CNR, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2015) Abstract - Winner of the 2015 CNMT Essay Competition The winning essay in the 2015 CNR essay competition focused on the AOPS, and the implications of a budget being eroded as time passes. In his essay, “Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships: Adrift in Inflationary Waters,” […]
Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships
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[* Moderator’s note: This is a revised and expanded version of the same article published yesterday, 8 March.] Steel will be cut in a few months for the first of the Harry DeWolf-class Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS). The official date of the cutting will be an opportunity for […]
*Moderator’s Note: This Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute op-ed [link to original] appeared in The Globe and Mail on 13 May 2014. It is reprinted here with the permission of CDFAI. Lest we forget. On Parliament Hill last week we marked the end of our Afghanistan mission. We also […]
[*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 […]
There was a lot of uproar when CBC’s Terry Milewski published a report (“Ottawa was warned about Arctic patrol ships’ high price”) that led with this statement: “Two days before signing a contract to begin work on a $3-billion shipbuilding project, the federal government was warned by its own advisers […]
Canada has reinvigorated its presence at the Shangri-La Dialogue on regional security, expanded its role at the Rim of the Pacific maritime exercise, and recently signed a mutual logistics arrangement with Japan. Such moves are designed to expand the country’s security engagement in the Asia-Pacific, as leverage to join the […]
A very brief and terse news article from CBC News has revealed that President Steve Durrell has left Irving Shipbuilding. This development is prompting great speculation about the internal stresses within the company and Durrell’s role in all of it. The company spokesperson declined to comment on the reason for […]
In my last post on this subject I wondered what the effects of an economic downturn or outright recession would have on the National Shipbuilding and Procurement Strategy (NSPS). We are now starting to see the results of that process: the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) have been delayed […]
Lee Berthiaume’s Postmedia News article on 8 May, entitled “Armed Arctic vessels face delay in latest procurement setback,” reports a further three-year delay in procurement of these ships. If true – the NDHQ procurement website continues to quote an in-service date of 2016 for the first ship - that is […]
The problem with the ships Senator Kenny wants 'axed' is that they are not just ice-capable ships: they are a hybrid design for both arctic and offshore patrol work. Arctic operations require high endurance: lots of capacity for supplies plus hauling all waste by-products out again. Fuel is an especially […]