The cost factors Ken Hansen outlines demonstrate the ongoing need for sealift. Indeed, with sealift costs being between one-tenth and one-seventieth the cost of airlift, coupled with the fact that […]
The announcement of the $3.1B frigate upgrade is solidly good news. This very welcome project does, however, contain hidden dangers. Significantly, the DND backgrounder suggests it will include: A new […]
Ian Parker’s response above is well intentioned I’m sure, but he simply seems to be a bit hurt by the truth. It may disappoint him to discover that the comment […]
The announcement by Prime Minister Harper that naval ship upgrades will provide new opportunities for contractors is interesting but it lacks a sense of strategic context. Announcing FELEX, which by […]
Submarines are in the news again, both at home and elsewhere in the world. A Canadian Press item that appeared on Thursday, 28 June, 2007, about plans to send HMCS […]
Our earlier discussion about the sensibility of addition another SSN to the appropriations this year, and the lack of clear direction on surface fleet plans, seems to have more substantiation […]
The Pentagon’s request to Congress for $750M in ’emergency funding’ to move Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) by air for use by U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq (detailed here) […]
Canada’s maritime interests at home and overseas are changing. On one hand, the effects of global warming on the Arctic Ocean and the lengthening of the shipping season there coupled […]
Robin Allan refers to the requirement as a “Big Honking Ship”. The term is somewhat overly generous. The projected full load displacement of the JSS is about 28,000 tons, about […]
The Government is presently debating whether to buy two or three of the Joint Support Ships, and how to resolve its bidding dilemma. Both teams, led respectively by SNC-Lavalin Profac […]
Canada’s navy is on the cusp of yet another transformational moment. The government’s plan to build a modest fleet of arctic patrol vessels is clearly an invitation to the navy […]
This February, David Pugliese reported that a leaked copy of the Canada First Defence Strategy would retire our current AOR in 2010, two years before the JSS was delivered in […]
This plan (David Pugliese, “Forces to lease supply ship”, Daily News 18 July 2007, p.12) to charter a cargo ship for a period of a year or more was described […]
Everything that Peter Haydon says in his article on the “Canadian Naval Task Group” is accurate. The task group has been fundamental to our past success and it will likely […]
This story should be a wake-up call for the Canadian policy makers that are still in the midst of fine-tuning the Canada First Defence Policy (CFDP). The influential Center for […]
As its operational focal point, the modern Canadian navy uses a “multi-purpose, combat-capable task group.” This policy is consistent with the 1994 Defence White Paper which calls for the navy […]
I have a very hard time understanding how and why HMS Cornwall, with the task force commander embarked, allowed her boats to be surrounded or cut off from herself. My […]
Both political parties in the United States have recognized three key elements of a balanced defence policy. First, despite the high costs of their Iraq and Afghanistan commitment, their leaders […]
The report of the arrival of France’s F.N. Tonnerre in Halifax should raise some issues for Canada. Tonnerre is a four-in-one vessel – helicopter carrier, hospital ship, command ship, and […]
The Canadian navy’s sea-lift capacity has been mentioned previously in these quarters, in the context of the rumoured Conservative plan to pay-off the existing Protecteur-class replenishment ships a full two […]
