In case you haven’t been paying attention, Canada is building new ships for the navy. We hear about design, capabilities, timetables, numbers and especially costs. But we don’t hear a lot about crewing the new ships. Technology has already reduced the need for large crews in some cases. But, although […]
Naval Force Development
22 posts
There once was a small country surrounded by large powerful nations that had large powerful navies. This country had limited funds and could not afford to build nearly as many ships as it would need to effectively defend itself. So, rather than hope that one of these large powerful countries […]
9 November 2016. We may think that Canada has it tough in terms of defence procurement and naval capability, but imagine if two-thirds of the Canadian fleet was lost when a chunk of territory was annexed by another state. This is what happened to the Ukrainian Navy when Russia took […]
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 […]
The latest revelation in the F-35 saga came last week when Lee Berthiaume reported that the military would be unable to refuel the new fighter while in flight using existing equipment. More stunning yet was the finding in the KPMG report that the government and the military intend to “rely […]
*Moderator's Note: This article appeared originally under the same title in The Ottawa Citizen on 17 May 2012. It is reprinted here with the kind permission of both the author, The Ottawa Citizen and CDFAI. Watch for an expanded version of this article in a future issue of CDFAI’s quarterly journal, “The […]
David Pugliese is reporting in the Ottawa Citizen, “Head of the Royal Canadian Navy says he has enough ships,” that Admiral Maddison said “he is happy with the number of ships the service operates and he doesn’t need any more.” This is a staggeringly uninspired statement by the institutional leader of […]
The F-35 “Lightning II” is a ‘5th generation’ fighter. It has capabilities that will theoretically allow Canadian air power to counter and defeat all potential threats for a period of decades while reducing attrition and sustainment requirements. (A set of briefing slides entitled “Canada’s Next Generation Fighter Capability” can be […]
*Moderator’s Note: This article was posted on Defence Iq on 21 March. The first paragraph is reproduced here, along with a link the remainder of the article, with the permission of the editor. “Once again the UK coalition government’s ham fisted, clumsy stewardship of defence has caused irritation to our […]
The following quote from Secretary Gates should make many in DND quite uncomfortable, particularly those who have turned their backs on a meaningful Canadian amphibious capability in favour of sending Leopard tanks on a COIN Mission: “The need for heavy armour and firepower to survive, close with, and destroy the enemy […]