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  8 décembre 2017 | Local, Naval

  Bold move backfires as Canada declines Naval Group-Fincantieri frigate offering

  PARIS, ROME, and VICTORIA, British Columbia — Naval Group and Fincantieri are out of the running to compete in Canada's program to acquire a fleet of new surface combatants after they failed to submit a bid through the formal process and instead sent a proposal directly to the Canadian government. The companies had offered Canada a proposal to construct 15 ships at Irving Shipbuilding in Nova Scotia for a fixed cost. But the proposal circumvented the government's procurement procedure, which required formal bids to be submitted to Irving by Nov. 30. Naval Group and Fincantieri did not follow that requirement. The Canadian government announced Tuesday it had rejected the proposal from the two firms. “The submission of an unsolicited proposal at the final hour undermines the fair and competitive nature of this procurement suggesting a sole source contracting arrangement,” Public Services and Procurement Canada, or PSPC, which is overseeing the procurement, said in a statement. “Acceptance of such a proposal would break faith with the bidders who invested time and effort to participate in the competitive process, put at risk the Government's ability to properly equip the Royal Canadian Navy and would establish a harmful precedent for future competitive procurements.” Canada's decision effectively removes Naval Group and Fincantieri from taking part in the program since the companies never submitted a formal bid, government officials noted. Public Services and Procurement Canada declined to say how many bids were received for the Canadian Surface Combatant project. Besides a bid from the BAE-Lockheed Martin Canada consortium for the Type 26 frigate, only two other companies have acknowledged bidding. A team led by Alion Canada is offering the Dutch De Zeven Provinciën-class air-defense and command frigate. The Spanish shipyard, Navantia, has submitted a bid based on its F-105 frigate design. Canada expects to make a decision on the winning bid sometime in 2018. The program to build 15 new warships is estimated to be worth CAN$62 billion (U.S. $49 billion). The program was originally estimated to cost CAN$26 billion, but that figure has been revised a number of times and has been climbing steadily over the last several years. Fincantieri and Naval Group had hoped the proposal of a fixed price tag of about CAN$30 billion for a new fleet might sway the Liberal government, as it would eliminate much of the risk and would offer a proven warship design. The proposal had the backing of the French and Italian governments and was made directly to Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. Naval Group and Fincantieri took note Canada had rejected their joint bid that filed outside the competition for a frigate fleet, but they were still ready to offer the design of their warship for local assembly, the companies said Wednesday. “We acknowledge the position expressed by the Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) not to take into consideration the offers submitted outside the process of the Canadian Surface Combatant program (CSC) Request For Proposal (RFP),” Naval Group and Fincantieri said. “Nevertheless, Naval Group and Fincantieri remain at the disposal of Canada to contribute to the modernization of Canadian forces with a sea-proven warship, currently in service with the French and Italian Navies, that would minimize the scheduling gaps for design and construction of all the ships in Canada and maximize value for money,” the companies said. Asked on Wednesday how Fincantieri and Naval Group will react to Canada's rejection, Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono declined to give a direct response but did suggest there might be room for compromise. “We don't want to take risks,” he said, adding: “we need to see what makes sense” and “the customer is always right.” In addition, he said the design of the ship offered to Canada would be more similar to the Italian version than the French. “We have made a joint offer of a FREMM, which is close to the Italian version if only because Italy has an anti-submarine warfare version,” he said. The terms of the Canadian competition posed a problem as the tender required bidders to hand over intellectual property and there was danger it might end up in the wrong hands, an analyst said. “The problem from the outset is how the Liberals have set the competition,” said Robbin Laird, of consultancy International Communications and Strategic Assessments, based in Paris and the Washington, D.C., area. “One would think that with ... the U.S. and Australia launching new frigates as well as the French and Italians working on a new frigate program, the approach would be to leverage the allied global recapitalization effort,” he added. “Yet what the Canadian government has focused upon is simply forcing competitors to provide intellectual property to their own Canadian shipyard without any real protection against leakage of that technology to China or to other competitors.” In their direct bid to the Canadian government, the European partners offered a speedy start of shipbuilding in 2019, which they said would help sustain local jobs. A frigate generally takes about four years to build. The Franco-Italian frigate was offered with the Thales Sea Fire radar, a multifunction digital system, an industry executive said. Naval Group offered its Senit combat management system, with Fincantieri delivering the ship design. Thales developed the flat-paneled Sea Fire for the FTI, an intermediate frigate ordered for the French Navy and aimed mainly for export markets. Anti-submarine systems included Thales Captas hull-mounted and towed array sonars, specialist website Mer et Marine reported. The weapons could include a 127mm gun and two vertical launchers for surface-to-air missiles, which would likely be Aster but would also be available for American weapons. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2017/12/06/bold-move-backfires-as-canada-declines-naval-group-fincantieri-frigate-offering/

