By David Pugliese
Work is starting on the country’s newest warship fleet – the Canadian Surface Combatant – with the building of a test module to further refine construction techniques.
The announcement in late June focused largely on federal government messaging about the naming of the class- going forward the CSC will be known as the River-class.
The CSC is based on BAE Systems’ Type 26 warship design also being built by the United Kingdom and Australia.
The official NATO Ship Designator for the River-class warship will be DDGH – a destroyer (DD), guided (G) missile, helicopter (H) capable, according to National Defence. As the Royal Canadian Navy’s next generation combat ship, the CSC replaces both the Iroquois-class destroyers and the Halifax-class frigates.
The official announcement by Defence Minister Bill Blair and Royal Canadian Navy commander Vice Admiral Angus Topshee focused on the positive, pointing out numbers of jobs linked to the CSC project and the importance of the new class of ships. Blair and Topshee also announced the names of the first three ships. Those are -His Majesty’s Canadian Ships Fraser, Saint-Laurent, and Mackenzie.
But a technical briefing the day before by senior government officials, as well as documents obtained by Esprit de Corps, outline more specific details while at the same time raising questions about the CSC project. (Under the rules imposed by the Department of National Defence, reporters can only identify the individuals doing the briefing as “senior government officials” although they are actually the key players at Public Services and Procurement Canada, DND/RCN for the CSC program).
Among the points raised:
--Because of the aging Halifax-class frigates and increasing maintenance costs for those vessels, the senior government officials said getting quick delivery of the new CSC is of “vital importance.”
But at the same time they also revealed the rather slow production schedule at Irving Shipbuilding for the River-class line. Nine ships will be delivered by 2040. The last ship, the 15th, won’t be delivered until 2050.
--Officially, delivery of the first River-class destroyer, HMCS Fraser, is expected in the “early 2030s,” according to the government. But National Defence documents obtained by Esprit de Corps noted that the first CSC will be delivered in 2033 with the RCN hoping for initial operating capability in 2034. No explanation has been provided on why DND and PSPC officials haven’t been more forthcoming with journalists on the actual delivery date.
--Because of the lengthy delivery schedule, the Halifax-class frigates will stay in operation longer than anticipated. That will require more upgrades to be done to the Halifax-class but no details on when that will happen or how that will cost were provided by the officials.
--Even though construction of CSC is beginning, government officials acknowledged they don’t have a final cost for the project. They also still don’t have a final design. Ship designed started in February 2019 and The preliminary design review was completed in December 2022. But work continues. An implementation contract is to be signed in late 2024 or early 2025, allowing for full rate production on the first CSC ship next year.
--Government officials pushed the message, repeatedly, that there have been no changes to operational requirements for the CSC. While that is true, there have been design changes or as the government officials like to state, “equipment modifications.” That, in particular, has meant changes in weapons and the Combat Management System.
--There has been a reduction in weapons on the CSC. When the RCN originally highlighted the CSC in its “Right ship for Canada” public relations campaign, the service noted that there would be 32 Missile Vertical Launch Systems on each combatant. Now, that has been reduced to 24. No explanation was provided.
-The main gun system is the Leonardo 127-mm Vulcano. In 2021, Leonardo announced it had been awarded a contract to supply to Lockheed Martin four OTO 127/64 LW Vulcano naval guns for the CSC.
In 2019 news outlets reported on an industry-produced document from Raytheon that had been submitted to DND. CBC reported that the briefing raised concerns about the RCN’s choice of a main gun for the CSC — a 127 millimetre MK 45 described in the document as 30-year-old technology that will soon be obsolete and cannot fire precision-guided shells.
National Defence immediately countered that the briefing was from industry who had been passed over for the main contract. "It is not uncommon for companies to present unsolicited material to our department when they are unsuccessful in a competitive process," department spokesman Andrew McKelvey said at the time.
Then RCN commander Vice-Admiral Art McDonald pointed out that DND was already aware of the Vulcano and stood by its decision to select the MK 45. "We did our homework,” he explained. “We talked to other navies. We engaged our allies."
Less than two years later the MK45 was out and the Vulcano was in.
--The CSC was supposed to be equipped CMS (Combat Management System) 330. CMS 330 was developed in Canada, for the Royal Canadian Navy and, according to Lockheed Martin Canada” is now a globally sought after product. It has created and sustained economic opportunities in communities across the country, where a number of jobs are supported in Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and Victoria through the software and hardware design, engineering, production, and testing of the advanced technology.”
CMS 330 was developed as a result of 30 plus years’ experience and knowledge of Canadian and NATO naval operations, the firm added. In 2008, Lockheed Martin Canada was selected to design this system as part of the Halifax-Class Modernization project. “CMS 330 is not only proving itself on Canada’s HALIFAX Class Frigates, but it is also the backbone of the technical solution for the Royal New Zealand Navy’s ANZAC Frigate System Upgrade, as well as the command and surveillance management system for Canada’s new Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS),” according to Lockheed Martin Canada.
CMS-330 is also considered an affordable and flexible solution with low life-cycle costs. It is an open-architecture based system which adapts to a variety of subsystems, reducing risk and ensuring delivery of unique customer requirements. A ITAR-free CMS design allows the international customer to manage and exploit its full range of capabilities and advantages without restriction, Lockheed Martin noted.
But CMS 330 has been dropped in favour of the U.S. Aegis Combat System with the 3D AESA SPY-7 radar. No official explanation has been provided for dropping the unique Canadian-built CMS.
