Key points selected to discuss at WestDef 2017 are:

Defence Policy Review

Last year the Government of Canada announced that they launched a Defence Policy Review and invited Canadians to participate in the process by attending public sessions providing written submissions to the committee. As a result of that, the format of our annual WestDef event was changed into a forum we called The Voice of the West. Following that successful event we submitted a formal paper to the Defence Policy Review committee. WestDef 2017 will spend Day 1 of the conference discussing and analysing the DPR through keynote and panel presentations as well as a comparison against our recommendations in the Voice of the West White paper WCDIA submitted.

Domestic ISS

In-service support is an important element of CAF operations. When speaking at the 2016 Aerospace Summit, Judy Foote, Minister of Public Services and Procurement, got it right when she spoke about how important sustaining operations and equipment in the CAF is. Looking at the CF-18 as an example, the recent announcement about CF-18 operations extending to the 2030 timeframe means that by end of life, Canadian industry will have supported CF-18 operations in Canada for 45 years. In another example, DND is launching an effort to establish a 20 year long ISS program for support of the Halifax Class Frigate. If you think about that, it becomes clear that a robust sustainment program will give Canadian workers the opportunity to spend an entire career providing support to a single fleet of aircraft, ships or vehicles. There is significant opportunity for Canadian companies to create long-term employment in high quality jobs for Canadians. When the government buys fleets of ships, aircraft and armored vehicles, the CAF will sail, fly and drive them for over 20 years. The new fleet of ships and the future fighter fleet are expected to be in service in excess of 40 years. While the main structures are designed to operate for that very long period of time, operational tactics and equipment obsolescence will mean that several upgrades to on board systems will be necessary over the life of the fleet.

There are many small and medium-sized companies in Canada that are already manufacturing parts for the mainframe ship and aircraft builders. Those companies are well positioned to continue to provide material to support the system upgrades that will take place over the fleet life. In short, the supply chain that is needed to keep the CAF operational and enable it to complete its missions needs to be well developed and robust. We plan to continue to be a leader in providing in-service support and sustainment to the CAF.

Cyber Hardening for ISS

The focus of the panel is on area of cyber convergence between military and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The panel will present and discuss potential solutions to decrease vulnerability of current and future systems as most in service support systems are upgraded and integrated with modern industrial control systems (e.g. SCADA). The panel will also gather actionable items that will be used to create a focused action plan for Western companies and respective provincial governments. The conversation and corresponding Action 

Plan will tackle the following topics:

1.       Converged Cyber™ - Raytheon

2.       Cyber Hardening and Information Assurance

3.       Cyber Penetration Testing – cyber proving ground for critical systems

4.       Cyber Security Operation Centres – Insider Threat mitigation

5.       Cyber Reasoning Systems

6.       Cyber for Autonomous Systems

A government-commissioned report states that Canada is “simply not up to the overall challenge” of cybercrime, state-sponsored attacks or lone hackers according to a report by The Canadian Press. According to the report’s authors, Canada is a prime target for cybercrime, state-sponsored attacks and lone hackers, and government officials have a crucial role to play in helping to fend them off. The report concludes that the Canadian government must partner with the private sector and the US to tackle the problem.

There is evidence that this will be an area that will get a lot of attention in the coming year. As reported in a recent news article by CTV News, the University of New Brunswick opened a cybersecurity institute on 16 January. The institute will work with industry and government to “enhance training and research” in the new domain. This is an effort to educate and to collect information on the status and capability for cyber hardening within Canada. The Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity has been given $4.5M in funding and will offer everything from week-long crash courses to PhDs. Funding is being provided through Federal and Provincial government sources, along with UNB and private sector participants. IBM is the institute’s first research and development partner.