By David Pugliese
Saab has started Gripen production in Brazil. The work is being done at Saab Aeronáutica Montagens or SAM, the company’s first aerostructures plant outside of Sweden for the new Gripen E/F fighter. This site is now building sections of Gripen, which will then be delivered to the final assembly facilities at the Embraer plant in Gaviao Peixoto, Sao Paulo, Brazil and to Linkoping, Sweden.
In 2014, Saab signed a contract with Brazilian government for the development and production of 36 Gripen E/F aircraft. In September last year, the first Brazilian Gripen E aircraft was delivered to start the flight test program.
The tail cone and front fuselage of the single-seat version of the Gripen fighter are the first aerostructures to enter into production at SAM. Subsequently, the aerodynamic brakes, rear fuselage, wing box and front fuselage for the two-seater version will also be manufactured at SAM.
The Saab Gripen is one of the contenders to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CF-18 fighter jets. Saab has also suggested that if the Gripen is selected as Canada’s new fighter aircraft it could assemble the planes in Canada.
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has signed a contract with General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada for delivery of the Protector Remote Weapon Stations (RWS) to the Canadian Army. The Protector RWS will be integrated on Canada’s fleet of armored combat support vehicles. Canada signed its their first Protector RWS contract in 2005 followed by additional contracts in 2012 and 2014.
The Canadian Army will receive the latest generation Protector RWS, a Remote Weapon Station prepared for wireless control, counter UAS capability, multi-sensor fusion, as well as other new functions required by the expanding user community.
The contract is worth more than $50 million.
The Kongsberg Protector RWS is also outfitted on the Canadian Army’s Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicles. The company has delivered about 20,000 Protector systems to militaries around the world.
Leonardo DRS, Inc. announced July 7 that the company has delivered its 70,000th mission command computing system known as the Mounted Family of Computer Systems (MFoCS), to the U.S. Army. The delivery marks two decades of providing the U.S. military advanced tactical computing units for ground combat vehicles and command post operations. MFoCS systems provide ruggedized modular computing capabilities for the U.S Army and other services, giving warfighters the next-generation of computing and display technology with faster processing performance, according to Leonardo DRS. This enables support for simultaneous applications as well as the integration of additional sensors and communications networks.
The Canadian government announced it will enter into a contract with Brampton-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Inc. (MDA) to build Canadarm3. The smart robotic system is Canada’s contribution to the U.S.-led Lunar Gateway for the Artemis program. The development of Canadarm3 will extend and strengthen Canada’s well-established global leadership in space robotics, according to the federal government.
Canadarm3 will be composed of a next-generation smart robotic arm, a small dexterous arm and a set of specialized tools. Using advanced machine vision, software and advances in artificial intelligence, the highly autonomous system will be able to perform tasks without human intervention.
In 2019, Canada became the first nation to join the United States-led Lunar Gateway, the next major international collaboration in human space exploration following the legacy of the International Space Station. The Gateway is an important part of an ambitious plan by NASA and international partners, including Canada, to send humans deeper into space than ever before.
Meggitt Training Systems has been awarded a $4.4 million (U.S.) contract extension from Public Services and Procurement Canada, on behalf of the Department of National Defence, to provide in-service support to the Canadian Armed Forces for Meggitt’s Small Arms Trainer (SAT) and Indirect Fire Trainer (IFT).
The original contract won by Meggitt Training Systems (Quebec), a subsidiary of Suwanee-based Meggitt Training Systems Inc., began in June 2015 and includes operator and maintenance support for related training activities. “Meggitt has been a proud supplier of weapon simulation to the Canadian Armed Forces for more than 20 years,” Ed Duckless, president of Meggitt Training Systems (Quebec), said in a statement.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer, joined a small number of Seaspan Shipyards employees and special guests on July 3 to break the customary bottle of champagne against the bow of the future CCGS John Cabot, officially launching the third Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel (OFSV) for the Canadian Coast Guard. The July launch of the future CCGS John Cabot is a particularly impressive achievement given that construction was completed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Seaspan officials pointed out. Seaspan Shipyards significantly adapted its normal operations to continue building the ship while ensuring the health and well-being of employees, customers, partners and the community. The traditional public celebration was scaled back to a skeleton launch party including Dr. Henry, Tsleil-Waututh elder Margaret George, representatives from the Canadian Coast Guard, and the handful of employees needed to launch the vessel.
Dr. Henry, who began her career as a medical officer with the Royal Canadian Navy, was invited by Seaspan to officially launch the vessel in recognition of her leadership and efforts to keep British Columbians safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 1,200 Seaspan Shipyards employees and more than 400 Canadian small and medium-sized companies and their thousands of employees across the country contributed to the construction of the vessel which entered the water at 97 per cent complete. The CCGS John Cabot, the CCGS Capt. Jacques Cartier and the CCGS Sir John Franklin are the first class of ships built under the National Shipbuilding Strategy. Measuring 63.4 metres, the CCGS John Cabot will be one of the most advanced and capable ships of its size and type in the world, according to Seaspan. Her sister ships, the CCGS Sir John Franklin, now stationed in Victoria, British Columbia, and the CCGS Capt. Jacques Cartier, stationed in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, are already in service.
Following sea trials and upon delivery to the Coast Guard, anticipated later this summer, the CCGS John Cabot will be based in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
