CDR recently sat down with Canada’s Minister of National Defence, Anita Anand, for an exclusive interview on the CDR Radio Podcast. Canada’s continuing response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its impact on our military readiness, the need for the CAF to replace military equipment donated to Ukraine with new procurements, and the CAF’s challenges in recruiting and retaining troops, were some of the many topics raised in our year-end interview.

This episode is sponsored by CAE. CAE represents 75 years of industry firsts—the highest-fidelity flight, mission, and personalized training programs powered by innovation and technology. CAE digitalizes the physical world, deploying simulation training and critical operations support solutions. As the only principal Canadian-owned defence contractor, CAE currently trains all military pilots for the Canadian Armed Forces. And in 2020, became the first Canadian aviation company to be carbon neutral. Visit CAE’s website www.cae.com/defense-security

For over 35 years, Calgary’s Arcfield Canada has been providing the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) with in-service and integrated logistics support. It has also been supporting the RCAF’s CF-18 fleet since 2010. Yet, as of October 2022, Arcfield is just one year old. The reason: Arcfield Canada is the rebranded name of Peraton’s systems engineering, integration and support services business, which the company sold in 2021. Since then, Arcfield Canada has been very busy. In April 2022, the company was awarded a $50 million two-year contract extension by the Department of National Defence (DND) for the CF-18 Avionics Optimized Weapon System Support program. This extension came after Arcfield received a two-year task order valued at $28 million. Jacques Comtois, Arcfield Canada’s Director of Canadian Operations, discussed these and other topics on the CDR Radio Podcast.

CDR’s Ottawa Bureau Chief, James Careless, recently spoke to Erin O’Toole, former Conservative Party leader, on the CDR Radio podcast. O’Toole served in the CAF for 12 years, rising to the rank of Captain in the RCAF. In a wide-ranging, candid, and engaging discussion, they covered hot topics such as the war in Ukraine, Russian cyber attacks, and NORAD modernization and much more.

COVE’s CEO, Melanie Nadeau, recently joined CDR’s Ottawa Bureau Chief, James Careless, on the CDR Radio podcast. They spoke about some of the exciting projects underway at COVE, and the career opportunities that COVE is providing for retiring Canadian Armed Forces members.