DND announces $57.49 million ISTAR in-service support contract

The Department of National Defence announced a $57.49 million in-service support contract to strengthen the Canadian Army’s communications and information systems. 

These systems are used by the Canadian Army to inform and direct land operations. 

The multimillion-dollar contract Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) in-service support contract was awarded to Rheinmetall Canada for a duration of five years. 

“Providing our women and men in uniform with what they need to do the important job we ask of them is one of our top priorities. This contract will help ensure commanders can receive information from key equipment like ground-based radars, electronic warfare suites and remotely piloted aircraft systems in order for them to make timely decisions to achieve operational success. It will also support 50 jobs in Quebec and Ontario,” said Minister of National Defence, Harjit Sajjan. 

According to a Department of National Defence press release, the contract will support “ISTAR components and software that ensure data exchanges occur seamlessly from “sensing” and intelligence-gathering equipment such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or ground radars to the Land Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (LC4ISR) system.” 

This contract is one of four contracts supporting the LC4ISR system, a system part of every Canadian Army vehicle, weapons platform and headquarters that help coordinate and conduct modern operations using communications and information systems. The contracts combine to provide essential services that include hardware and software engineering work, fixing software issues, correcting any equipment problems, and analyzing and maintaining system health. 

It is expected that the contract will support approximately 50 highly skilled jobs in Canada.