Work is starting on Canada’s newest warship fleet even though government officials acknowledge they don’t have a final cost for the multi-billion dollar project or a final design.
Defence Minister Bill Blair and Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, the head of the Royal Canadian Navy, announced Friday that construction will begin for a test module for the first Canadian Surface Combatant or CSC. Eventually 15 such warships will be produced to replace the current fleet of Halifax-class frigates.
The Royal Canadian Navy is not looking at the option of nuclear submarines despite earlier suggestions by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the contrary.
The navy has been focused on the potential acquisition of convention-powered submarines for the past several years to eventually replace the existing Victoria-class submarines, according to emails from National Defence to this newspaper.
“The RCN is completing an analysis of conventional submarines that meet Canada’s requirement to patrol all three of its oceans,” National Defence spokeswoman Frédérica Dupuis confirmed in the latest email.
Bill Blair, the federal defence minister, made a rare admission of Liberal fallibility in Washington on Monday when he said he regrets using the word “explore” when talking about renewing Canada’s submarine fleet.
Ottawa’s recent defence policy update said the government will “explore options for renewing and expanding the submarine fleet,” a form of words that was criticized for lacking urgency.
“It’s certainly not my intention to be wishy-washy. What I’ve tried to articulate very, very clearly and strongly in the document is, we know we have to replace our submarine fleet, and we’re going to do that,” Blair said .
The Canadian military is weighing how many and what kind of “optionally-crewed” warships it will need in the future as drone technology and artificial intelligence change the face of naval combat, says the commander of the navy.
Vice-Admiral Angus Tophee told CBC News that while navies will always need large combat surface ships and submarines, Canada’s allies have started to experiment with automated vessels.
