partnership will also allow Roshel to bring its production cycle, from manufacturing the steel to the final assembly of its vehicles, entirely in-house.

Opinion: Ottawa must prioritize climate tech in Canada’s new defence strategy

On Monday, Ms. Joly also met with Swedish defence company Saab, which could replace some of the fighter jets Canada has committed to purchasing from the U.S.

More stories below advertisement







While the focus of the minister’s meeting has not been made public, it comes only a couple weeks before a review of the purchase of 88 F-35 Lightning fighter jets from U.S. defence contractor Lockheed Martin is expected to be delivered. Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered the review in March, saying Canada was overreliant on the U.S. defence industry.

Ms. Joly also met with Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister Ebba Busch on Monday, to discuss the two countries’ economic partnership. On Tuesday, she will attend a roundtable with major Swedish industry players, such as AstraZeneca and Saab.

Ms. Joly and Mr. Fuhr will then continue their trip to Helsinki, where discussions with Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen and Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen are expected to focus on the Arctic.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand will also be in Helsinki to attend a meeting of the five Nordic countries and discuss Canada’s Arctic foreign policy

Armoured-vehicle maker Roshel partners with Swedish producer to make ballistic steel in Canada

The Brampton, Ont.-based company says the project will contribute to national defence industrial base

www.theglobeandmail.com

 

[SeaKingTacco]

I gotta say- Roshel has come along way in the past few years and is beginning to make a pretty big splash on the Canadian Defence scene.

Having a domestic producer of ballistic steel again will be huge for us.

 

[Czech_pivo]

Some info on the Swedish company - Swebor Armour

Swebor Armor™ - Armor and protection steel in seven different grades.

Swebor Armor™ is a high-quality armor steel — trusted as protection steel by vehicle manufacturers and engineers worldwide.

www.swebor.se

 

[daftandbarmy]

I gotta say- Roshel has come along way in the past few years and is beginning to make a pretty big splash on the Canadian Defence scene.

Having a domestic producer of ballistic steel again will be huge for us.

Any move to increase our industrial productivity is an economic lifesaver... but we're still way, way behind where we should be...

Now that we have a guy at the helm who (hopefully) appreciates that, let's hope that the decade of industrial darkness is hopefully over.

Industrial policy may have part of the answer to Canada’s productivity problem​

"Investments in productivity – ranging from big ticket items like cutting-edge machinery to improve manufacturing output, to marginal tweaks like better software to improve agricultural output – mean we’re able to produce more goods and services per hour worked. Put simply, it means we get more output for the same amount of effort. Increased productivity means an increased standard of living, and a greater ability to finance important social programs."

Industrial policy may have part of the answer to Canada’s productivity problem

Canada’s lagging productivity is becoming a national emergency. Industrial policy could be one tool to correct it.

policyoptions.irpp.org

 

[Halifax Tar]

Now that we have a guy at the helm who (hopefully) appreciates that, let's hope that the decade of industrial darkness is hopefully over.