But using Aegis will allow the RCN to integrate better into the U.S. Navy system, although it will make Canada beholding to U.S. control over any upgrades and modernization. That is good news for U.S. companies but maybe not so great for Canadian taxpayers.
--Originally the CSC program had the Sea Ceptor for Close-In Air Defence. Sea Ceptor, from the European consortium MBDA, is the next-generation, ship-based, all-weather, air defence weapon system. It was recently used in combat in the Red Sea to deal with drones. The weapon system is now in full-scale development for the UK MOD as the principal air defence capability for the Royal Navy’s Type 23 and Type 26 frigates.
But for the CSC, Sea Ceptor is out and an American-made missile system is in. No explanation was provided as to why Canada has now selected the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) built by Raytheon. But there are reports that the RIM-116 will be cheaper as it is used by the USN and other navies.
--The crew size will be reduced. Halifax class frigates have a 250 person crew, the CSC will have 210.
--As outlined previously, the weight of the ship has increased by 800 tonnes. Displacement is now 8080 tonnes. There will be increased costs in infrastructure and operations because of the increased weight but government officials acknowledged they don’t have specifics yet. In contrast a Halifax-class frigate is 4,830 tonnes.
-A Land Based Test Facility for the CSC is supposed to be up and running in 2027 and fully operational in 2029.
OTHER FACTORS
COST
The project has already faced significant increases in cost from the original estimated price tag of $26 billion. Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux now estimates the cost of the ships to be around $84 billion.
A Conservative government started the surface combatant project to replace the current fleet of Halifax-class frigates, but in 2015 the Conservatives acknowledged the cost was increasing and the program might have to be scaled back.
The Liberal government elected that year, however, reaffirmed the commitment to the CSC project and acquiring all 15 ships.
National Defence remains steadfast it will not alter course and that the project is a success so far.
National Defence had maintained the cost will be between $56 billion and $60 billion. The government will have more insight on the actual cost when it signs a contract with the builders later this year or in early 2025.
But a former procurement chief for National Defence said moving forward on such an expensive program without having a final design for the ship or actual cost is folly. “That’s a recipe for disaster,” said Alan Williams, former assistant deputy minister of materiel at National Defence. “After all these years they still don’t know how much this will cost or the actual design of the ship.”
Conservative MP Kelly McCauley said he and other MPs believed the construction of the CSC alone would eventually cost more than $100 billion.
In a cost update released in October 2022, PBO Giroux also outlined the life-cycle cost for the ships, putting that at $306 billion. That last figure is a significant leap; in 2013, the auditor general’s office noted that figure would be $64 billion over 30 years. “Every time we look at this (project), the costs go up,” Giroux noted.
SCHEDULE
The first completed CSC was originally to have been delivered in the early 2020s. But in February 2021, National Defence admitted the delivery of the first vessel wouldn’t take place until 2030 or 2031. Now that won’t take place until 2033 and it is possible more delays could follow.
AOPS TEST RUN
In an April 8, 2024 appearance before the Senate defence committee, National Defence procurement chief Troy Crosby pointed to ongoing problems with the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships being built for the Royal Canadian Navy. He testified that National Defence’s handlings of those problems “gives me great confidence in our ability to take on the much more complex delivery of the Canadian Surface Combatant in the coming years.”
At the June 28, 2024 CSC news conference Shannon Sampson, President of Marine Workers Federation Local 1 which represents the shipbuilders of Irving’s Halifax Shipyard, noted the efforts on AOPS. “We are now achieving the highest standard of quality,” she added. “It’s an opportunity to show the world what Canadian shipbuilding is capable of,” she said of CSC.
But critics have questioned Sampson’s claim of high standards, noting that AOPS is facing a number of significant technical and mechanical flaws that go beyond what would normally be acceptable in a new class of ship. The Royal Canadian Navy is trying to fix a series of problems on its Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships including anchors that aren’t effective, a refueling system that’s too heavy to use, and areas on the vessels that are leaking. In addition, the AOPS can’t perform emergency towing as was required in the original contract and some cranes on the vessels are inoperable, National Defence confirmed.
EXTRA MONEY FOR IRVING
In summer 2023 the federal government announced it was providing an extra $463 million to Irving Shipbuilding is to allow the firm to modernize its Halifax-area facilities so the company can build the Canadian Surface Combatants. That money, however, marks a significant reversal in the government’s official National Shipbuilding Strategy.
Irving’s shipyard was selected in 2011 as the winner of a multi-billion dollar program to construct the country’s new fleets of warships. Among the requirements for winning the bid was that the yard had the capability to build the vessels and taxpayers wouldn’t need to contribute funding to outfit facilities for the task. If a yard didn’t have the ability to build the CSC, it wouldn’t get the contract.
But, according to the government news release from last year, the new influx of money to Irving “will enhance the efficiency of ship construction while improving project costs and delivering best value for Canadians.”
Last summer in defending the decision by the Liberal government to give one of the richest families in Canada the extra $463 million, Sampson wrote that, “We don’t have the luxury of more time when it comes to building the CSC and I believe the path we’re on today is the fastest way to replace them.”
That claim, however, sparked a backlash on social media with people pointing out the ballooning CSC costs and the 25-year build schedule. They noted that shipyards in other nations are building similar warships at significantly less cost and more quickly.
