25 juin 2019 | Local, Naval

Cost of 15 new Canadian warships rises to $70 billion: PBO report

By Christian Paas-Lang

Canada's 15 new warships will cost almost $70 billion over the next quarter-century, according to Parliament's budget watchdog, and the cost could change further depending on the final design of the ships and when they actually get built.

The estimate, released in a report by the parliamentary budget office Friday, is up substantially from a Canadian government estimate in 2017 that pegged the price of the project at between $56 billion and $60 billion. The 2017 estimate was itself a revision of the project's original $26-billion price tag.

Also in 2017, the PBO estimated the total cost of the ships to be $61.8 billion, but its report released Friday updates that to reflect the design of the ships — frigates known as “Type 26” — which wasn't known at the time. It also accounts for delays in the project.

The Canadian government will now pay out $69.8 billion over 26 years, the PBO estimates.

In a statement released shortly after the PBO report, the Department of National Defence said it remained “confident” in its 2017 estimate, and that the “vast majority” of the difference between the estimates came from the PBO's choice to include taxes in its projections.

Taking away taxes brings the two estimates to within 10 per cent of each other, the DND said.

But the department conceded that any small difference means hundreds of millions of dollars in costs for taxpayers.

The PBO report says the difference in the estimates is due to a later start date for construction and a heavier ship design.

The report assumes ships will start being built by the 2023-2024 fiscal year, three years later than its 2017 projection. As the timeline extends into the future, costs increase due to inflation.

The PBO originally projected a displacement, or weight, of 5,400 tonnes for each ship but the Type 26 design is a heftier 6,790 tonnes per ship, an increase of more than 25 per cent.

The report also includes an analysis of what effect further significant delays would have on the project. For a one-year delay, the PBO estimates, an extra $2.2 billion will be added to the project cost, and a two-year delay would cost the government $4.5 billion.

In an interview Friday, the top bureaucrat in charge of procurement at the DND expressed skepticism that the heavier ships will result in as much increased cost as the PBO suggests, but he did say the potential for delays was something he is “watching more carefully.”

“The labour piece is always where uncertainty can remain,” said Pat Finn, the department's associate deputy minister for material, noting labour can make up around 40 per cent of the cost of a ship.

Finn said the DND is in the “same place” as the PBO on the cost of “slippage” — delays in the project — but that he is confident the structure of the National Shipbuilding Strategy will mean the project could benefit from a skilled workforce and ongoing expertise.

The purchase of additional Arctic patrol ships, announced last month, means there will not be a lapse in efficiency at Irving's Halifax shipyard, which is building the warships, Finn said.

He set a goal for start of construction earlier than the PBO assumes in its report.

“We would say between mid-2022 and mid-2023, we're in-contract and cutting steel,” Finn said.

Potential delays would certainly increase costs, and it would be “absolutely no shock if there was additional delays,” said Dave Perry, a procurement expert with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

“To this point in time, the government has not been able to meet any of the timelines that have been put forward publicly,” he added.

Still, the closer you get to construction, Perry said, the less uncertainty there should be about costs and the potential for further delay.

The last thing that might change the final cost of the ships is the specifics of what components are chosen to fill out the design — which radar equipment, for example, Perry said.

The DND is deciding on those components as it reconciles the requirements of the ships with costs.

“You could potentially get a few-percentage-point swing” in price in either direction based on those choices, said Perry.

