December 17, 2018 | Local, Naval

‘Near total power failure’: Questions about propulsion system on new Canadian warship

The Defence department has acknowledged the government's choice for a $60-billion warship program has a propulsion system that has been plagued by problems, at times shutting down entirely while at sea.

But the department says it is confident the Type 26 ship, designed by the British firm BAE, meets all the requirements necessary for the Royal Canadian Navy's future fleet.

The acknowledgement of the problems is contained in a Department of National Defence fact sheet that outlines potential issues with the selection of Lockheed Martin Canada, with its bid of the BAE Type 26 vessel, as the “preferred bidder” for the Canadian Surface Combatant program.

That $60-billion CSC program, the largest single government purchase in Canadian history, will see the construction of 15 warships at Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax.

Among the issues addressed by the DND was an outline of some potential problems with the Type 26 warship. “The British Navy has had serious issues with the propulsion system in their BAE Type 45s, both in the generator — which has caused near-total power failures — and the engines themselves,” the DND document noted. “Given it uses the same propulsion system, will this affect the CSC too?”

But in the document, the DND also expressed confidence in the Type 26, adding that a design that didn't meet all the requirements would not have been considered. Until negotiations with the preferred bidder are completed, the DND can't discuss specific elements of the warship design, the department's response pointed out.

Over the years, the BAE Type 45 destroyers have been plagued by problems, with the propulsion system conking out during operations and exercises. In March the British government awarded a contract to BAE worth more than $200 million to fix the problems, with the first ship to be overhauled by 2021.

But a representative of the Lockheed Martin Canada-BAE team noted in an email to Postmedia that the propulsion system for the Type 26 “is fundamentally different to the Type 45 propulsion system.”

“The T26 design therefore offers more propulsion options, both mechanical and electrical, and is underpinned by a greater number of propulsion engines, providing greater redundancy,” the email noted. “We are confident that the Type 26 design is the right solution for the Royal Canadian Navy and meets the requirements for the Canadian Surface Combatant.”

Officials with the consortium expressed surprise at the suggestion the Type 45 issues could be linked to the Type 26 design.

Negotiations with Lockheed Martin Canada on the surface combatant program have already hit a roadblock after the Canadian International Trade Tribunal ordered the Canadian government on Nov. 27 to postpone the awarding of a contract while it investigates claims the Type 26 doesn't meet the military's needs.

That came after Alion, one of the firms that submitted a bid on the CSC project, filed a complaint with the trade tribunal. Alion, a U.S. firm, has also filed a legal challenge in federal court, asking for a judicial review of the decision by Irving and the Canadian government to select Lockheed Martin and the BAE design. Alion argues the Type 26 cannot meet the stated mandatory requirements, including speed, that Canada set out for the new warship and because of that should be disqualified.

Alion had offered Canada the Dutch De Zeven Provinciën Air Defence and Command frigate, which the firm says meets all of Canada's requirements.

The entry of the BAE Type 26 warship in the competition was controversial. Previously the Liberal government had said only mature existing designs or designs of ships already in service with other navies would be accepted, on the grounds they could be built faster and would be less risky. Unproven designs can face challenges as problems are found once the vessel is in the water and operating.

But that criteria was changed and the government and Irving accepted the BAE design, though at the time it existed only on the drawing board. Construction began on the first Type 26 frigate in the summer of 2017 for Britain's Royal Navy, but it has not yet been completed.

Company claims about what the Type 26 ship can do, including how fast it can go, are based on simulations or projections. The two other bidders in the Canadian program have ships actually in service with other navies so their capabilities are known.

dpugliese@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/davidpugliese

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/questions-raised-about-propulsion-system-on-new-canadian-warship-amid-fears-engines-could-conk-out

