Canada is starting construction on its next fleet of warships before knowing the full price and technical details. The first destroyers of the new generation are expected to be delivered by 2035, with the last ones due no later than 2050.
It is “the largest Canadian shipbuilding project since the Second World War, marking a historic milestone for the Royal Canadian Navy,” Defence Minister Bill Blair said Friday.
In a world that is becoming increasingly conflictual, the federal government wants to get ahead of the game by immediately starting production of steel sheets for ships.
Despite a grand announcement by the minister and representatives of the Irving shipyard in Halifax, the final contract between Ottawa and the company has still not been signed and the details of the design have still not been finalized.
Government officials do not calculate the program the same way as the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO): the former predicts between $57 billion and $60 billion for the fifteen ships. The latter believes instead that the bill could exceed $84 billion, according to a report dated 2022.
The contract signing could take place by the end of the year, or even next year.
“Rivers and streams”
These fifteen 8,000-ton sea monsters, technically known as Canadian Surface Combatants (CSCS), will be part of the future “River” class of the Canadian Navy.
The first three copies will be named Saint Laurent, Fraser et Mackenziein honour of great Canadian rivers and former warships used by the Canadian military during the Second World War.
Openly “inspired” by models produced by the British BAE, “these ships will be equipped with advanced underwater sensors, cutting-edge radars and modern weapons systems.”
The NCSCs will also be equipped with guided missiles and the capacity to accommodate helicopters. They will gradually replace the Iroquois-class destroyers and the Halifax-class frigates.
Icebreakers that break the wallet
It’s not just warships: building Canada’s two largest icebreakers, each over 120 metres long, could cost $8.5 billion, $1.3 billion more than the PBO’s last estimate, from 2021.
One of these two heavy icebreakers will be built at the Davie shipyard in Quebec City and should be delivered by 2032-2032, two years later than planned. Ottawa is still in negotiations with Davie for a construction schedule.
If the projects are delayed by two years, the total cost for the two ships could exceed $9 billion, according to the PBO report released last Friday.
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