The arms race unleashed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seems to affect every country in the West, including “peaceful” Canada, which has decided to replace the four British-made submarines it bought in 1999. “Ottawa Citizen” magazine, Citing sources from the military industry and the sector itself, reports that the Royal Canadian Navy has shown interest in buying 12 new submarines at a cost of at least 60,000 million dollars, a figure that could reach 100,000 million.
The English submersibles in service were old and, for many situations, practically useless. In fact, the United Kingdom sold them to them for 750 million dollars after they were rejected by Pakistan, Portugal and Chile. They were so bad that they have spent more time in dry dock than in the water. Ottawa has been forced to invest billions of dollars in the fleet for more than two decades to address various problems and incidents, such as fires and faulty welds. Several accidents also occurred during military operations and sea trials.
Already in the year 1987, The Canadian Government’s White Paper on Defense recommended the purchase of 12 nuclear-powered submarines capable of navigating under ice and defend its sovereignty in the Arctic region. However, the proposal was abandoned due to significant opposition from both public opinion and the media, because they rejected the nuclear option and the enormous expense that it would entail.
In this situation, Canada went for the option of the four old British diesel-electric Victoria class submarines(Upholder/Victory class/Type 2400 submarines). Due to recurring technical problems, these submarines have spent more time at dock or in dry dock than at sea, despite significant maintenance expenses. In 2004, one of these aging submarines caught fire on its maiden transatlantic voyage, killing one crew and injuring several. It was not reintroduced until 2015. In 2017, these submarines averaged approximately twenty days at sea.
Since then, according to the media “Frontier India”, the situation has improved, with a new funding effort of 1.9 billion dollars and the submersibles spent 529 days at sea, although the Canadian Defense Department itself reported that they were not they conducted submarine operations in 2019 or 2020.
Arrived at this point, the need for submarines remained unsatisfied. In 2017, a Canadian parliamentary report revived the need to acquire the 12 units initially planned but, in this case, with conventional propulsion. The goal is to contribute to “high-level NATO operations,” the report argued. The report therefore advocated implementing a procurement procedure similar to that of Australia, which had just selected Naval Group to provide the Royal Australian Navy with 12 Shortfin Barracudas, with industrial and technological transfers to the key.
The Royal Canadian Navy intends to take advantage of Canada’s ongoing defense policy review to at least replace its four Victoria-class submarines. at a time when China is investing heavily in its submarine capabilities, as is Russia, whose submersibles are increasingly conducting patrols in the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean.
In July 2021, the Canadian government also started a program called the “Canadian Patrol Submarine Project” to analyze the available options and determine its specific needs thoroughly.
The Navy urges the government to include submarine acquisition in its revised defense policy. The newspaper reports that at a defense conference in Ottawa last month, Defense Chief of Staff General Wayne Eyre declared that he would defend the submarines on behalf of the Navy.
The Canadian Ministry of Defense did not accept this proposal when requested. According to him, submarines are one of Canada’s most important strategic assets for providing surveillance on Canadian and international waterways, especially in near-Arctic waters.
However, considering that implementing such a strategy could take up to fifteen years, the decision to launch such a program should be made as quickly as possible. In a difficult economic and social environment, the goal is to make it acceptable to the people of Canada.
Rob Huebert of the University of Calgary opined in the pages of the “National Post” that Canada’s current financial situation is increasingly precarious. He also believes that the Trudeau administration will “sweep this matter under the rug.”
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