Canadian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

asif iqbal said:

Who is Canada going to war with Iceland ?

No need for them to spend money just keep building economy nice country always mind own business

Do they even have a navy ?

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Jeff Head said:

The Canadians have 12 Halifax class FFGs. They are decent FFGs and went through a modernization/upgrade in the 2000s.

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They also have four Victoria class SSKs prcured from England. They had a lot of troubles with these in the early 2000s when they got them, but have worked out the bugs now and they are decent 2,400 ton SSKs.

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They also have 12 Coastal Patrol vessels...small patrol boats more on the order of Coast Guard vessels.

Also, they are procuring two new replenishment vessels that will be built by Germany and based on the Berlin class replenishment ships.

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They are also building six new Artctic patrol vessels, large, ice breaking capable offshore patrol ships of over 6,000 tons. These are going to be based on Nprwegian Svalbard class.

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So...not a huge Navy...but a decent one for their needs. They regularly participate in RIMPAC.

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PiSigma said:

Two of the four Victoria's are pretty much leak buckets, never got truly fixed... I'm pretty sure they don't actually gets used.

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Jura said:

now noticed (dated December 14, 2017)

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Cancel federal shipbuilding program, launch fixed-cost competitions to save money and get ships quickly: report
The report is a follow-up to a 2014 document that warned about problems and a lack of oversight on the multi-billion-dollar strategy

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The problems centre around technical issues. Some are minor but in other cases there is a view among defence industry officials that Canada is asking for too much in some areas

Canada’s quest for a new fleet of warships is off to a rocky start with all bidders failing to meet some of the federal government’s requirements.

Procurement officials are now trying to regroup on the $60-billion project and figure out ways that bidders might be able to change their proposals to make them acceptable, a number of defence industry executives pointed out.

The problems centre around technical issues. Some are minor but in other cases there is a view among defence industry officials that Canada is asking for too much in some areas such as radar, which may be causing problems with meeting requirements.

Public Services and Procurement Canada spokeswoman Michèle LaRose said the bids received for the Canadian Surface Combatant project have not been disqualified. Three bids have been received. The federal government and Irving Shipbuilding are still evaluating the proposals, she added. LaRose pointed out that the evaluation is at the second stage in the process.

Government officials say that involves what is known as “the cure process” in which bidders will be given details of how their proposals have failed to meet the stated criteria. They will then be given only one opportunity to fix issues with their bids.

If they are still considered “non-compliant” after the cure period they “will be eliminated from the competition,” according to the federal government.

Technical specifications are now being evaluated by the government. Later this year, the companies will provide the financial information related to their bids.

Warship builders submitted their bids on Nov. 30. A winning bid is expected to be selected sometime this year.

Irving Shipbuilding will begin construction of the first ship in the early 2020s and delivery of the first vessel is expected in the mid-2020s, according to the federal government.

But the project has been plagued with delays and controversy.

The final cost of the ships is still unknown. In 2008 the government estimated the total cost of the project to be about $26 billion.

But in 2015 navy commander Vice Admiral Mark Norman voiced concern that taxpayers may not have been given all relevant information, and publicly predicted the cost for the ships alone would be around $30 billion.

Cost estimates for the project are now between $55 billion and $60 billion.

About half of the cost is for systems and equipment that will go on the 15 ships, according to federal documents obtained by Postmedia through the Access to Information law. “Approximately one-half of the CSC build cost is comprised of labour in the (Irving’s) Halifax yard and materials,” the documents added.

Last year, Jean-Denis Fréchette, the parliamentary budget officer, estimated the CSC program would cost $61.82 billion. He also warned that every year the awarding of the contract is delayed beyond 2018, taxpayers will spend an extra $3 billion because of inflation.

The surface combatant will be the backbone of the future Royal Canadian Navy.

In November in a surprise twist a French-Italian consortium declined to formally submit a bid and instead offered Canada a fleet of vessels at half the price.

Officials with Fincantieri of Italy and Naval Group of France said they don’t believe the procurement process as it is currently designed will be successful.

Instead they provided the Canadian government with a direct proposal that Irving Shipbuilding on the east coast construct 15 ships based on the consortium’s FREMM frigate design, which is proven and is currently in operation with the French and Italian navies. They are guaranteeing the cost of the ships at a fixed price of $30 billion.

The deal would have also focused on using Canadian technology on board the ships and included technology transfer to Canadian firms, so they could be involved in future sales of the FREMM vessels on the international market.

