Procrustes, 4 February 2021 All of a sudden, the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) is back in the news and there is chatter about the mounting costs of the proposed warship and what trade-offs might be made to deal with these costs. Why all the fuss now? The long-awaited cost update […]
Naval Policy
19 posts
31 May 2018. Dr. Dan Middlemiss. Why do successive federal governments treat Canadians as pliant ignoramuses on matters of defence? Take for example, the budget estimates for the Canadian Surface Combatants. Ottawa will soon, we are told, be awarding a contract for up to 15 new warships, yet the entire […]
We're very pleased to announce that one of the members of the CNR Editorial Board has just had a book published. China’s Arctic Ambitions and What They Mean for Canada is one of the first in-depth studies of China’s increasing interest in the circumpolar North. It offers a holistic approach […]
We’ve published a series of commentaries in CNR by Vice-Admiral Sir Jeremy Blackham about challenges and changes with the Royal Navy. (See his most recent commentary in the upcoming fall issue of CNR.) In his commentaries Blackham argues that it is dangerous to lose sight of the conventional elements of […]
Military forces increasingly rely on networked information to function effectively. Now we talk about information warfare. This means taking both defensive actions to protect your information and the systems that collect and disseminate it, and offensive actions to disrupt and deny the information of your enemies. What are navies doing […]
As Canada readies for a new defence review, Australia has just released its long-awaited Defence White Paper, along with an Integrated Investment Program as well as a Defence Industry Policy Statement (available here along with associated documents). Unsurprisingly for an island continent, the White Paper is centred around a maritime-based […]
In an article published by Fairplay Magazine, entitled “Target: Child Pirates,” author Girjia Shettar explores the work being done by the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative and the Dalhousie Marine Piracy Project (DMPP) on the phenomenon of child maritime piracy. It is likely no coincidence that the countries which are […]
Ken Hansen’s excellent post on the subject of submarines raises important issues concerning the future of submarines in the RCN. For those of us who ‘get it’, the post hits all the right buttons, especially his comment “what if the first time our surface ships encounter a sub is when […]
Readers of this forum will know my critical position on the report “That Sinking Feeling” by Prof. Michael Byers and Mr. Stewart Webb. After serving as the lead writer for the MSPP Research Team report, published in this forum on 15 June, I wrote a fuller analysis of the Byers-Webb […]
Mr. Milewski’s underlying assumption in the article is stated in his byline: “Cost of Arctic patrol ships' design sparks warning of another procurement ‘fiasco.’ ” The facts offered in support of the article by the CBC include: Ottawa will pay Irving Shipbuilding $288 million just to design — not build […]