By Robert Cumming, 22 February 2023
As you are aware, the federal government is deeply involved in a huge shipbuilding program. One area of the program where the government and the shipyards are woefully deficient is a sufficient and regular update of progress easily accessible to all Canadians. It is truly baffling why more information is not made available on a timely and regular basis. I was therefore wondering, is this something that your journal could include with every issue - what is happening with the various ships in design and construction? As an individual Canadian, I can assure you I have no access at all - I've tried several times and obtained very little - very disappointing. I think your organization could fill a significant gap regarding information sharing.
4 thoughts on “Communication Deficiency”
Hello Robert. I hear you on this one! The Canadian government has been very secretive especially when it comes to the CSC Frigate program along with CCG projects for no reason at all. Yes, don’t give out any government or military “secrets”, but at least give the Canadian people continuous updates on ship Preliminary Design Review for all NSS projects! The US is much more forth-coming with their projects. They give public updates at least monthly or quarterly on design processes. The “Constellation class” frigate being a prime example. We know more about the class than we do on the CSC Frigates. The Canadian government seem to keep all Canadians in the dark for no reason. I have tried to keep all forum members up to date on at least what we know so far with the CSC program. See below:
Here is the latest update as of 23 February 2023 for the CSC-Canadian Surface Combatant Type 26 Frigate weapons & systems design. Notice that the number of MK 41 VLS Cells has been dropped to 24 Cells vice 32. Also the mast is much taller. The crew size seems to have increased as well from 204 to 210 personnel. Also notice the tonnage has increased to 8,080 tonnes although that will not be the full-load weight (probably around 9,400 tonnes):
1. 1 X LM Solid State 3D Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) “S” Band Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR)-SPY 7 (V) 3 Phased Array Air Search Radar-Confirmed by Lockheed Martin (LM).
2. 1 X Solid State AESA “X” Band Illumination Radar supported by MacDonald Dettwiler Associates (MDA) in Richmond British Columbia-below the SPY 7 (V) 3 radar mast, with integration into the CMS 330 system. This will be a Fire Control/Surveillance radar for all Missiles & Guns as well as close-in surface search and surveillance. This may be an MDA built radar or it may be an existing radar from Thales (possibly the Sea Fire 500 AESA Phased Array Illumination Radar) however MDA is not talking. Any enlightenment on this radar from any forum members, would be appreciated.
3. “X” & “S” Bands Navigation Radars.
4. MacDonald Dettwiler Associates (MDA)-Electronic Warfare Suite System & Chaff launchers.
5. MacDonald Dettwiler Associates (MDA)-Laser Warfare Defence System (again MDA is not talking).
6. 24 x MK 41 strike length VLS-ESSM2, SM II/IIIC-SM3/6 (fitted for, but not with); Raytheon Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAM).
7. Combat Information Management Systems-Links 11/16/22/GCCS-M/ Mode 5S Identification Friend or Foe (IFF).
8. Light Weight (LW) MK 54 Torpedo system and magazine with twin launcher tubes.
9. Sea Spider anti-torpedo system (Magellan/TKMS)
10. 6 x 4 ExLS VLS-Aft of the funnel (Sea Ceptor, quad-packed) for CIADS (could also be increased to 12 x 4 ExLS cells).
11. 2 x 4 Quad packs Kongsberg NSM-Port/Stbd Above Mission Bay. Could these Surface-to-Surface missiles be increased to 4 x 4 Quad packs as with the Constellation class frigates?
12. Main Gun: 1 x 5 inch Leonardo Oto Melara 127mm Light Weight (LW) Land Attack and Anti-Air Vulcano gun. This gun will confer the CSC ships with the ability to fire extended-range, precision-guided Vulcano munitions – both in guided long-range and the ballistic extended-range versions – and conventional ammunition.
13. Secondary Guns: 2 x MARLIN 30 Stabilized Rapid Fire 30mm 174 ATK MK44 Naval Gun Systems (from Leonardo-Port/Stbd of Flight Deck) with RC-Remotely Controlled; COAX-“Coaxial Electro-Optical Sensor Suite” and ILOS-Independent Line Of Site able to fire HE-High Explosive/AP-Armor-Piercing/TP-Target Practice/ABM-Air Burst Munitions. ROF-Rate Of Fire-SS-Single Shot/100-200 RPMs-Rounds Per Minute; Day & IR Camera. MER-Maximum Effective Range-3500 Meters. Effective against any surface threats/Helicopters and Drones. Outstanding accuracy and precision; automatic Duel-Feed system; Stealthy Design; Video Tracking Capability; High reliability and ease of maintenance with no deck penetration.
