On 21 March 2020, Canada awarded a contract to Zodiac Hurricane Technologies Ltd for the design and construction of 30 multi-role boats for Canada’s Halifax-Class Frigates. This award directly supports one of Canada’s Defence Policy “Strong, Secure and Engaged” commitments as well as the National Shipbuilding Strategy’s Construction of Small […]
Technology
13 posts
David Dunlop, 28 February 2020. Nuclear propulsion of submarines is ideal for long distances and extended under-ice missions. But is there a better, more affordable and collaborative way? Off-the-shelf air-independent propulsion (AIP) submarines such as the French Barracuda Block 1A class being designed for Australia or the Japanese Soyru-class AIP […]
Major (retired) F. Roy Thomas, MSC, CD, MA (RMC). 13 February 2020. Without anti-drone assets should the RCN become a coastal navy operating under the umbrella of cheaper shore-based anti-drone assets? Or should Canada’s navy procurement include provision of at least one anti-drone warship for each coast, including the Arctic? […]
It would appear by the following press release from Lockheed Martin on 14 Nov 2019 that Canada has indeed selected the Lockheed Martin Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) as its main Air Warning radar for the CSC frigate. This, it seems, was a closely guarded secret by LM and its […]
Canada is in the early stages of thinking about replacing its submarines. Submarines are not part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, but they are mentioned in the new defence policy. As complex platforms, they’re extremely expensive, and it will be a long and painful process before Canada has them and […]
We may think of unmanned aerial vehicles/drones as being the deliverers of Hellfire missiles to terrorists, but they do much more than that. The drone business is booming. And the marine industry is discovering more and more uses for drones. Offshore wind-farms, cruise lines, container shippers, tanker shippers, shore-to-ship package […]
As the Canadian government and the RCN advance in the NSS shipbuilding process, it’s time to stop focusing on the hulls and start thinking about what goes in the ships. This means, among other things, decisions about how to maximize computer/sensor connectivity – and maximize security of systems and data. […]
Two Norwegian firms are building the world’s first fully electric, self-driving ship. The ship will be 100% electric and have zero emissions (according to the companies producing it). The ship, named Yara Birkeland, is expected to begin operations in late 2018. The firms claim that the boat will replace thousands […]
30 March 2017. An article written by Christopher Cedros, a surface warfare office with the US Navy, sparked my earlier comment on repair containers and mexeflotes. The article is “Distributed Lethality and the Importance of Ship Repair” [available at http://the strategybridge.org/the-bridge/2017-2-14/distributed-lethality-and-the-importance-of-ship-repair]. The doctrine of distributed lethality could fill an issue […]
22 March 2017. “Mexeflote for Interim AOR” was the title of an article posted on Broadsides last September. The article proposed the interim AOR be equipped with a mexeflote-powered raft for ship-to-shore transfer of large cargo, up to 60 tonnes per trip. The AOR's cranes could lower the mexeflote pontoons […]