FREMM ships are operated by the Italian, French, Moroccan and Egyptian navies.

Under that plan, Irving could start building the warships almost immediately.

The Liberal government, however, rejected the deal.

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Jura said:

the latest on the frigates was ... Dec 29, 2017 and
New Canadian warship project off to rocky start as bidders fail to meet some requirements

Last Updated: April 15, 2018

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n December Fincantieri of Italy and Naval Group of France decided not to bid on the Canadian Surface Combatant project. Instead, they offered the Canadian government a direct proposal that would see the the companies build 15 of the consortium’s FREMM frigates at a fixed price of roughly $30 billion.

The Liberal government rejected the offer.

Fincantieri and Naval Group knew they were taking a chance when they passed on the formal bidding process for the CSC. Sources close to the European companies said at the time they felt they didn’t have anything to lose. They alleged the Canadian competition was skewed to favour a bid by Lockheed Martin Canada and the British firm BAE which would see Canada buying the Type 26 frigate BAE is building for Britain’s navy.

The Canadian government had originally asked for only bids featuring proven ship designs. But it later changed those parameters to allow a bid from BAE, though the Type 26 was at the time still on the drawing board.

Giuseppe Bono, the CEO of Fincantieri, recently told my colleagues at the U.S. publication Defense News of another concern that led to the decision not to bid on the CSC. Bono said that the firms were willing to turn over their sensitive technical data to the Canadian government but that they drew the line at providing the proprietary information to Irving and its team.

“We said we were prepared to give the information to the Canadian government but not to a rival company if we didn’t know if we were going to win the bid or not,” Bono said.

Fincantieri and Naval Group, along with other companies, have voiced concerns about Irving’s alliance with the U.S. firm, Gibbs and Cox, a top U.S. naval architecture firm that designs surface warships. Gibbs and Cox is also the main competitor for many companies – including Fincantieri and Naval Group – pursuing ship contracts around the world.

Irving, however, has rejected such concerns and has stated it is committed to protecting any sensitive data provided by companies bidding on CSC.

But Fincantieri and Naval Group weren’t buying that reassurance.

The firms still have their proposal ready in case the Canadian procurement falls apart and the federal government decides on a different course of action.

In February, the U.S. Navy named the FREMM design as one of five it could consider for its future frigate program and has provided Fincantieri $15 million to look at a design concept.

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Jura said:

Monday at 7:18 AM
now
Firms didn’t bid on Canadian Surface Combatant because of concerns about technical data, says executive

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There have been a lot of questions about how much the Canadian Surface Combatant fleet, to be built by Irving shipyards, will cost taxpayers. The budget for the Canadian Surface Combatant project is estimated by the federal government to be between $55 billion and $60 billion. That is a range but specific costs won’t be known until contacts are signed and more details worked out. Fifteen warships will be built.

Pat Finn, the Assistant Deputy Minister for Materiel at the Department of National Defence, has provided Defence Watch with a rough breakdown of how that money would be spent. He noted the following:

Construction of the ships – 50 to 60 per cent of the budget

Integrated logistics support (includes spare parts, technical data package, training, ammunition) – 20-25 per cent of budget

Infrastructure (construction of jetties, upgrades to existing docks) – 5 per cent

Project office cost over the life of the program (salaries for staff, travel, etc.) – 5 per cent

Contingency fund – (fluctuations in exchange rates, other unforeseen issues) – 10 to 15 per cent

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Jura said:

Apr 20, 2018
and to disinterest of this thread (LOL) ...

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One of the top contenders in Canada’s new frigate program – a ship now being built for the United Kingdom – won’t be operational for the Royal Navy until 2027.

BAE’s Type 26 frigate has been ordered by the United Kingdom and the cutting of steel started last year.

But the United Kingdom’s defence procurement minister Guto Bebb has told parliamentarians that the first of those frigates won’t be delivered until 2025. Because of testing it won’t become operational until 2027, the minister added.

The Type 26 design has been submitted to Canada for its Canadian Surface Combatant program and is one of three contenders. Construction on the Canadian frigate program to start in the early 2020s.

That raises the possibility, say industry insiders, that Canada could be the first nation to acquire the Type 26 and put it to sea.

Being the first to deploy a new class of warships, however, comes with associated issues of working through the initial problems of new vessels.

That, however, is what the Canadian government had hoped to avoid with its CSC program. It originally stated that only mature ships or proven designs would be considered.