“But if you're talking about several tens of billions of dollars, a few-percentage-points swing is real money.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/5418997/canada-warships-cost/

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3 juin 2019 | Local, Naval

No icebreakers in federal government’s $15.7B plan for new coast-guard ships
By Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press OTTAWA — The Canadian Coast Guard's recent struggles resupplying northern communities and rescuing ice-jammed ferries appear set to continue despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to spend $15.7 billion on "a complete fleet renewal." That's because none of the 18 vessels the government announced last week that it plans to buy will be an icebreaker, meaning the coast guard will be forced to continue relying on its existing icebreaker fleet for the foreseeable future. Many of those are nearing — or have already exceeded — their expected lifespans, which has resulted in breakdowns and other problems that have affected coast-guard operations, such as resupply runs and assisting ferries in winter. Federal procurement minister Carla Qualtrough acknowledged on the sidelines of the annual Cansec arms-trade show this week "there's definitely a capability gap on icebreakers," but wouldn't say when it would be addressed. Qualtrough instead indicated that any announcement on more ships for the coast guard would likely come after the government adds a third shipyard to the two that are already partners in the federal shipbuilding plan. "There's definitely more ships coming," she said on Thursday. "It will really be dependent on how long it takes the third yard to get itself ready to build the kind of ships we need." The search is expected to start in the coming weeks, but while many observers expect Davie Shipbuilding in Quebec City to emerge victorious, a senior government official maintained a decision is unlikely before October's election. The government's planned $15.7-billion investment unveiled last week includes two Arctic patrol ships to be built by Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax and 16 so-called multipurpose vessels from Seaspan Shipbuilding in Vancouver. But those vessels are what officials describe as "ice-capable," rather than icebreakers, meaning the coast guard will need to continue to rely on its existing fleet for many of its operations. The icebreaker fleet did receive a boost on Thursday, when the Canadian Coast Guard officially welcomed the CCGS Molly Kool to its ranks after several months of conversion work at Davie. The CCGS Molly Kool is the first of three second-hand icebreakers that Davie has sold to the government, which the coast guard has said it plans to use for the next 15 to 20 years to fill any gaps until replacements are built. But while the government is spending millions to refit its current icebreakers, which are on average 35 years old, and keep them running as long as possible, the question remains when those replacements will arrive. The only new icebreaker currently in the government's multibillion-dollar shipbuilding plan is the polar-class CCGS John G. Diefenbaker, which was expected in 2017 before various delays pushed it back to the next decade. "We haven't built a coast guard-designed icebreaker since 1983. That was the last time," said Rob Huebert, an expert on the coast guard at the University of Calgary. "And anything we have bought is usually second-hand from industry." The coast guard doesn't have clout in Ottawa, Huebert said, which has translated into a lack of long-term planning or investment by successive governments — except when there are political points to be scored. And while the addition of a third yard to the federal shipbuilding plan should mean icebreakers will follow soon after, Huebert said it is all ad hoc and will simply lead to the same problems down the road. "I get incensed by the fact that we do not have any form of a long-term coast-guard renewal for icebreakers." Documents obtained by The Canadian Press warned more than a third of the coast guard's 26 large vessels, including its icebreakers, had exceeded their expected lifespans — and that many wouldn't survive until replacements arrived. The fleet's advanced age was also already affecting the coast guard's ability to do its job, including reduced search-and-rescue coverage, ferry-service disruptions and cancelled resupply runs to Arctic and coastal communities. —Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press https://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2019/05/31/no-icebreakers-in-federal-governments-15-6b-plan-for-new-coast-guard-ships/#.XPFqzBZKiUl
31 mars 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

Canadian military on notice to provide logistic support, help vulnerable populations in wake of COVID-19
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17 septembre 2020 | Local, Aérospatial

ICARUS AEROSPACE JOINS FORCES WITH CAE DEFENCE AND SECURITY
Icarus Aerospace is pleased to announce our collaboration with CAE Defence & Security to provide our customers with cost-effective submarine detection and tracking capability. By offering CAE's MAD-XR in a towed configuration we will remove all sources of aircraft interference and provide a superior magnetic anomaly detection solution. WASP-M ensures that crew can operate the aircraft in the most demanding scenarios with minimal workload and for prolonged periods of time without excessive fatigue. We bring technology and capability which greatly enhances safety, mission efficiency and ensures success while enabling reduction of crew members on board the aircraft. https://www.icarus-aerospace.com/2020/09/17/icarus-aerospace-joins-forces-with-cae-defence-and-security/

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