23 Jun 16. Canadian firms could get civil air work from fighter purchase: Boeing. Planemaker Boeing Co (BA.N) could include civil aviation work opportunities for Canadian firms if the country were to purchase F/A-18E/F Super Hornets to replace its aging fighter jets, company executives said on Thursday. The new Liberal government promised during last year’s election that it would launch an open competition to replace Canada’s CF-18 fighter aircraft and pledged not to buy Lockheed Martin Corp’s (LMT.N) F-35 jets as the previous Conservative government had planned to do.
But the Liberals, who came into power last November, have yet to release details on a competition. Boeing executives said the company is making the case for both the capabilities and the economic benefits it can offer Canada with its Super Hornets.
“What we bring to the table is an aerospace company that includes both commercial and defense opportunities,” said Roger Schallom, senior manager of Boeing’s International Strategic Partnerships for the Americas.
“We don’t just look at defense. We bring Boeing commercial and Boeing defense opportunities to Canadian industry,” he added, though he did not give specifics on what type of work that would include.
Other work Boeing is looking at under a potential program includes in-service support and assistance with exporting, said Schallom.
“All of these (elements) are, I believe, attractive to the government of Canada,” said Schallom.
Asked whether that could include giving work to Canadian planemaker Bombardier (BBDb.TO), Roberto Valla, vice president of global sales for Canada, said that while there have been no requests to work with specific firms, Boeing is open to working with all Canadian companies.
It already works with more than 550 companies across Canada, Valla said.
Recent media reports have suggested Canada could delay a competition and order Boeing’s fighter jets as a stop-gap measure. The defense minister’s spokeswoman has said the reports were inaccurate.
Valla said that while the government is exploring a number of options, Boeing has not been asked to provide a formal offer.
Lockheed told Reuters earlier this month that the company is studying whether to shift work on the F-35 away from Canadian firms amid the uncertainty.
In Montreal, Quebec Economy Minister Dominique Anglade said Thursday she would like to see the province’s aerospace industry make further inroads in the defense market and would closely follow any competition. Anglade could not say whether Boeing or Lockheed would provide greater benefits to Quebec’s aerospace hub, the largest in Canada. (Source: Reuters)
23 Jun 16. North Korea claimed on Thursday to have conducted a successful test-firing of an intermediate-range missile — an apparent reference to a missile that the South Korean military said was fired into the sea one day earlier. The military state’s government-run news agency reported that the country fired a Hwasong-10 — also known as a Musudan — and that it landed accurately in waters about 400 kilometers (249 miles) down range.
The statement was reiterated by a North Korean Foreign Ministry official at its embassy in Beijing.
“We are very happy. The Hwasong-10 means our transportation method has clearly succeeded. This means we can now confidently deal with whatever nuclear war the U.S. forces,” Choe Sonhui, the General of the Department of U.S. Affairs of North Korea Foreign Ministry said at a news conference.
“What we are doing is trying to cope with the current situation where the United States is trying to threaten the DPRK with nuclear weapons, so we are trying to strengthen our nuclear capabilities in order to cope with threats that are imposed on the DPRK,” she added, using an acronym for the country typically used by government officials.
However, South Korean and U.S. officials previously said that North Korea had fired two Musudan intermediate-range missiles from its eastern coast on Wednesday mor