Government hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[lenaitch]

Just bring the rail head to the factory. You can't tell me with CN and CP we don't have the talent to quickly build rail logistics

So long as the customer pays. Cost = distance. Most likely it would be a private contractor anyway. I doubt the Class 1s build much industrial trackage these days.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

No scotch involved. Pure caffeine this morning.

Keep swimming is good.

I am just minded that:

We walk a very narrow path.
Our domestic facilities for conventional arms are very limited.

For example - can we produce a medium calibre autocannon (20-40mm)?
Our American owned GDOTS-Canada can manufacture 20 and 25mm rounds in small quantities, as well as some 40 mm grenades. To my knowledge we have no domestic supplier of 30 and 35mm rounds, or 40mm Bofors and no suppliers of the necessary guns. And those are the calibres that appear to be best suited to the drone rich environment being encountered out there.

Here is one appreciation of the non-conventional systems that could be fielded in 3-5 years:



In my opinion the good news is that Ukraine managed to build those systems starting from a very weak position, using domestic manufacturers that did not interfere with the production of conventional weapons.

On the other hand they have had to beg, borrow and steal guns, bullets, bombs and missiles.

A facility that can make 25mm rounds can be rejigged to 30-40mm fairly quickly, or better yet, have a new line opened to provide both. The training, safety and QC portions of the business will be the same.

 

[Maxman1]

And that is why I asked about it being bought out by us.

Retool the facility to make AFV, tracked - both tanks and IFV as Kevin pointed out - working with the SK's gives us the possibility of K9 and the K2, just need the IFV side of things.

Location would be perfect because of the abundant tool & die expertise from Windsor to the GTA that would be available.

The patents on those are long gone, and any IP claims would be impossible to claim given they’ve been all over the world.

Canada has a lot of LAV’s. Missing are Tracked IFV’s, Tracked SPA, Tanks (or missing a decent number at least) ADA systems etc.

I wonder if there's a business case for BAE Systems to build CV90s in Canada. Or even serial production of new Challenger 3s, given the limited number and age of the hulls being converted.

 

[childs56]

Which would be dependent on GDLS' American parent maintaining the plant in London. One of the goals of Trump's "disruption" is to repatriate (patriate?) manufacturing to within its borders, specific among that, automotive. By tariffs (or even a more robust application of ITAR) the same pressure could be applied to US defense industry to consolidate their manufacturing in the USA.

I am pretty certain that GDLS Canada is a stand alone market from US systems, for manufacturing and providing systems for Canada and partners.
The make up of GDLS Canada was through amalgamation of various Canadian Companies/ plants to form the core of GDLS Canada.
If the US shut down GDLS Canada then the Canadian Government could stop the removal of said manufacturing equipment. Stand up the original Companies to build under license.
One thing that has worried me over the years is Canadian Companies selling to the larger US companies in order to be able to compete for contracts. Some of the smaller Canadian companies amalgamated with the larger US defense contractors and gave away some of their rights. It has worked out overall for the money side of things. But it has also limited their scope they can work because of restrictions placed on them by the United States.
It will be interesting if Trump orders the removal of Defense contract and or tariffs on items built outside the US by US defense companies. He might find himself missing the critical components inside some of the equipment he is trying to sell others while becoming the worlds largest supplier of equipment.