14. CEC-Cooperative Engagement Capability Sensor Netting-Integrated Cyber Defence System; Integrated Bridge & Navigation System from OSI.
15. Internal/Secure External Communications Suite-HF/UHF/SHF/VHF/SATCOM from L3 Harris.
16. Electro Optical & Infrared Systems; Radio/Radar ESM-Electronic Support Measures to include: Frequency Identification; Laser Warning & Electric Countermeasures System ECM-RAVEN); Radar/Radio Frequency Electronic Jammers; Electronic Decoy Systems.
17. CMS: Lockheed Martin Combat Management System 330/ACS-Aegis Combat System in support of CEC (and possible future BMD-Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD)) Capabilities.
18. Ultra Electronics HMS-Hull Mounted Sonar-Ultra S2150.
19. Ultra Electronics Active/Passive Towed Array Sonar; Towed Torpedo Countermeasures-Sea Sentor S21700.
20. Ultra Electronics VDS-Variable Depth Sonar known as TLFAS-Towed Low Frequency Active Sonar; The system is designed to identify and track stealthy submarines in harsh sea environments.
21. SPS-Sonobouy Processing System from General Dynamics with expendable Acoustic Countermeasures.
22. CODLOG-Combined Diesel Electric Gas Turbine Propulsion System to include 1 X Rolls Royce RR/MT 30 Gas Turbine; 2 X Electronic Motors from General Electric; 4 X RR MTU Diesel Generators; IPMS-Integrated Platform Management System from L3 Harris.
23. CSC Reconfigurable Multi-Mission Bay-featuring reconfigurable mission and boat bays including a 9m rescue boat, two 9-12m multi-role boats, Rolls Royce’ mission bay handling system, and modular mission support (standard 20 sea containers, vehicles, boats) capacity.
24. 1 x S-92 CH 148 Cyclone Sikorsky ASW Helicopter; SKELDAR V200 UAV-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle systems (possibly x 2) from Saab-known as CU-176 “Gargoyle” helicopter drones.
25. Speed-approximately 27-30 kts. SOR-Statement Of Requirement; required this capability for US Carrier Battle Group (CBG) Ops.
26. Crew Compliment-210 max crew (fitted with separate female quarters & wash rooms).
Thanks David, Very insightful. Much appreciated!
Perhaps it is late to comment on this, but here goes:
The feds do a terrible job of informing Canadians, but the shipyards are eager to publicize their successes on their twitter accounts. Irving in particular frequently announces the start and finish of various stages of construction. Also, someone at Wikipedia has been paying attention: there is an up to date table of construction progress on the AOPS page (Although I see AOPV 435 is wrongly listed as laid down on 15 Aug. 2022. That was the date steel was cut; the keel has not been laid).
None of the three major yards are progressing on schedule, although the speed of construction has been increasing. Basically, at any one time Irving has one ship in steel cutting, one in block assembly, and one in final assembly/fitting out/sea trials. Ships progress from one stage to the next more or less at the same time because they only have space for two megablocks at a time in the assembly hall.
For the AOPS ships Irving seems to be working at around a 13 month per ship pace, measuring from the launch of one ship (Max Bernays) to the launch of the next (William Hall). This is an improvement from the previous vessels, but it is not good enough to meet their stated schedule. Irving and the government are on record saying construction on the surface combatants (ie steel cutting) will begin in 2024. Assuming they mean December 2024, that gives them about 27 months between first steel of Robert Hampton Gray (Aug 15, 2022) and the surface combatant; but they also have to cut all the steel for two coast guard ships in that time. 3 ships in 27 months means they need to be working at a pace that would deliver an AOPS vessel every 9 months. In other words they need to reduce the time per ship by 40% or even the current (repeatedly revised) schedule will not be met.
The other yards are not better. The Joint Support Ship is slowly progressing, but will not launch this year. Davie, which is in line to build a bunch of icebreakers, still hasn’t been formally adopted into the NSS, almost two years after the announcement that they had been chosen. I’m guessing major upgrades to facilities and procedures are required; or maybe it’s bureaucratic bungling, but public information is fairly limited.
Well said Michael! The more Irving “drags their feet,” the more money they can squeeze out of Ottawa and the more gullible the Liberals get while Irving laughs all the way to the bank!