RPAS (was JUSTAS): the project to buy armed Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAVs

[Kirkhill]

@dimsum

I think you wrote this one.

A UAV by Any Other Name

As more aircraft of all sizes are flying around with no one on board, it's more important than ever to understand what they are and the distinctions among them. Here's what you need to know.

www.uav.com

F-16s and MQ-9s assigned to the 49th Wing lined the runway at Holloman AFB, creating an incredible display of airpower. USAF photo by Senior Airman Antonia Salfran

 

[Kirkhill]

At the same time GAA is saying a plane is a plane is a plane. Same supporting structure, same controls, same power plant. Adjust the external shape to suit the mission.

Gambit Series in Position for U.S. Air Force - UAV.com

 

[Kirkhill]

And then there is The Arctic

Arctic Security: Climate Change, Russia, and UAVs - UAV.com

 

[dimsum]

@dimsum

I think you wrote this one.

A UAV by Any Other Name

As more aircraft of all sizes are flying around with no one on board, it's more important than ever to understand what they are and the distinctions among them. Here's what you need to know.

www.uav.com

View attachment 82841
F-16s and MQ-9s assigned to the 49th Wing lined the runway at Holloman AFB, creating an incredible display of airpower. USAF photo by Senior Airman Antonia Salfran

I didn’t, but I agree with it.

 

[suffolkowner]

Canadian military expects to secure contract for B.C. drone base by end of 2024

The Department of National Defence expects to have a contract in place by the end of this year to build a new military drone base in British Columbia.

bc.ctvnews.ca

so Comox, Greenwood and Ottawa?

 

[dimsum]

Canadian military expects to secure contract for B.C. drone base by end of 2024

The Department of National Defence expects to have a contract in place by the end of this year to build a new military drone base in British Columbia.

bc.ctvnews.ca

so Comox, Greenwood and Ottawa?

Seems so.

The Canadian government announced in December it would acquire 11 of the armed drones, with three to be stationed in Comox and eight in Greenwood. All of the aircraft will be piloted remotely from a new ground control centre to be built on existing National Defence property in Ottawa

 

[dapaterson]

As initiatives like this draw more and more junior personnel into the NCR (eg Int support) there is a need for modern, affordable single quarters as well. Not a unique to the NCR issue, to be sure.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

As initiatives like this draw more and more junior personnel into the NCR (eg Int support) there is a need for modern, affordable single quarters as well. Not a unique to the NCR issue, to be sure.

There is a metric boatload of raw land at the old CFB Ottawa site.

More RHUs?

 

[PuckChaser]

There is a metric boatload of raw land at the old CFB Ottawa site.

More RHUs?

To replace all the SQs and RHUs they tore down in the early 2000s?

 

[daftandbarmy]

To replace all the SQs and RHUs they tore down in the early 2000s?

CFB Griesbach enters the chat

CFB Griesbach - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[SeaKingTacco]

To replace all the SQs and RHUs they tore down in the early 2000s?

Not saying it was a great decision, then…

 

[Kirkhill]

USMC playing around with MQ-9s.

How Marine MQ-9s Will Adapt For A Pacific Fight, Pave Way For Future Drones

Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One will get its first MQ-9s this summer along with a load of new systems and tactics to test.

www.twz.com

 

[dimsum]

Agreed. Nothing groundbreaking. But doctrinally developed to be substantially part of LSCO. Here's a hypothetical. If we had the SkyGuardians right now, would we be deploying a det to Latvia as part of our EfP? Here's where I have doubts. I think something a bit smaller and thought of more like a recce asset would be seen as more deployable in my opinion.

Moved this ongoing conversation to the RPAS thread.

My guess is that if we had MQ-9B now, it would support EfP in a similar way that USAF MQ-9A Reapers are used. They have the endurance not to require being based close to the EfP. Regardless, it’d be only the aircraft and techs deploying.

Another difference is that the MQ-9B would be able to self-deploy as it is cleared for non-segregated airspace, which other UAS aren’t at the moment.

 

[ytz]

I guess the debate is whether we would have been better off with a Hi-Lo mix of a HALE for domestic surveillance and a low end MALE for the armed reconnaissance mission or our current jack of all solution.

 

[dimsum]

I guess the debate is whether we would have been better off with a Hi-Lo mix of a HALE for domestic surveillance and a low end MALE for the armed reconnaissance mission or our current jack of all solution.

I don’t think the govt of the day was ok with 2 new fleets of UAS. I’m surprised the MQ-9B was actually successful.

 

[ytz]

I don’t think the govt of the day was ok with 2 new fleets of UAS. I’m surprised the MQ-9B was actually successful.

Oh totally. But this is kinda the problem. We've taken so long with procurement that technology and doctrine has moved on. Same thing now with GBAD too.

 

[Good2Golf]

Oh totally. But this is kinda the problem. We've taken so long with procurement that technology and doctrine has moved on. Same thing now with GBAD too.

…and MAISR…and GLLE…and…

We (current GoC) fiddle fart around so long trying to align with the polls and surveys as to what politicians think that Canadians are going to accept (and by ‘accept’ I mean still consider voting for the incumbent Gov’t)…so that by the time the calculus is finished in the data metrics, what was in play is now on the tail end of the contemporary capability space. Only on programs with much longer life-cycles does it sometimes actually look like it will work out (F-35, CSC) …

 

[DBNSG]

Oh totally. But this is kinda the problem. We've taken so long with procurement that technology and doctrine has moved on. Same thing now with GBAD too.

I get the feeling sometimes that the nameless mandarins in Ottawa consider that situation as a successful strategy.

 

[ytz]

I get the feeling sometimes that the nameless mandarins in Ottawa consider that situation as a successful strategy.

Blaming "nameless manadarins" is a great way for a whole bunch of politicians to escape accountability. Most of our procurement failures are a result of poor political choices than process and bureaucracy.

 

[dimsum]

Blaming "nameless manadarins" is a great way for a whole bunch of politicians to escape accountability. Most of our procurement failures are a result of poor political choices than process and bureaucracy.

Process and bureaucracy also play a part.

glares at PSPC and ISED