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  15 avril 2024 | Local, Aérospatial

  hmcs montreal sets sail for the indo pacific under operation horizon

  Today, His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Montréal’s crew bid farewell to their loved ones at a departure ceremony held at HMCS Scotian in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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  1 mars 2019 | Local, Naval

  DND extends life of submarine escape suits beyond expiry date as fleet shows its age

  Murray Brewster · CBC News Liberals plan to modernize and sail the navy's 4 aging submarines until 2040 The Canadian navy's stock of survival suits, which allow submariners to escape in an emergency from a sunken boat, has been thrown a lifeline after much of the equipment had reached its expiry date, federal documents reveal. The critical safety suits give stranded crew members the ability to ascend from a depth of 183 metres and protect against hypothermia. They even inflate into a single-seat life raft once on the surface. The orange whole-body suits were part of the original equipment aboard the Victoria-class submarines, diesel-electric boats originally built for the Royal Navy and purchased from Britain in the late 1990s. Documents obtained by CBC News show there was concern among naval engineers, in late 2016, that many of the suits had passed or were about to pass their best-before, safety dates. A spokeswoman for the Defence Department said a decision was made to extend the life of suits while the federal government procures new ones — a process that is ongoing. There is no threat to safety, said Jessica Lamirande. "The service life extension was approved based on successful, rigorous testing at the Naval Engineering Test Establishment on a representative sample of suits that had passed their intended service lives," said Lamirande, in a recent email. "Testing consisted of detailed visual inspection, leakage tests, and functional testing." Fleet sailing until 2040 But defence experts say it is a small project that speaks volumes about the Liberal government's plan to modernize and keep operating the four submarines until 2040, a proposal that was articulated in the latest defence policy. Retired commander Peter Haydon, who also taught defence policy at Dalhousie University in Halifax for years, said keeping submarine replacement parts and equipment in the system has been an ongoing headache for the navy, dating back to the 1980s. However, the bigger concern is: As the boats age, the strength of their pressure hulls declines. The government plans to modernize the boats, but Haydon said that's fine for the electronic and other components. "You can modernize most things, but you can't modernize the hull, unless you build a new hull," he said. Pressure to buy new The Senate and House of Commons defence committees have recommended the government begin exploring options now for the replacement of the submarines, which took years to formally bring into service after they were purchased. The government, in its response to a committee report last fall, argued it is already fully engaged building Arctic patrol ships and replacements for frigates and supply ships. Buying new submarines is a topic that has been debated behind the scenes for a long time at National Defence with one former top commander, retired general Walt Natynczyk ordering — in 2012 — a study that looked at the possible replacements. They're running a risk with the lives of sailors, the older these vessels get in an extremely dangerous environment, especially when they're submerged.— Michael Byers, University of British Columbia University of British Columbia defence expert Michael Byers has been quoted as saying he's worried Canada "will lose its submarine capability through negligence rather than design," noting that it is politically more palatable to refurbish the underwater fleet rather than endure a painful procurement process. "They're running a risk with the lives of sailors, the older these vessels get in an extremely dangerous environment, especially when they're submerged," said Byers, who pointed to the loss of the Argentine submarine San Juan and its crew of 44 in 2017. "I would be more comfortable with a decision to buy a new fleet submarines than the current path that we're on. I have been skeptical as to whether we need submarines, but better a new fleet than send our sailors to sea in these old vessels." Since Canada does not have the technology, nor has it ever constructed its own submarines, the federal government would be required to go overseas to countries such as Germany or Sweden to get them built. Restricted diving In the meantime, Haydon said he's confident ongoing maintenance and the stringent safety standards among Western allies will keep the Victoria-class submarines in the water and operating safely. He cautions, however, like Canada's previous submarines retired in the 1990s, the Oberon class, the older the current fleet gets, the more their diving depth will eventually have to be restricted. As the hull and its valves weaken, the less pressure they can sustain. Lamirande said the navy has enough escape submarine suits whenever it deploys, and she emphasized it never goes to sea with "expired" equipment. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/dnd-extends-life-of-submarine-escape-suits-beyond-expiry-date-as-fleet-shows-its-age-1.5036007