On the same subject

April 26, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

Government expects to award contract for new fighter jet fleet in 2022 (but admits it could face delays)
DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN Though the federal government expects to award a contract for a new fleet of fighter jets in 2022, it admits that schedule is aggressive and could yet face further delays. A request for bids to provide 88 new jets to the Royal Canadian Air Force will be released next month, according to a new update on major Department of National Defence projects released Wednesday, with the proposals to be evaluated by 2021 and a contract to be awarded a year later. But in the update DND also admits that timeline is tenuous. “The approved schedule is considered very aggressive,” it said. “The project team is managing a number of risks which have the potential to impact schedule.” The document doesn't outline the specific risks but DND officials have acknowledged that government negotiations with private contractors on the industrial benefits that are to be linked to the project could cause delays. The Liberals have committed to purchasing the new jets in a program expected to cost up to $19 billion. The competition was launched on Dec. 12, 2017, and Canada expects to examine four different fighter jets as candidates for the RCAF's new fleet. The project team is managing a number of risks which have the potential to impact schedule The first of the jets is expected to be delivered in the mid-2020s, with the full capability available in the early 2030s, according to the DND document. The document also outlines the plan to purchase used Australian F-18s in the interim, which the RACF will use to boost the capability of its current fleet of CF-18s until the new generation aircraft are in service. The first of the Australian jets has already been delivered, with final delivery set for the end of 2021, according to the update. However, the parliamentary budget officer has found this interim solution could cost more than $1 billion, and the auditor general's office has pointed out that the air force is lacking pilots and maintenance crews for the planes it already operates. Wednesday's DND update points out success stories as well as challenges with some of DND's multi-billion dollar projects. Some programs, such as the purchase of Chinook helicopters and tactical armoured patrol vehicles, are completed or are nearing completion with few problems. A new $2-billion program to buy heavy trucks is among those expected to be proceed without issues. Canada also expects to award a contact next year for a mid-life upgrade of the fleet of Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopters, and the conversion of former U.S. presidential helicopters so they can join the flight line for rescue operations. But the report warns there could be problems with other upcoming projects such as the purchase of a fleet of drones. It noted that there might not be enough procurement staff with the required expertise to move that program forward on schedule. The department hopes to deal with the problem by hiring contractors. A draft invitation to qualify for that project was released April 5 and a contact is expected to be awarded in 2022, the document said. The first of a fleet of new fixed-wing search-and-rescue aircraft, meanwhile, are to be delivered in December. The first plane will be sent to 19 Wing Comox, B.C. in the spring of 2020. The 16 new planes will be phased in between 2020 and 2022. But DND acknowledged it is keeping an eye on the potential that schedule could be affected because of the “complexities associated with transitioning to the new fleet while maintaining the current search and rescue posture.” In addition, DND is keeping watch on problems with its new upgraded light armoured vehicles. Though the vehicles have been delivered on time, some technical issues will be fixed through a retrofit program. There have also been problems with software design and qualification of components in another new fleet of armoured vehicles that will be used for battlefield surveillance, the first of which is to be delivered next year. The first new supply ship for the Royal Canadian Navy, being built in Vancouver, is expected in 2023 but won't be ready for operations until a year later. The delivery of the second supply ship “is currently under review,” the update added. In the meantime, the navy has access to MV Asterix, the supply ship at the heart of the court case involving Vice-Admiral Mark Norman. That ship, currently being leased to the navy by Quebec firm Davie Shipbuilding, was delivered on time and on budget and is considered a procurement success story. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/canada/government-expects-to-award-contract-for-new-fighter-jet-fleet-in-2022-but-admits-it-could-face-delays/wcm/a34c8b83-3838-4ff9-87ac-1741fd434059
February 21, 2020 | Local, Aerospace

