- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 110
Last week I flew into Halifax to attend the annual NTO (Naval Technical Officer) Seminar. This is a two day event that allows the technical community as a whole to get a look into how naval projects and procurements are going and get a look into the "future" of the Navy. This year was certainly full of some interesting topics and since people here seem interested in what "toys" the navy is getting (or might be getting) I thought I'd give some bullet points summaries of some of the current projects. Some of these may to known to you, some may be new.
As an aside before I start, the seminar was all UNCLAS information, so no opsec worries here.
I'll start with the Big ticket, high profile projects:
JSS
Going along more or less "On Schedule". Interesting to note that while the big ticket combat systems items have not increased very much in cost since the budget was set two years ago, the cost of building materials (steel, copper ect) has risen dramatically. Unknown what effect this will have on the overall project. Should leave the funded definitions phase soon.
We had a French Naval officer present a look at their Minstral class, which had a lot of the same features we are looking for in JSS, RO/RO Carrier, Joint Command Capability, At-Sea hospital and a moderate amount of troop space. It was built to a hybrid civilian/military standards, and is quite unique in that they actually designed the ship with livability in mind. Its a full decked helicopter carrier however, and represents, to me anyway, the "Cadillac" version, whereas we will probably end up with the Buick version at best.
Amphib ship
This project is for all intents frozen, and will most likely stay that way for a while. So for all of you eagerly looking forward to some kind of USS San Antonio/ HMS Ocean type ship in the near future stop holding your breath. In my opinion (and possibly in my opinion only) we will see this start to go forward only under a conservative majority. Otherwise the money just isn't there.
Arctic Base/Patrol ships
Arctic base is also on hold, but there was mention of a project for the patrol ships being stood up. Given the fact that these will likely be "cheap" as platforms go, I can very well see these happening.
SCSC
SC Squared, as the guys in Ottawa are calling it, is still in very very early stages. We don't know what capabilities it will have, or what it will look like, or even how many we are building. We WANT to build up to 18, in an American style procurement model, one or two a year for over a decade. This is to stop the Boom/Bust cycle that we have been trapped in since the 60s and maybe get a sustainable shipbuilding industry in Canada. Right now we've pointed to a very tentative "in-the-water" date of 2018, which may get pushed in either direction depending on funding and need.
The Subs
The Saga continues, although there was a lot of good news coming out of the seminar about the future of the subs. Lets just say they aren't as worse off as perhaps had been reported. However HMCS Victoria's EDWP is still behind schedule and we will likely have only one semi-operational platform for the next year. The good news is that we are much, much better prepaired for Corner Brook's EDWP now that we know some of the problems involved and it should go much smoother.
2008 Victoria will be looking to achieve full weapons certification and be the first of her class to do so.
Felex
This is a done deal. We got some interesting presentations on the new version of IMCS, which is a done deal as far as money is concerned. It will basically replace the current version with a much smaller physical footprint and enhanced GUI. Also included is a plan to tack on a Battle Damage Control system, which will basically replace the old grease pencil stateboards throughout the ship with a hardened network of "smartboards" that will be located in all the same places you would find a current state board. One a incident is plotted on one board it will be visible to ALL boards on the network and thus save a lot of heart ache in trying to marry the boards.
The Battle Damage feature is still only partially funded, because its an added capability and not simply a replacement of an existing capability.
The Combat Systems types are independently working on there own version of this capability, which will focus on combat systems capabilities and not fires and or floods.
The other piece of kit we saw was the Sirius IR tracking system, which is paid for and will be installed starting this year (not waiting for FELEX to officially start). Very very good tracking and will augment the radar upgrades in FELEX quite well. Combined with ESSM, CIWS Block 1B, and whatever 3D Volume search radar we end up going with for FELEX, our ships will be quite well fitted from a CS perspective.
Anyway, there is a lot of talk around this board about the various projects and I thought you'd all enjoy this little peek into where we are.
As an aside before I start, the seminar was all UNCLAS information, so no opsec worries here.
I'll start with the Big ticket, high profile projects:
JSS
Going along more or less "On Schedule". Interesting to note that while the big ticket combat systems items have not increased very much in cost since the budget was set two years ago, the cost of building materials (steel, copper ect) has risen dramatically. Unknown what effect this will have on the overall project. Should leave the funded definitions phase soon.
We had a French Naval officer present a look at their Minstral class, which had a lot of the same features we are looking for in JSS, RO/RO Carrier, Joint Command Capability, At-Sea hospital and a moderate amount of troop space. It was built to a hybrid civilian/military standards, and is quite unique in that they actually designed the ship with livability in mind. Its a full decked helicopter carrier however, and represents, to me anyway, the "Cadillac" version, whereas we will probably end up with the Buick version at best.
Amphib ship
This project is for all intents frozen, and will most likely stay that way for a while. So for all of you eagerly looking forward to some kind of USS San Antonio/ HMS Ocean type ship in the near future stop holding your breath. In my opinion (and possibly in my opinion only) we will see this start to go forward only under a conservative majority. Otherwise the money just isn't there.
Arctic Base/Patrol ships
Arctic base is also on hold, but there was mention of a project for the patrol ships being stood up. Given the fact that these will likely be "cheap" as platforms go, I can very well see these happening.
SCSC
SC Squared, as the guys in Ottawa are calling it, is still in very very early stages. We don't know what capabilities it will have, or what it will look like, or even how many we are building. We WANT to build up to 18, in an American style procurement model, one or two a year for over a decade. This is to stop the Boom/Bust cycle that we have been trapped in since the 60s and maybe get a sustainable shipbuilding industry in Canada. Right now we've pointed to a very tentative "in-the-water" date of 2018, which may get pushed in either direction depending on funding and need.
The Subs
The Saga continues, although there was a lot of good news coming out of the seminar about the future of the subs. Lets just say they aren't as worse off as perhaps had been reported. However HMCS Victoria's EDWP is still behind schedule and we will likely have only one semi-operational platform for the next year. The good news is that we are much, much better prepaired for Corner Brook's EDWP now that we know some of the problems involved and it should go much smoother.
2008 Victoria will be looking to achieve full weapons certification and be the first of her class to do so.
Felex
This is a done deal. We got some interesting presentations on the new version of IMCS, which is a done deal as far as money is concerned. It will basically replace the current version with a much smaller physical footprint and enhanced GUI. Also included is a plan to tack on a Battle Damage Control system, which will basically replace the old grease pencil stateboards throughout the ship with a hardened network of "smartboards" that will be located in all the same places you would find a current state board. One a incident is plotted on one board it will be visible to ALL boards on the network and thus save a lot of heart ache in trying to marry the boards.
The Battle Damage feature is still only partially funded, because its an added capability and not simply a replacement of an existing capability.
The Combat Systems types are independently working on there own version of this capability, which will focus on combat systems capabilities and not fires and or floods.
The other piece of kit we saw was the Sirius IR tracking system, which is paid for and will be installed starting this year (not waiting for FELEX to officially start). Very very good tracking and will augment the radar upgrades in FELEX quite well. Combined with ESSM, CIWS Block 1B, and whatever 3D Volume search radar we end up going with for FELEX, our ships will be quite well fitted from a CS perspective.
Anyway, there is a lot of talk around this board about the various projects and I thought you'd all enjoy this little peek into where we are.
. I was going to follow through with my IPS but now that the project has been pushed to the right, I am going to complete my 20 at the end of 2009. 
