Voyageur 166
Canada Tests Drone War Kit, and Aeroplan Gets Outside Owners.
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
Please don’t forget to share, subscribe or send feedback.
Canada Tests Drone War Kit
The Canadian Armed Forces put domestic drone makers through a real-world test on Wednesday, August 12. The event is called RED COBALT, maybe because it’s cool to give procurement exercises names that sound like rejected action movies.
The testing is happening at a NATO test centre in the Ottawa Valley, with Canadian manufacturers showing how their platforms are able to deal with military scenarios. The federal government is trying to move faster on drones as the technology becomes ever more important to modern warfare.
Read more: Global News / Canada's National Observer
Advertisement:
A photo from the old country:
Aeroplan Gets Outside Owners
Air Canada is selling a 25 percent (non-controlling) stake in Aeroplan for $2.5 billion to an investor group led by Blackstone and La Caisse. The deal values the loyalty program at $10 billion, which is a reminder that rewards points are not imaginary or pretend coins, they’re (big) business.
Air Canada says it’s going to be keeping operational control, and One Mile at a Time says members shouldn’t expect any immediate changes following the sale. The money is being put towards a $1.2 billion bond repayment, and much of the rest will be going toward Air Canada's share buyback plan.
Aeroplan is one of the pieces of Canadian financial plumbing that shows up in normal life abroad. Flights home, Star Alliance redemptions, credit card points, family visits, emergency trips. A new owner on the cap table isn’t going to rewrite the chart today, but the change in who has a claim on the program's future profits might mean things will be different going forward.
Read more: One Mile at a Time / Financial Post