This Week in Defence (8/04/25): SPAAAAACE, Algoma Steel, What to do if you're banished to the Indo-Pacific, Lockheed and the Fighter Review

Happy Monday everyone. Some of you may have noticed but by popular request I have started to include government publications and Internal news to the newsletter. This was heavily requested by several people and I see no harm in doing so!

Also on that note if you have anything else you would like to see added to the newsletter please let me know!

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News

• Let's talk about the economics of the F-35 review

• Bombardier Second Quarter Performance Places Corporation on Track for Full-Year Guidance while Backlog Grows Significantly

• MDA SPACE SELECTED BY ECHOSTAR FOR WORLD’S FIRST OPEN RAN D2D LEO CONSTELLATION (+a long rant on space stuff)

• Canadian Coast Guard welcomes the CCGS Baie des Chaleurs into service

• Roshel Achieves Certification Under Ford’s New Upfitter Program

• Seaspan Announces Strategic Trilateral Partnership with American and Finnish Allies to Deliver U.S. Coast Guard’s Arctic Security Cutter

• $29.5 million Energy Performance Contract Awarded for St-Jean Garrison

• Defining Canada’s threat landscape: Resetting for a new reality

• Operation CADENCE: RCAF secures airspace for G7 Summit

• Cyber surge: How CAF and allies supercharged Latvia’s defence

• Defence Team Champions for Racialized Persons Message: Emancipation Day 2025

• NATO forces conduct live agent training during Exercise PRECISE RESPONSE in Canada

• Canadian Armed Forces Delayed Pension Class Action

• The Administrative Response Centre answers your CMP policy questions

• CAF members: New vision care coverage update

• Canada’s Secretary of State for Defence Procurement Stephen Fuhr to speak at Aerospace Defence and Security Expo in B.C. on Aug. 7-8

• His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Ville de Québec Completes Rearmament in Australia while participating in Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 25

• Xanadu Selected for Canadian Defence Program to Lead Next-Generation Battery Research and Development

• Insights for Canada What the Replicator Can Teach Us By Kristen Csenkey, Ph.D.

• Canadian naval historian speaks out about retrieving shipwreck artifacts

• Nine Important Things to Know Before an Indo-Pacific Deployment

• RCSU Pacific Welcomes New Commanding Officer

• A Salute to Service from Rear-Admiral Christopher Robinson

• CFB Esquimalt Then and Now: 1970s RCN Events

• How to be a Strong Financial Role Model for Kids

• Canadian Forces Housing Agency unveils five-year Strategic Plan

• “Every one of these pieces tells a story”

• RCN tests first Armed Uncrewed Vessel

• Korean War Veterans honoured at recognition reception

• Federal Court dismisses claim military vaccine mandate led to spiritual discrimination

• Top army commander says 'completely unacceptable' behaviour is eroding trust in the Canadian Forces

• National Defence plans to solve its housing crunch by developing contaminated sites

• A look inside Canada’s Ukrainian war school

• Canadian military won't restrict new handgun in aftermath of U.S. fatality

• Canadian Armed Forces air drop humanitarian assistance in Gaza

• Defence Team Word Puzzle | July 28

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Project Updates

• The RFI for the Advanced Improvised Explosive Device Detection and Defeat (AIEDDD) project has been updated with new Q&A

• A new RFI has been released under the Strategic Radio Capability Project. While many know this project for its efforts to modernize Canada's LF/HF capabilities the project is also investigating a sovereign VLF capability for subsurface communications.

• The Enhanced SATCOM Project - Polar project has been updated to extend the industry engagement period to 29th September 2025.

• The RCMP Next Generation - Police Coastal Patrol Vessels has been updated with a new Q&A and payment information.

• The SAR Satellite Systems Next Generation Concept Studies has been updated with new payment informstion

• The RFI for Unmanned Aerial Systems for the Arctic Off-Shore Patrol Vessels has been extended to September 30, 2025

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Lobbying Updates

• Algoma Steel has not filed one, or two new record but five seperate record with Rubicon Strategies related to trade and government support related to tariffs. All four are identical.

• Movex Innovation has filed a new record with CJAG Consulting Group looking to promote their Remote-Controlled All-Terrain Carriers.

• Savar Hangar has filed a new record with CJAG Consulting Group aiming to promote their retractable and relocatable hard shelf Infrastructure

• Ocean Group, after a week of big news, has filed a new record with looking to engage on the National Shipbuilding Strategy. Ocean is one of the larger shipyards pushing for reforms to the NSS.

• Nord Quantique has filed a new record with StrategyCorp seeking government support for the development of superconducting quantum computers.

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Rumors & Speculation

• Lockheed has reportedly presented a package to the federal government as part of ongoing Fighter Review discussions. No idea what this package is but it will apparently include new investments in the Canadian market, increased Canadian supply into several different programs, and something involving the TF-50. Take this with a big grain of salt. These kinds of rumors are flying but this is from someone I trust.

• Also expect to hear more platforms getting their numbers increased. We talked about LAV amd such before but theres now rumors of top-ups to both LVM amd ERC being discussed.