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Justin Trudeau hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

Some may call it a ‘steaming turd false flag’ operation. I’ll be totally not shocked if the GoC ‘adjusts’ the budget forwards to address PBO’s perspective…well-played, Team Red, well-played!
 
Go North, young people...


The DEW Line at 65: Future unclear for the North's aging radar sites​

'The fact of the matter is that we have not modernized it or done anything with it since 1985'​


Heubert agrees that NORAD needs a major update, and the North Warning System is no longer adequate.

"Just looking across the northern coastline doesn't cut it. You need to be able to look right across the entire entity of North America," Huebert said.

Lajeunesse also refers to a "broader set of dangers" and says a string of radar stations in the Arctic may no longer be top priority.

"The next NORAD isn't just going to be a big building with a dome. It's going to be a very complex set of sensors tied into a broader network to watch everything from hypersonic cruise missiles to Chinese fishing fleets," Lejeunesse said.

"The future of the North Warning System can be very different from the past of the North Warning System."

 
The fact that they never replaced the PIN-3/Lady Franklin Point radar after the Russians disembarked from an SSN and set it on fire it caught fire and burned to the ground should tell you something…
 
The fact that they never replaced the PIN-3/Lady Franklin Point radar after the Russians disembarked from an SSN and set it on fire it caught fire and burned to the ground should tell you something…

I had to look that up. Fascinating Site: PIN-3 | The DEWLine

When I was up there a few years ago I met quite a few people, mainly Newfies, who were working hard to decommission some of the old DEW line sites. They were basically stripping out all the 'valuables' and then burying everything in place in large, plastic barrier lined, pits. So the PCBs wouldn't leak into the eco-system (yeah, right ;)).

I wondered if that was 'evironmentally correct' and they said that the costs of extracting everything from the North would be astronomical.
 
Some may call it a ‘steaming turd false flag’ operation. I’ll be totally not shocked if the GoC ‘adjusts’ the budget forwards to address PBO’s perspective…well-played, Team Red, well-played!
Creative accounting is all, if procurement was working well we wouldn't need it
 

It seems a more aggressive cyber policy and possibly continental missile defence are in Canada’s future. I hope the next policy is also a little more prescriptive on required capabilities and that it steers the CAF away from exquisite niche capabilities with no depth (ie. the kind that are spent after a just 12 month mission).

I wonder what else might be in the cards.
 

It seems a more aggressive cyber policy and possibly continental missile defence are in Canada’s future. I hope the next policy is also a little more prescriptive on required capabilities and that it steers the CAF away from exquisite niche capabilities with no depth (ie. the kind that are spent after a just 12 month mission).

I wonder what else might be in the cards.

Hmmm.... good question ;)

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It seems a more aggressive cyber policy and possibly continental missile defence are in Canada’s future. I hope the next policy is also a little more prescriptive on required capabilities and that it steers the CAF away from exquisite niche capabilities with no depth (ie. the kind that are spent after a just 12 month mission).

I wonder what else might be in the cards.

Here's the article about continental defense from Politico

Canada's defence policy has been essentially unchanged in its goals since the 1950's. In SSE terms:
1. Strong at Home (Defend Canada)
2. Secure in North America (Defend NA)
3. Engaged with the World (Contribute to Collective Defence/Allies Defence)
In that order.

Continental Defence is a nice two for one as anything that defends NA also defends Canada as part of NA. I would love to see some strategically placed Spy 7 LRDR helping to track ballistic missiles, and the advantage is they have commonality with the new CSC radars for the basic TR book.

I expect however that there will be a variety of sensors, from ESM, Satellites, radars, UAV and sonar systems to collect and share data with NORAD (which does naval approaches as well now) and the BMD program.

Honestly, despite my favourite focus being on the expeditionary aspects of the CAF (Army and Navy gear) I couldn't complain about multidomain sensors to know what's going on in the approaches to Canada even if they were big and expensive infrastructure projects that are not in the least kinetic.

As far as cyber the new ships are built with cyberwarfare in mind every step of the way, despite some protestations on how hard it might be to design things with that in mind.
 