Canada Needs New Aircraft, Could The F-35 Fit The Bill?
As part of its commitment to NATO, Canada also must be prepared for high-tech warfare in Europe. by David Axe Follow @daxe on TwitterL Key point: Canada, like Switzerland, likely can't afford to fail again to buy new planes. Canada for the third time in a decade is trying to replace its aging F/A-18A/B Hornet fighter jets. With every year the acquisition effort drags on, the condition of the Royal Canadian Air Force's fast-jet fleet grows direr. “The politically-charged competition to replace Canada's aging fleet of fighter jets will rocket forward at the end of May [2019] as the federal government releases a long-anticipated, full-fledged tender call,” Murray Brewster reported for CBC News. Four companies are vying for the multibillion-dollar contract for as many as 88 fighters that would replace the RCAF's 1980s-vintage Hornets, which in Canadian service are designated “CF-18.” Saab, Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin all are in the running, respectively offering the Gripen, Eurofighter, F/A-18E/F and F-35A. The manufacturers will have until the end of 2019 to submit bids, CBC News reported. But the RCAF hardly can wait. The RCAF acquired 138 F/A-18A/Bs from McDonnell Douglas starting in 1982. In early 2019, 85 of the original Hornets, all more than 30 years old, comprise Canada's entire fighter fleet. The Canadian Hornets are unreliable and lack modern systems. In 2010, Canada's Conservative Party government announced plans to acquire 65 new F-35 stealth fighters by 2020. But the government never fairly compared the F-35 to rival fighter types such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Auditor General of Canada concluded in a 2018 report. "National Defense did not manage the process to replace the CF-18 fleet with due diligence." In 2015, Liberal Party candidate Justin Trudeau made the F-35 a major issue in his campaign for prime minister. Trudeau won. And in 2017, Ottawa backed off its proposal to purchase F-35s and, instead, launched a new competition to acquire 88 fighters. The aircraft would enter service in 2032, meaning the old Hornets would have to continue flying 12 years longer than the government originally planned. Ottawa briefly considered acquiring 18 F/A-18E/Fs from Boeing in order to bolster the early-model Hornets, but the government canceled the plan during a U.S.-Canada trade dispute in 2017. Canada was left with its original Hornets. In December 2017, the government announced it would spend around $500 million buying up to 25 1980s-vintage F/A-18s that Australia was declared surplus as it acquired its own fleet of new F-35s. The RCAF would add some of the Australian Hornets to the operational fleet and use others as sources of spare parts. But the government has no plan to keep its Hornets combat-ready as they enter their fourth and even fifth decade of service." We found that the CF-18 had not been significantly upgraded for combat since 2008, in part because [the Department of] National Defense expected a replacement fleet to be in place by 2020," the government auditors found. "Without these upgrades, according to the department, the CF-18 will become more vulnerable as advanced combat aircraft and air-defense systems continue to be developed and used by other nations." Against this backdrop, Brewster assessed the current fighter contenders, in particular, the Swedish Gripen and the American F-35. “There has been a rigorous political and academic debate about whether Canada should choose a legacy design from the 1990s, such as the Gripen, or the recently-introduced Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter,” Brewster wrote. “The Swedish air force is about the same size as the Royal Canadian Air Force,” Brewster pointed out, adding that Sweden and Canada also share geographic concerns. “The Gripen is intended for operations in rugged environments, such as Sweden's Arctic region,” Brewster wrote. “Canada's CF-18s occasionally operate from forward bases in the north, but those deployments are infrequent compared with the routine activity of the Swedes.” As part of its commitment to NATO, Canada also must be prepared for high-tech warfare in Europe. The Gripen lacks the radar-evading stealth features that in theory allow the F-35 to penetrate the most dangerous Russian-made air-defenses. But Brewster cited a March 2019 Swedish study that claimed Russian defenses are less fearsome than many observers believe. “Besides uncritically taking Russian data at face value, the three cardinal sins have been: confusing the maximal nominal range of missiles with the effective range of the systems; disregarding the inherent problems of seeing and hitting a moving target at a distance, especially targets below the horizon; and underestimating the potential for countermeasures against [anti-access area-denial]-systems,” Robert Dalsjo, Christopher Berglund and Michael Jonsson explain in their report "Bursting the Bubble." The stakes are high. If Canada fails a third time to buy a new fighter, it might find itself in the same unfortunate situation in which Switzerland has found itself. In April 2019 the Swiss air force is down to just 10 ready fighters with full-time pilots. The crisis is the result of the Swiss public's decision in a 2014 referendum to reject the air force's proposal to buy 22 new fighters to begin replacing 40-year-old F-5 Tigers. The Swiss air force in 2019 plans to remove from service 27 Tigers. The 26 Tigers that remain will perform limited duties. With the F-5 force shrinking and flying part-time, the Swiss air force increasingly relies on its 30 F/A-18C/Ds. To last that long, the F/A-18s need structural upgrades. The upgrade work has sidelined more than half of the Hornet fleet. Switzerland like Canada has relaunched its fighter competition. The same companies and designs that are competing in Canada, plus Dassault with the Rafale, are in the running in Switzerland. Intensive flight testing began in April 2019. Canada like Switzerland likely can't afford to fail again to buy new planes. The old Canadian Hornets probably won't last much longer. "The CF-18 will be disadvantaged against many potential adversaries, and its combat capability will further erode through the 2020s and into the 2030s," Ottawa's auditors warned. David Axe serves as Defense Editor of the National Interest. He is the author of the graphic novels War Fix, War Is Boring and Machete Squad. (This first appeared last year.) https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/canada-needs-new-aircraft-could-f-35-fit-bill-125556
July 9, 2018 | Local, Land