But the Liberal government inexplicably retreated on that stipulation and allowed the Type 26 design to be entered even though the vessel had not been built yet.

That, in turn, sparked a belief in some quarters of industry that the fix is in for BAE’s Type 26. The federal government has denied that.

Lockheed Martin Canada is leading the consortium that has proposed the Type 26. A company spokesperson said the progress of the British program will not have an impact on CSC.

“Our CSC bid meets or exceeds all requirements and this does not impact our bid in any manner,” the spokesperson noted in an email to Defence Watch. “Our CSC bid does not rely upon the T26 becoming operational before 2027.”

Some industry officials have also suggested that the 2027 date won’t be an issue because they expect the CSC to fall significantly schedule. By the time CSC gets really underway, the Type 26 will be ready.

The Canadian Surface Combatant program will cost between $55 billion and $60 billion. Fifteen ships will be eventually built. Three consortiums have bid on the program.

A contract for the CSC is expected to be awarded by the end of this year, said Pat Finn, assistant deputy minister for materiel at the Department of National Defence.

About half of the cost of the surface combatant price-tag is for systems and equipment that will go on the 15 ships, according to federal documents obtained by Postmedia through the Access the Information law. “Approximately one-half of the CSC build cost is comprised of labour in the (Irving’s) Halifax yard and materials,” the documents added.

Last year, Jean-Denis Fréchette, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, estimated the CSC program

would cost $61.82 billion. He also warned that every year the awarding of the contract is delayed beyond 2018, taxpayers will spend an extra $3 billion because of inflation.

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Sikorsky’s pitch for Canada: Our new helos are cheaper than upgrading yours
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Indian technicians work in the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter cabin manufacturing facility at Tata Advanced Systems Limited in Hyderabad on April 2, 2012. (Noah Seelam/AFP via Getty Images)

VICTORIA, British Columbia ― Sikorsky plans to offer Canada its S-92 civilian helicopter for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s search and rescue operations, hoping to make a case that it’s cheaper to buy new rather than upgrade the existing fleet of Leonardo’s Cormorant rotary aircraft.

The Royal Canadian Air Force is currently introducing into service the Cyclone maritime helicopter, a military variant of Sikorsky’s S-92. It also operates a fleet of 14 Cormorants for search and rescue. That helicopter, a variant of the EH-101, is built by Leonardo, formerly AgustaWestland.

The service is now working on a project to modernize its search and rescue fleet, but it has yet to decide whether to buy new aircraft or upgrade the Cormorants. Depending on its decision, the cost of the project would range from CA$500 million to CA$1.5 billion (U.S. $391 million to U.S. $1.2 billion)

Alaska Air National Guard and Royal Canadian Air Force search and rescue personnel wait for a Canadian CH-149 Cormorant helicopter from 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron to land to extract simulated casualties during exercise Arctic Chinook, near Kotzebue, Alaska, on Aug. 24, 2016. (Staff Sgt. Edward Eagerton/U.S. Air National Guard)
Nathalie Previte, Sikorsky’s vice president for strategy and business development, said the firm is hopeful Canada will hold a competition for rotary search and rescue. A Sikorsky bid would involve the S-92 in a search and rescue configuration, supported by in-service support from Canadian firms.



“Our value proposition would be focused on providing a solution that is more affordable at acquisition and throughout the entirety of the lifecycle,” Previte said in an email.

Sikorksy officials say the S-92 has a high mission-readiness rate, the latest in de-icing technology and can operate in extreme temperature conditions. S-92s are used for search and rescue by the Irish Coast Guard and for similar duties in the United Kingdom. The South Korean Coast Guard also operates the S-92 for search and rescue and other missions.

Leonardo has proposed to the Air Force that it modernize the existing 14 Cormorants. In addition, it has suggested that seven of the nine presidential VH-71 helicopters, purchased from the U.S. in 2011 for spare parts, could be put into service for search and rescue operations. The VH-71 is a variant of the company’s EH-101 helicopter.

Air Force spokesman Maj. Scott Spurr said the service is close to deciding how to proceed on the helicopters. “The project team is currently finalizing the options analysis phase, which will identify a preferred option,” Spurr said.

No date was provided on when that preferred option would be identified.

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Jura said:

LOL I don't follow auxiliary vessels but that one attracted my interest:

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New cost for Joint Support Ship to be released next year - $2.3 billion not enough
Last Updated: October 6, 2017 9:37 AM EDT

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Taxpayers will have to spend $1.1 billion extra on new navy supply ships that are going to be built starting this summer, the Liberal government now acknowledges.

