Canada is active internationally and belongs to many international organizations but it is a member of only two formal defence alliances/arrangements. Canada is a founding member of NATO which was formed in 1949 as the Cold War began. The heart of the alliance, Article 5, commits members to respond if […]
Maritime Strategy
32 posts
If you don’t live near an ocean – and most Canadians don’t – you could live your whole life without ever seeing a warship. So why, you may ask yourself, does Canada need a navy? There are many reasons. Navies play three general roles – diplomacy, constabulary and defence. Canada […]
The majority of Canadians live far from the oceans that surround Canada. They may be guilty of what has been referred to as ‘sea-blindness.’ But whether they know it or not, Canadians are affected by what happens on the oceans. This Briefing Note concludes: “The oceans have had and continue […]
Dr. Ann Griffiths, 22 November 2016. It’s interesting to see Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping getting along so well together. The latest example is Duterte issuing an executive order declaring part of the Scarborough Shoal to be a marine sanctuary which will be off-limits to all […]
14 November 2016. These two, seemingly unrelated news clips are, in fact, linked through their common concerns over an apparent return to Cold War concepts of naval strategy. The common denominator is the rise of Russian sea power both under and on the surface of the oceans. In the first […]
North Korea continues to puzzle and amaze us westerners. As the article suggests, a rogue state with both a nuclear weapons and an SSB capability is valid reason for concern. The key question now is, 'Why?' At the moment we can only guess, but two credible possibilities exist, first, deterrence […]
Something we should be watching more closely! New York Times - Russia Bolsters Its Submarine Fleet, and Tensions With U.S. Rise
China has introduced long-range surface-to-air missiles to and recently landed modern fighter aircraft on Woody Island in the disputed Paracel Islands of the South China Sea provoking fears that China may use them to restrict navigation. Meanwhile, North Korea continues its nuclear threats. After reviewing the problems in these areas, […]
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 […]
There has been much written about how defence inflation has eroded the budget allocated to the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS).1 As time passes, the argument goes, the NSPS budget gets smaller and smaller due to cost inflation and therefore the number of ships that can be built decreases as […]