What is 'the backbone' of the Canadian Army doing in a junk yard?
Colin Butler Even an expert in armoured fighting vehicles thinks it's a strange place to find what the Canadian Army calls "the backbone" of its combat vehicle fleet. "I'm surprised that vehicles of this importance and significance are being stored in a conventional steel breaker's yard," said Jon Hawkes, the Land Management Editor for military information publisher Jane's Information Group. "Typically they'd be in a military facility of some kind, even if it's sort of, you know, popped out in the back out of the way in the contractors own facility." "For them to be in this breaker's yard is not where I would expect them to be." "Them," in this case are the LAV III, the workhorse of the Canadian Army. You've likely seen them on television, either helping Canadians stricken by some natural disaster, such as the 2013 floods in Alberta, last year's floods in Quebec, or, maybe overseas, carrying our troops into hot zones in such places as Afghanistan and more recently Mali. What are these LAV IIIs doing in a junk yard? So what on Earth are they doing in the back lot of a junk yard? "I think it's interesting," John Hawke said. "You could read that two ways." "On one hand, these things are being quasi-dumped in a corner somewhere to be dealt with later and perhaps that's not caring for them in the best possible way. Although as I say, they're very hardy vehicles. I wouldn't necessarily fear for their status." "Alternatively you could say that someone somewhere is actually being quite smart in finding a very cost-effective solution for storing them for a period of time. I'd imagine it's not hugely expensive to put them wherever this is." Secretive contractors Except, no one working with these LAVs is willing to talk. CBC News first attempted to visit the site in person, but was told to leave the property by staff at the scrap yard. When contacted by phone, Matt Zubick, a member of the family that owns John Zubick's Limited said "I can't talk about that" before he hung up. Steph Bryson, a spokeswoman for General Dynamics Land Systems Canada, declined to comment, referring the question to the Department of National Defence. So why all the secrecy? No secret at all "I find that a bit amusing," said Daniel Le Bouthillier, the head of media relations for the Department of National Defence. "From our perspective, the work is hardly a secret." It turns out the work inside John Zubick's Limited has been happening for the better part of a decade. After Canadian troops deployed in Afghanistan, they quickly realized the army's fleet of LAV IIIs, which they've had since 1997, needed a few tweaks to give soldiers better protection against the Taliban insurgency. Those tweaks involved better armour, blast absorbing seats and other upgrades. However, the LAV IIIs were never designed to handle the extra weight, according to Le Bouthillier. "This additional weight meant more wear and tear and affected the vehicles' what they call 'full mobility potential.' So these upgrades that are happening now address all those issues." The upgrades are being done by London, Ont.-based military manufacturer General Dynamics Land Systems Canada as part of a $1.8 billion refitting and refurbishment program with the Canadian Armed Forces called LAVIIIUP, a deal that was first struck in 2010. The program will see all 550 Canadian-made LAV IIIs, getting new armour and new hulls in order to extend the life of the vehicles until the year 2035. "As part of that process, LAV III hulls, which were not designed to support the weight of upgrades are being sent to a scrap yard, taken apart and melted and this is done because these are considered controlled goods," Le Bouthillier said. "So what you're seeing in that scrap yard are parts that are not being harvested for the upgrades," he said. "These are not drive-in, drive-out full capability vehicles. These are just parts of them. They might look like full vehicles because they're so big. Especially when you look at them from above." The first batch of upgraded LAV IIIs were delivered to the military in 2012, with the delivery of the final batch expected next December. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-ontario-lav-1.4734920

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