Previously the cost of building the two ships at Seaspan shipyards in Vancouver, BC had been pegged at $2.3 billion.

But the government ordered a review of that cost figure and in an email to Postmedia, Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough’s office now confirms the cost for the Joint Support Ships, or JSS, is set at $3.4 billion.

Pat Finn, the head of procurement at the Department of National Defence, said the new price tag came as the government decided to do an additional analysis of the project and include other items it had not previously included.

In some cases equipment for the ship has been purchased so there are better costs available on those items, Finn said in an interview Monday. Also taken into account was new infrastructure and the delays with the program, which, in turn, drove up the price as the cost of material increased over the years.

“The build period has changed quite dramatically,” Finn acknowledged.

At one point, the first ship was supposed to arrive in 2012. That has been changed a number of times with the government later hoping for a 2018 delivery and then a 2019 arrival for the first vessel.

The Department of National Defence is now hoping for the delivery of the first ship in 2022 or 2023. Construction will begin at Seaspan this summer of some initial portions of the vessels, Finn said.

The government hopes starting construction on the supply ships in the summer will head off any potential layoffs of skilled employees at Seaspan.

Finn said of the $3.4 billion figure, the actual cost of building the two ships accounts for a little more than 60 per cent.

Finn said the new costing model for the JSS is more akin to the one used by the parliamentary budget office. That office had an even higher estimate for JSS when it concluded in 2013 that the final tally for taxpayers would be $4.13 billion.

The Joint Support Ships are critical for the navy as they provide fuel and supplies for warships at sea.

But the Royal Canadian Navy retired its last two aging supply ships years ago. One was damaged beyond repair in a fire. The other was removed from service because of excessive corrosion. The Canadian military had been relying on the Spanish and Chilean navies to provide supply vessels for short periods of time to help fuel up Canadian warships at sea.

Because of the delays in the JSS program, the previous Conservative government entered into agreement with Davie Shipyards in Quebec to lease a commercial vessel that had been converted into a refueling and supply ship.

That ship, the MV Asterix, is at the heart of federal government’s case against Vice Admiral Mark Norman. Norman has been accused by the RCMP of warning Davie in the fall of 2015 that Liberal cabinet ministers wanted to derail the Asterix project.

Word of the Liberal plan leaked out to the news media and the resulting embarrassment forced the Trudeau government to back down on its plans and the conversion of Asterix proceeded.

Norman was put under investigation and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau predicted on two occasions the officer would ultimately end up in court.

In March, the RCMP charged Norman with a single count of breach of trust. A date for the trial has not yet been set.

Norman denies the charge and has said he looks forward to clearing his name.

Asterix is considered a rare achievement in Canadian military procurement in that it was delivered on time and on budget. The supply ship is now at sea with Royal Canadian Navy and is headed to a major military exercise to begin later this month.

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Jura said:

according to The Guardian Canada to buy fleet of 30-year-old fighter jets from Australia in snub to US

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Procurement minister Carla Qualtrough said at the CANSEC military equipment trade show last week that she expects the first two used Australian F-18s to be delivered in 2019.

But she told journalists that she still doesn’t have a final cost for taxpayers for the deal of the 18 used aircraft, spares, weapons and other related equipment. The Liberal government has set aside up to $500 million for the purchase.

Qualtrough said negotiations are still ongoing so she won’t have a final tally until later.

Pat Finn, the Department of National Defence’s assistant deputy minister of materiel, recently noted that the Canadian government has received what’s called a letter of cost proposal on the proposed sale. He expects that a deal will be in place by the end of the year with deliveries to begin in the summer of 2019.

The Liberal government originally planned for the arrival of the first used aircraft in January 2019.

Australia needs the approval of the U.S. State Department to transfer the aircraft to Canada. Approval is needed because the F-18s were built in the U.S. with American technology.

The federal government has confirmed that the Australian aircraft will be operating alongside the RACF’s other CF-18s at Bagotville, Que., and Cold Lake, Alberta. “The aircraft will be employed at 3 Wing Bagotville and 4 Wing Cold Lake,” the government noted earlier this year. “DND is currently reviewing infrastructure requirements to accommodate the additional aircraft. Any modifications are expected to be minimal as the supplemental jets are of similar age and design to the CF-18.”

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