The Canadian navy has found a very creative way to keep its second-hand submarines afloat until the late 2030s and early 2040s — a plan that emphasizes maintenance over age in predicting how long the vessels can remain seaworthy.
The plan — according to a newly-released briefing note prepared in the run-up to the release of the Liberal government's marquee defence policy — would not see HMCS Victoria decommissioned until the end of 2042, giving the warship over 45 years service in Canada.
That estimate does not include the time the boat served with Britain's Royal Navy, which would add at least a decade to its working life.
The retirements of the other submarines — HMCS Chicoutimi, HMCS Windsor and HMCS Corner Brook — would be staggered throughout the 2030s, with Windsor being the first to go in 2033.
"The [Victoria Class Submarines] are a well-designed and solidly constructed class of modern conventional submarines that have had an unusual life since entering service with the [Royal Navy] in the early 1990s," said the August 2016 briefing analysis, recently obtained by Conservative Party researchers. "'While chronologically 20 years older, they have not been operated extensively during that time."
The boats were first constructed for the Royal Navy in the 1980s, but Britain decided to sell them when the government of the day made the policy decision to operate only nuclear-powered submarines.
One aspect of the Liberal defence policy, released in June 2017, that has puzzled military experts and opposition critics alike was its assumption that the submarines — which have had a tortured technical history that includes one fatal fire — will remain in service until at least the 2040s.
The briefing note spells out in detail — and for the first time publicly — how the navy intends to squeeze more life out of boats it was supposed to start retiring in four years.
It was originally envisioned, the briefing said, that the Victoria-Class submarines would retire one at a time, beginning in 2024.
he report argues it is possible to operate the submarines beyond their expected working lives if the military assesses the "material state" of each boat rather than following "a simplistic calendar driven" evaluation of their operational condition.
In others words, the report argues that what matters most is not how old the submarines are, but rather how hard have they been driven and how well have they been maintained.
The submarines operate on what's called a "6-2 schedule" — six years of service at sea followed by two years of deep maintenance before returning to duty.
The briefing note proposes that the boats do nine years of service and then go into a longer refurbishment of up to three years. The submarines would need a full life-extension overhaul in addition to the extended maintenance plan.
As evidence to support the plan, the briefing note to senior defence officials pointed to a 2013 study of the Victoria-Class submarines — which said that "although there are numerous technical and supportability challenges, there was no single obstacle precluding a life extension of up to 12 years."
The briefing offers one note of caution, however: "It is reasonable to assume that operational availability will decrease as the submarine ages."
The briefing note predicted higher maintenance and sustainment costs as the boats get older. To save money, it said, the navy might have to lower expectations of what the boats can do.
The existing plan "assumed that there would be no relaxation of operational performance requirements, although in fact some discretion by the Operational Requirements Authority in this regard may be feasible as a cost saving measure," said the note.
Conservative defence critic James Bezan said he was astounded by the plan to stretch out the operational life of the subs. He said he doesn't blame the naval planners who drew up the document — but he does hold the Liberal government accountable, arguing it must have ordered the Department of National Defence to give it some justification for putting off the purchase of new submarines.
"It is ridiculous," Bezan said. "There was potential for some political direction on how this was written."
In an interview with CBC News at the end of last year, the commander of the navy, Vice-Admiral Art McDonald, defended the plan to extend the life of the boats, saying he had full confidence in the "pretty resourceful and capable" submarine engineering community.
The defence policy, he said, "directed us to operate and modernize" the submarine fleet and he's confident it can be done safely.
"We know there is still excellent life in the Victoria-class submarine," McDonald told CBC News. "I've seen that personally as an outsider who has come into the program and taken a look at it."
The focus of the subs' modernization project — which was in the early stages of being developed when the pandemic hit back in late winter — will be on survivability and making the submarines more livable for crew members.
"We're going to be able to operate those boats into the 2030s, but to do that we have to continue with the routine investments we've made and modernize, as was directed" by the defence policy, McDonald said.
A series of assessments was conducted between 2008 and 2014. The defence department's naval board, which is charged with planning the future shape of the fleet, met in November 2014 to study the life expectancy of the second-hand boats.
"While it is considered unrealistic to predict the material state of 40-year-old platforms, 20 years into the future, certain items such as the pressure hull and main motor will require additional monitoring and maintenance above the current regime, since unpredicted degradation in such areas may not be cost effective to repair and mitigate," said the 2016 briefing note.
And that's the problem with the life-extension plan, said Bezan: some key parts of a submarine — such as the pressure hull and the engines — can't be upgraded. He also pointed to how the submarine fleet had "zero days at sea" in 2019 because all of the vessels were tied up for maintenance.
The analysis, Bezan said, shows that the Liberal government should immediately begin looking for a replacement for the submarines — something the previous Conservative government was in the process of doing when it was defeated in 2015.
The options that were discussed before the election, he said, included partnering with the Australians — who were in the process of acquiring their own submarine replacements — or buying an off-the-shelf design for inclusion in the federal shipbuilding strategy. None of those ideas got very far before the election, he added.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadian-forces-navy-submarine-1.5665020
April 26, 2021 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
The pandemic has also made it more difficult to source spare parts and conduct other maintenance activities on the air force's various fleets.
