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Editorials  &  Opinion  ~  Archives Canadian Forces Transformation  –  CASR Op-Ed  –  September 2011 LGen Leslie's Report on Transformation 2011:  $1B in Admin Cuts but Will we see Geniune Bureaucratic Reform or Just Sacked Tea Ladies? In his Report on Transformation 2011, LGen Andrew Leslie notes the tendency of  senior staff at DND  –  both in and out of  uniform – "to argue for the preservation of  the status quo."  The result, he says, is for  bureaucratic organizations within DND to use allocated  funds to preserve themselves at the expense of any deployable front-line unit. LGen Leslie claimed that DND's responses to all earlier reports on CF Transformation were a predictable series of  institutional  reactions – these ranged "from waiting until the team [responsible for the report] disappeared, to conducting lengthy reviews of the recommendations and, finally to classifying [a Transformation Report] to an extent that only a few could see it." Implementing LGen Andrew Leslie's Report on Transformation 2011 Medium-Lift Helicopters in Afghanistan  –  CASR Op-Ed  –  November 2010 Canadian Medium-Lift Helicopters in Afghanistan — Five Years Later Updating Hillier's Hopes for 'Honking Huge' Helicopters for Kandahar A little over  five years ago, CASR staff  reviewed the medium-lift helicopter options available to then-Chief of  Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier on the eve of  the Canadian Forces' combat deployment to Kandahar. That combat mission is now six months from completion and  leased Russian choppers flown by Canadian Forces aircrews have put medium-lift helicopters back in the headlines again. It is time to update that October 2005 Canadian helicopter options review. Going over those options is important as much for what it reveals of  rationales for inaction as for the motivations behind DND's procurement moves through that five-year period. However, before reviewing the 2005 options, it is equally important to get up to date with CF helicopters active in Afghanistan and  how they got there. "Well, how did we get here?"  CF Medium-Left Helicopters in Kandahar & DND Plans Canadian Force Procurement – Opinion Piece – Politics & Procurement  –  Oct  2010 Whither Aircraft Procurement:  Canadian Civilian and Service Politics With the contentious decision to purchase the Lockheed Martin F-35 for Canada's Air Force, the current realities of  defence procurement become apparent. The first is that DND and the governing Harper Conservatives have different approaches to procurement and, in the case of high-profile purchases, the Government will have its way. Less high-profile requirements tend to fade away. For an example, see replacing the CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol fleet. Air Force planners placed great urgency on buying P-8A Poseidons or the like. But  nothing has been heard of replacing the Auroras for years.  On the political side, an example is the Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue Project. FWSAR  has been  touted as the Air Force's top priority time and again. Yet that project remains in limbo  –  FWSAR being neither part of a real public debate nor making any notable headway through the labyrinth of defence procurement policy. Canadian Civilian/Service Politics & SARP, the Snowbird Aircraft Replacement Project Disaster Assistance Response Team  –  CASR Op-Ed  –  14 January 2010 Haitian Earthquake & Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team  DART provides vital assistance in emergencies.  Naturally we  regard direct medical assistance to the victims of a  disaster as  paramount, but  it is impossible to overstate the importance of  safe drinking water in any devastated area.  It is polluted water  that kills in the thousands. No civilian agencies have the ability  to match the Canadian Forces' containerized  'Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Units '.  Lives will be saved almost as soon as that  ROWPU is operational. DART Response and the Haitian Earthquake, an Op-Ed piece for The Ottawa Citizen Future Canadian Forces Armoured Vehicles –  Future Combat Systems –  January 2010 Armoured Vehicle Modernization After FCS:  Implications for Canada The demise of the US Army's Future Combat System (FCS) program has opened opportunities for  more  practical  plans  for  armoured  vehicle  modernization.  The  US  Army  has  replaced its  formerly  all-encompassing  and  over-reaching  approach  with a suite of  separate  efforts to  update,  extend,  and  recapitalize its  fleet of  both wheeled and  tracked armoured vehicles. The large sums of  money being invested in even these more modest development efforts may be particularly useful beyond the needs of just the US Army. In particular, upgrades to the 8x8 Stryker and development of so many designs for the MRAP All Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV) and Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) programs may be very valuable to two vehicle projects for the Canadian Forces: LAV III modernization and the Tactical Armored Patrol Vehicle (TAPV). James  Hasik  reviews  DND's  Procurement  Plans  in  light  of  US  Acquisitions Editorials  &  Opinion  ~  Archives  2009   /  2008