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 […]
Fleet Capabilities
13 posts
Joe Varner, 03 April 2020. Chinese strategists have dreamed of an asymmetric method to disable the US aircraft carrier for decades.[1] Now they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams but not by deliberate action.USS Theodore Roosevelt is tied up at Guam evacuating the crew to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak […]
Dr. Ann Griffiths, 31 March 2020. You would have to be living in a cave not to have noticed that we’re currently facing a situation that hasn’t been seen since the flu epidemic following the First World War. Around the world people are self-isolating and social distancing is the flavour […]
An interesting study was just published by Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI) by Ross Fetterly. Governments are always tempted to slice bits off various departmental budgets to cut costs. But, as this article shows for the Department of National Defence, this can actually mean very little cost savings, and yet […]
The US Navy is expanding maintenance capability in the western Pacific to reduce the time and cost involved for a ship to return to a homeport. In addition to expanding the network of 24 shipyards in 12 countries, the US Navy is developing or relearning the concept of expeditionary maintenance […]
Davie Shipbuilding gave a presentation at the Canadian Defence Security and Aerospace Exhibition Atlantic in Halifax on 5-7 September. Davie’s presentation featured the new (interim) Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment ship, Asterix. [...] A small easily-overlooked detail was that Asterix is mexeflote-ready. On September 8, after Hurricane Irma struck the island of Anguilla, […]
At a speech at CANSEC in Ottawa on 31 May, MND Harjit Sajjan called for Boeing to withdraw its trade complaint against Bombardier. He also noted that the Canadian government was willing to cancel the purchase of the Super Hornet jets from Boeing if this dispute continued because Canada required […]
The recent completion by the Dalian shipyard in Liaoning Province, China, of a Type 001A aircraft carrier for the People’s Liberation Army Navy of China, underlines how even massive population and large land force countries believe the maritime capacity to be central to both their security and regional influence. The […]
The discussion in this BLOG on the NSPS has tended towards several themes. First, a belief that the Canadian Navy is proposing a fleet that is based on Cold War requirements which are no longer valid and too expensive. Second that we need to have a Fleet that includes the […]
Defense -aerospace has cited a study by the respected Forecast International group to argue that current building rates indicate that submarines will continue to exist in sizeable numbers (393) for the foreseeable future. It is also suggested that this may be a conservative a figure. Anti-submarine investments in the West […]