November 3, 2020 | Local, Aerospace, Security
Posted on November 3, 2020; Leonardo Press Release The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) has been operating the AW101/CH-149 Cormorant since 2001 undertaking thousands of lifesaving search and rescue (SAR) missions in the most extreme and harsh environmental conditions, from coast-to-coast. The Cormorant Mid-Life Upgrade (CMLU) Project is included in Canada's Strong, Secure and Engaged (SSE) Defence Policy as a key defence procurement program, and is currently in the “Definition Phase.” The CMLU Project will: Extend the life of the Cormorant helicopter until 2040 and beyond; Return the Cormorant fleet to Canadian Forces Base Trenton as the primary SAR helicopter; Provide enhanced aircraft flight management, communication and navigation systems, complying with latest regulations; Address existing and projected obsolescence while incorporating maintainability and reliability enhancements; Introduce modern SAR mission sensors; Ensure there is no disruption to Cormorant Rotary-Wing SAR capability during the Project; Deliver Industrial Technological Benefits to Canadian companies. The CMLU solution will leverage the existing design and development work undertaken by Leonardo on the latest generation of the AW101 – the Norwegian All Weather Search and Rescue Helicopter (NAWSARH) – which is currently being delivered to Norway. Dominic Howe, Head of International Campaigns – America and Canada at Leonardo Helicopters, said, “From the outset we have proposed a low risk upgrade solution utilizing an existing design which will provide the RCAF with much greater SAR capability and provide greater peace of mind to all Canadians across Canada.” The CMLU Project includes augmentation of the fleet with a minimum of two additional helicopters enabling the return of the Cormorant helicopter to the Trenton Main Operating Base which covers the Great Lakes region. The CMLU Project will include state-of-the-art avionics, a new glass cockpit, the addition of the latest SAR sensors including a surveillance radar, Electro Optical Infra-Red device, more powerful digitally-controlled engines, wireless in-cabin communications, LED lighting, rescue hoist upgrades, synthetic training solutions from CAE which include: a training centre, Full Mission Simulator and Rear Crew Trainer, among others. This isn't a development program – it's using Commercial Off-The-Shelf technology,” said Howe. “This is utilizing the design and development undertaken for the NAWSARH project which will provide Canada with a low risk, and value for money solution; it also provides long-term benefits with a drive towards a standardized common configuration across multiple AW101 operators.” Leonardo and its Team Cormorant partners: IMP Aerospace, CAE, GE Canada and Collins Aerospace will provide significant Industrial Technological Benefits with a strong Value Proposition and the provision of long-term Canadian employment – with Leonardo transferring knowledge and technology enabling the vast majority of the CMLU work to be performed in Canada by Canadians. Howe commented, “The significant capability the CMLU Project will deliver, through the introduction of the surveillance radar, EO/IR device, the Mobile Phone Detection and Localization System and other updated systems, will ensure less search and more rescue.” https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/cormorant-mid-life-upgrade-project-less-search-more-rescue
September 25, 2018 | Local, Aerospace
By: Frank Jordans, The Associated Press BERLIN — Germany is looking to sell a secondhand surveillance drone that has cost the country more than 700 million euros ($823 million) to Canada — without many core components it needs to fly. A defense ministry reply to lawmakers from the opposition Left Party states that Germany has decided to "begin concrete negotiations with Canada for the sale of the Euro Hawk aircraft, two ground stations and possibly certain spare parts." The government response, dated Sept. 19 and obtained by The Associated Press, adds that Germany isn't currently in talks with any other country or organization about the sale of the drone. In a statement Monday, Germany's defense ministry confirmed talks with Canada were planned, but declined to comment on a possible sales price or date. Officials at the Canadian Embassy in Berlin weren't immediately able to comment. Germany ordered the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk variant in 2000 to use for long-distance reconnaissance, but later canceled the order because of skyrocketing costs and revelations that the prototype wouldn't be certified to fly in Europe. Then-Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere acknowledged in 2013 that the drone was a write-off, telling lawmakers it was better to have a "horrible end than a horror without end." Last year, the government acknowledged that the development and procurement of the prototype, a signals-intelligence sensor called "ISIS" and spare parts, and the completion of seven test flights had cost about 681 million euros since 2007. A further 24 million euros were spent on preparing for a resumption of temporary test flights. According to the government's latest response to Left Party lawmakers, which hasn't been published yet, the drone has already been "demilitarized." This entailed the removal of American-made radio equipment, the GPS receiver and aerials, as well as all encryption and the flight control system. Rather than laboriously delete individual software components, technicians chose to perform a "hardware uninstallation" — removing all hard drives containing sensitive U.S.-made software. "The question is what a buyer would do with such a gutted aircraft," said Thomas Wiegold, a German journalist who runs the defense website Augen Geradeaus . "Without GPS navigation and in particular without flight control systems, the drone would hardly be able to fly." Andrej Hunko, one of the Left Party lawmakers who submitted questions to the government, said the drone now only has "scrap value." "The sale will therefore recoup at best a small portion of the tax money spent," he said. "I expect the loss will amount to several hundred million euros (dollars)." Hunko, whose party objects to airborne military surveillance, said the drone's ground stations might still fetch a market price. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/09/24/germany-looking-to-sell-costly-rarely-used-drone-to-canada