Canada and the World

[Admiral Beez]

I encourage people to watch this. I was expecting a doozy and it is worse than I feared. I knew that there were big problems with defense procurement but this lays out just how bad the situation has become. Essentially, Canada regularly is paying 10x what is should cost to procure new equipment, and has now built up such a huge backlog of equipment to replace, it will require a concerted effort and spending to dig ourselves out of that hole. It also sounds like we need to make tough decisions around domestic sourcing of equipment. Frankly, things have gotten so bad I'm not sure we should allow Canadian shipbuilding industry to build any equipment for the RCN for the next couple of decades. Something has to give, we simply cannot spend 10x what it should cost for a ship just to make the Irvings richer.

We need to pick a few critical areas to specialize our defense industry in and buy mostly off the shelf from foreign suppliers for everything else. We simply can't afford to do anything else.

We need to separate regional economic and industrial credits from RCN and CCG procurement. We don't expect Canada to produce the RCAF's new F-35 Lightnings and P-8 Poseidon. Nor do we expect Canada to produce the Army's Leopard II tanks. No, we put out a tender and buy from whatever nation makes them the best for the best value. I expect Ottawa will be forced to finally take this approach for the RN on the SSK replacement - since we've never produced a submarine.

Canada launching process to acquire up to 12 conventionally-powered submarines - Canada.ca

Canada is the country with the largest coastline in the world – an underwater surveillance capability is crucial to our security and sovereignty.

www.canada.ca

 

[lenaitch]

We need to separate regional economic and industrial credits from RCN and CCG procurement. We don't expect Canada to produce the RCAF's new F-35 Lightnings and P-8 Poseidon. Nor do we expect Canada to produce the Army's Leopard II tanks. No, we put out a tender and buy from whatever nation makes them the best for the best value. I expect Ottawa will be forced to finally take this approach for the RN on the SSK replacement - since we've never produced a submarine.

Canada launching process to acquire up to 12 conventionally-powered submarines - Canada.ca

Canada is the country with the largest coastline in the world – an underwater surveillance capability is crucial to our security and sovereignty.

www.canada.ca

It's one thing to ramp up traditional shipbuilding from it's atrophied state but quite another to try and create an industry from complete scratch. Unless we want to try to compete on the world market (folly), there is no rationale to try and establish and unique industry for a dozen boats (maybe).

 

[Admiral Beez]

It's one thing to ramp up traditional shipbuilding from it's atrophied state but quite another to try and create an industry from complete scratch.

That's exactly what we do each time we enter a major warship contract - creating an industry, and then run it down, only to recreate a generation later. For example, to build nine of the twelve Halifax class frigates the Irving's Saint John, NB shipyard was expanded and new tech and expertise brought in. Once the last ship was built, the entire yard was demolished. And now, almost thirty years since the last frigate entered service, we're going to do it again, expand another shipyard to build the new frigates (destroyers to us, for some reason), only to run it down afterward.

 

[Towered]

That's exactly what we do each time we enter a major warship contract - creating an industry, and then run it down, only to recreate a generation later. For example, to build nine of the twelve Halifax class frigates the Irving's Saint John, NB shipyard was expanded and new tech and expertise brought in. Once the last ship was built, the entire yard was demolished. And now, almost thirty years since the last frigate entered service, we're going to do it again, expand another shipyard to build the new frigates (destroyers to us, for some reason), only to run it down afterward.

Sounds like lack of maintenance is not just a Toronto disease.

 

[lenaitch]

That's exactly what we do each time we enter a major warship contract - creating an industry, and then run it down, only to recreate a generation later. For example, to build nine of the twelve Halifax class frigates the Irving's Saint John, NB shipyard was expanded and new tech and expertise brought in. Once the last ship was built, the entire yard was demolished. And now, almost thirty years since the last frigate entered service, we're going to do it again, expand another shipyard to build the new frigates (destroyers to us, for some reason), only to run it down afterward.

Stipulated, but between the highs, there have always been lows, somewhere, even if doing nothing but refits. The current National Shipbuilding Program is supposed to break that cycle (I know, famous last words) through a steady diet of naval and CCG builds. We have absolutely no facilities, design or construction history for submarines, and why should we bother, even if it was a licenced build of somebody else's boat, for such a small fleet.