At the onset of the Cold War, it became clear that the Arctic was of strategic significance. So, for a brief period, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) established a presence there. But this presence was sporadic and largely abandoned with the transfer of HMCS Labrador - the navy’s only icebreaker […]
Arctic Maritime Security
21 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 […]
David Dunlop, 20 February 2020. In light of the impact that global warming is having on Canada’s northern borders and the increased Arctic activity by countries other than Canada, it is becoming more urgent than ever that Canada take measures to display and maintain surveillance and sovereignty in the high […]
Among other things, the new government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that it will place emphasis on renewing the Canadian Coast Guard fleet. See the CBC news article here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/coast-guard-fleet-refresh-top-priority-security-1.3318575
CNR, Vol. 11, No. 1 (2015) Abstract What could the future look like for Canadian submarines? What are the considerations necessary to develop a credible Canadian submarine capability for the 21st century? Two factors define Canada’s navy – geography and national will. A future Canadian submarine capability must be able […]
Major change is coming to the Royal Canadian Navy. In just a few months, Irving Shipbuilding will begin construction of the first vessel in the Combat Ship Program under the National Shipbuilding and Procurement Strategy. The Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS), to be known as the DeWolf-class, will add many new […]
This Arctic, this Canadian Arctic is our business – ours to exploit, ours to defend. Commodore O.C.S. Robertson, RCN Astonishingly, the numerous deployments by the ships of the Royal Canadian Navy into the Canadian North have never been tabulated. Because of this, it is not known precisely how many ships […]
[*This article appeared originally in the February 2013 issue of Marine Matters. It is reprinted here with the permission of the publisher.] It is an odd thing about Canada that, although the number of people who have lived, worked or travelled in the arctic region is probably below ten percent […]
Michael Byers and Stewart Webb have authored an interesting report published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Rideau Institute entitled “Titanic Blunder: Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships on Course for Disaster.” Byers and Webb claim that the government is heading for disaster with the AOPS project: the ships are […]
This week both the American and Canadian governments released the details of a “Tri-Command Framework for Arctic Cooperation” that would more closely coordinate the work of the U.S. Northern Command, Canada’s Joint Operational Command and NORAD in the arctic. While noting that the arctic region is not an area of […]