The Royal Canadian Navy is a blue-water navy - it travels around the world to play a number of roles to further Canadian foreign policy goals. It conducts operations, often with allies, such as counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, disaster relief and capacity-building operations, as well as war-fighting exercises. What ships/boats does the […]
Halifax-class frigates
23 posts
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 […]
Canada will be recapitalizing much of the naval and coast guard surface fleets under its National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS). Much of this promised $38 billion is earmarked for 15 Canadian Surface Combatants (CSCs). These ships are expected to be the new workhorse of the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN), designed […]
Jack Granatstein, one of Canada's foremost historians, has written a significant op-ed for the Ottawa Citizen (“National interests collide in shipbuilding strategy,” 30 October 2013). In it he quite correctly argues for a realistic assessment of the additional costs of made in Canada solutions versus what might be cheaper foreign […]
Friday’s news carried a couple of stories that speculated on whether or not the Sikorsky H-92 ‘Cyclone’ helicopter deal will be cancelled. CBCNews ran a story, entitled ‘Other options’ sought for Sea King Helicopter replacements, that quoted Public Works spokesperson Amber Irwin as saying, “the government is considering other options […]
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 […]
A report by David Pugliese entitled “New Zealand To Upgrade Frigates” advises that the Government of New Zealand is searching for a midlife upgrade for its two ANZAC-class frigates. While one would have expected the New Zealand government to begin its search for an upgrade in Australia, it would appear […]
* Moderator’s Note: This article was original published in The Nova Scotian on 21 March 2012. Over the past year I have used this column to discuss the role of your navy in contributing to Canada’s maritime security, defence and prosperity. I have written about the need for your navy […]
I would like to take up Stan Weeks’ challenge in his article on “Density as a Ship Design Factor.” Stan references a U.S. Government Accountability Office report. Those interested can find it on line here. Concerns expressed with the Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) Flight III design option not only relate to […]
Word is reaching me that the number of designs under consideration for the AOR-JSS ship is down to only one. Apparently, the Spanish have been told that their Cantabria-class AOR [an enlarged version of the Spanish Patino-class] is no longer in the running. This leaves only the German Berlin-class design. […]