Continental Defence is a nice two for one as anything that defends NA also defends Canada as part of NA. I would love to see some strategically placed Spy 7 LRDR helping to track ballistic missiles, and the advantage is they have commonality with the new CSC radars for the basic TR book.

Well…it would make sense to have a shore-based ‘test facility’ for the SPY-7 for both the East and West coast fleets….and, while we’re at it, on for the future Northern Fleet… 😉
 
Well…it would make sense to have a shore-based ‘test facility’ for the SPY-7 for both the East and West coast fleets….and, while we’re at it, on for the future Northern Fleet… 😉
There is a shore-based test facility going in at Harden Hartlen Point for the Spy 7. But it's a true test/training facility and only points out to sea in a specific arc. Perhaps it needs to be upgraded... :unsure:
 
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Well…it would make sense to have a shore-based ‘test facility’ for the SPY-7 for both the East and West coast fleets….and, while we’re at it, on for the future Northern Fleet… 😉

It doesn't matter. We will never be able to attract and retain the skilled people required to operate any effective, world class cyber capability.

Competition for these types of people is insanely stiff, just about every other business and government in the world are fighting for the same small pool, and is one game we probably can't win.
 
Well…it would make sense to have a shore-based ‘test facility’ for the SPY-7 for both the East and West coast fleets….and, while we’re at it, on for the future Northern Fleet… 😉
On the surface, it makes sense to me that we would base our “DEWline refresh” on some form of SPY-7. The economies of scale in spares and training make sense.
 
It doesn't matter. We will never be able to attract and retain the skilled people required to operate any effective, world class cyber capability.

Competition for these types of people is insanely stiff, just about every other business and government in the world are fighting for the same small pool, and is one game we probably can't win.
Until we start doing Red Team Ops.

Blue Team stuff is everywhere and extremely lucrative for whoever wants to get into that field. It's also, much like the BBA/MBA craze in the early 2000s, saturating the market. Tons of people are going and getting their CISSP or Cyber Security certs in speculation of the next big field.

One thing we can offer, once we get the capability and go ahead from the GoC, is the opportunity to do things that would otherwise get you arrested as a civilian; exploits, DDoS, Probing, etc.

Doing things on the Queen's Shilling that would have otherwise seen you hung or in cells has rallied folks to the colors for centuries. The Cyber Domain is just the newest playground.
 
Until we start doing Red Team Ops.

Blue Team stuff is everywhere and extremely lucrative for whoever wants to get into that field. It's also, much like the BBA/MBA craze in the early 2000s, saturating the market. Tons of people are going and getting their CISSP or Cyber Security certs in speculation of the next big field.

One thing we can offer, once we get the capability and go ahead from the GoC, is the opportunity to do things that would otherwise get you arrested as a civilian; exploits, DDoS, Probing, etc.

Doing things on the Queen's Shilling that would have otherwise seen you hung or in cells has rallied folks to the colors for centuries. The Cyber Domain is just the newest playground.
A Letter of Marque perhaps?

Cyber Pirates 🏴‍☠️?
 
It doesn't matter. We will never be able to attract and retain the skilled people required to operate any effective, world class cyber capability.

Competition for these types of people is insanely stiff, just about every other business and government in the world are fighting for the same small pool, and is one game we probably can't win.
You would be surprised. There is already a very good working relationship between industry, CSEC, and universities. There are a few civilians in the CAF Cyber Ops offices as contractors as well... Cyber Ops is weird.

For cyber security it's often equipment and policy driven. Removal or reduction of wireless equipment, red/black data being moved around on different lines/hardware. Secure spaces, digital signatures etc... No need for uniformed experts who design the stuff but just to ensure they understand and apply the policies. Once the good habits are applied then the situation gets much better.

For offensive cyber operations that's an entirely different kettle of fish and I think that an agile organization is required, with the application of the "violence" managed by the military. If that means that civilians/contractors are in the organization looking for weaknesses and developing code then that might be what happens.
 
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