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POLICY PERSPECTIVE

A Triple Helix publication

by Will Richardson
March 2025

Introduction

The Department of National Defence’s (DND) Materiel Group is currently piloting and promoting the Continuous Capability Sustainment Initiative (CCS) in order to improve the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) ability to maintain new and existing military capabilities at the speed of operational and technological relevance. According to the Government of Canada (GoC), “CCS seeks to identify ongoing investments in technology upgrades over the in-service phase of a capability to ensure [that CAF] equipment remains technologically relevant, fit for purpose, and aligned with the extant high level mandatory requirements.” Today, there is broad recognition both within and outside the Defence Team that Canada’s legacy defence procurement and sustainment processes of complex and protracted capital projects, regular in-service support contracts, major mid-life platform upgrades, and service-life extension programs are no longer fit for purpose.

This series of reports will leverage survey data solicited from the CAF and developed in partnership with the Materiel Group team working on CCS design and implementation. First, we sent a series of yes/no questions asking each service’s force development team to indicate whether CCS would be applicable in a given capital project or support contract. The relevant CAF force development officials answered these questions on a per project basis and provided optional qualitative context. Survey questions were grouped into the following three categories of CCS indicators: regulatory changes, interoperability requirements, and future planning. Each of these categories will represent an important group of related considerations in the future determination of a particular project’s suitability for CCS. A total of 14 different CCS indicators were grouped into these three categories. Following the gathering of survey data, we met with the DND Materiel Group and the individuals responsible for requirements within each service to gain additional qualitative insights into their respective approaches to CCS. The results will be represented on a CAF-wide basis and then with individual Policy Perspectives analyzing each service’s CCS survey results.

Our survey and interview data affirm a general recognition within the CAF that CCS could be a useful tool in future force development and in-service support activities, and particularly around obsolescence management and speed of execution. However, further efforts are reportedly needed to articulate and socialize the concept within the CAF; uncertainty regarding how and where CCS might be implemented going forward remains. Concerns include a lack of tailored CCS costing, funding, and governance mechanisms.

Documents

• Introduction and Overview (PDF)
• Study of the Canadian Army (PDF)
• Study of the Royal Canadian Air Force (PDF)
• Study of the Royal Canadian Navy (PDF)
• Survey Questionaire (PDF)
• Projects Lists (PDF)
• About the Author
• Triple Helix

About the Author

William “Will” Richardson is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Carleton University. He specializes in International Relations and Public Policy. His Doctoral thesis will examine the intersection of Five Eyes military cooperation, emerging technologies and defence procurement. Will completed his MA at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in 2020. His MA thesis examined Canada’s Future Fighter Capability Project and the role of interoperability in Canadian defence policy. Will also works as a Consultant at Space Strategies Consulting Limited, where he prepares research papers, concept papers and oral briefings on advanced aerospace concepts, military doctrine, emerging technologies and the commercial space sector for clients in the public and private sectors. Will has also worked as a political and security desk officer on several geographic desks at Global Affairs Canada, during which time he produced strategic advice, research reports, and briefing documents for use by the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, and senior departmental officials. Will is passionate about history and aviation; and is also a keen cyclist and hiker.  

Triple Helix

Triple Helix: An Academic-Policy-Industry Partnership for Defence innovation and Analysis (“Triple Helix”) is a network composed of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI), the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) at Carleton University, and industry that will explore how a range of emerging technologies intersect with defence.

Directed by Dr. David Perry (CGAI) and Dr. Alex Wilner (NPSIA), Triple Helix will be a hub that will:

• think creatively about emerging technology;
• link developments therein to Canadian defence strategy, policy, and planning;
• facilitate the establishment of a pan-Canadian research across academia, think tanks, and industry dedicated to promoting research excellence; and,
• develop working relationships with researchers, practitioners, and industry in Five Eyes countries in order to draw international lessons for Canada on how allied states are applying emerging technologies to their own defence priorities and needs.

Our objective is to provide an empirically driven and practically oriented guide on the interplay between technology, innovation, security, defence, and policy useful to Canadian policymakers and private sector actors alike, as well as to identify paths to and foster greater cooperation between government, academia, think tanks and industry in the areas of emerging technologies and innovation.

Four overarching and related research questions animate our network. First, what is the impact of emerging technologies on force development with respect to connected battlespace? Second, what policy instruments and cooperation mechanisms exist to support allied military interoperability and connectivity among defence coalitions? Third, how do emerging communications and related space and cyber technologies, including synthetic environments, effect both the public and the defence sector, and how can these enhanced capabilities participate in shaping a global, dispersed, and resilient connected battlespace? And fourth, how do these technologies, policy instruments and enhanced capabilities strengthen continental defence? To date, there is very little Canadian transdisciplinary scholarship that spans academia, public policy, and industry on any of these research questions. Triple Helix seeks to close that gap.

Our research outputs will look to respond to three central defence policy challenges: “Emerging Technologies and Military Application,” “Cyber, Space and Information as Operational Domains,” and “Securing North America and Enhancing Continental Defence.” Diversity, equity and inclusion, the principles of Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+), as well as building the next generation of defence professionals, will guide our operations, activities, and outputs.