The Canadian Armed Forces Will Have the Capacity and Capability to Fully Protect Canadian Sovereignty in the South and the Arctic
The Canadian Armed Forces, underfunded, and not as capable as it should have been, will now have the equipment, systems, as well as sufficient trained and qualified personnel to be effective and efficient.
This is a watershed moment for the Canadian Armed Forces going forward.
Today, Aaron Beswick in the Vancouver Sun, authored an article entitled, “Canada’s Race to Build New Warships”. In it, the Vice-Admiral spoke of how while Prime Minister Carney was delivering his speech at Davos last month, Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee was speaking to his officers about the new navy Canada is building to protect its sovereignty.
He did so at Town Hall at Naval Fleet School Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was there in front of an assemblage of Naval Officers to answer questions in relation to what the Royal Canadian Navy “needs to be able to do, how they will be supported, and what will be expected of them.”
He said, “We need to know everything that’s happening under our waters and have the final say over who comes into our waters. Who can stay in our waters? Who can do what in our waters? We’re building a navy that can do that.”
Vice Admiral Topshee’s message to the RCN’s senior officers was that there is a plan to go it alone when it must, in a world where it is obvious that no one else, particularly a former trusted ally, has our back.
Canada’s Navy will no longer fit into the plans of partners such that Canada will find itself relegated to a ‘role’ in its own defence.
The navy, built over the next fifteen years is to become Canada’s insurance policy for sovereignty. These acquisitions, extremely expensive for a nation of 41.5 million people, will take years to complete, however, in a world where great-power rivalry with a former ally that today is simply a ‘wild card’, this must happen.
Adam Lajeunesse, an expert in defence studies at St. Francis Xavier University, said.
“It is increasingly clear that the United States is not an ally, at most a transactional power and, as insane as it sounds, may even be the enemy.”
He further warned, “We may end up with a President (JD Vance) who is less unpredictable but is wedded to an isolationist, hyper-nationalistic viewpoint which does not support a close relationship with Canada on an equal footing. Many of the worst parts of Trump’s policies, I think, will continue under Vance; there’s no obvious endpoint where we go back to the status quo.”
And, as Mark Carney said in Davos, Switzerland, “This is a rupture. There is no going back, nor should we.”
I could not agree more.
Canada’s new navy will include comprehensive top-to-bottom capabilities including AIP ballistic missile and cruise missile launch submarines, River Class Destroyers, Continental Defence Corvettes, and Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels.
In total these four classifications will include:
12 AIP under ice-capable submarines
15 River Class Destroyers
20 Continental Defence Corvettes – Polar Class 6 Capable
8 Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels – Polar Class 5 Capable
Currently, Canada’s navy is at its weakest point in 50 years. However, now that Canada has finally awoken to the dangers that face it, both historically and currently, that situation is under correction.
The earlier Canadian governments, both Liberal and Conservative did not provide the Canadian Armed Forces with the equipment and systems required of modern, capable, and independent military forces.
Finally, with Canada’s new Prime Minister, Marc Carney at the helm, the RCN will find it has what it requires.
Canada will have a Naval Fleet of approximately 55 ships, all highly capable in the specific roles and responsibilities that each encompasses. Presently, Canada’s fleet of 34 ships, except for the new Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels, and the (12) Halifax Class frigates, averages 25 years of age.
As a former Naval Officer for the RCNR, it makes me proud to see this occur, finally.
Canada’s new AIP submarines will armed with ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, as well as heavy torpedoes and ultramodern sensor suites. large enough for blue water patrols, not just of the littoral waters, but all the offshore waters surrounding Canada and throughout the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic Oceans. A truly blue water, long endurance submarine complement (12) with a range of 10,000 nautical miles. Highly advanced submarines of high technology, stealth capable of anti-aircraft, anti-ship, and the targeting of land-based facilities, ports, airfields, etc.
River Class guided-missile destroyers are dense-capable platforms now under construction. These ships will use Aegis Combat Systems. This Aegis combat information centre equipped with a comprehensive sonar suite able to track enemy submarines effectively, will successfully track missiles, ships, and planes over hundreds of kilometers. The ship’s Tomahawk missiles will be capable of targeting land targets over 600 nautical miles away.
The displacement of these destroyers will be 8,080 tonnes, with a range of more than 7000 nautical miles. When completed, they will be twice the size of Canada’s current Halifax-class frigates.
The RCN and Canadian Coast Guard’s eight new AOPVs, or Arctic Ocean Patrol Vessels are light icebreakers capable of serving in Arctic waters and on coastal patrols. They can break ice in the Arctic Ocean up to 4 feet in thickness. They are large, displacing 6600 tons, and were never for combat operations. Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels house a 25 mm gun and two machine guns for defence and for exercising Canada’s sovereignty as well as security along Canada’s coasts.
The Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels will perform reconnaissance duties and designed primarily for rescue operations and sovereignty patrols in the Arctic Ocean. They will also aid commercial vessels through ice, as necessary.
Canada is building what will be known as the Continental Defence Corvette. Their design as combat ships, includes capability for targeting and destroying planes, submarines, and surface combatants. The CDC ships will displace 3000 + tonnes and be 104 meters in length or less, capable of speeds of 25 knots plus.
They will, when constructed have a 76 mm gun, 8-24 VLS cells (e.g., Mk41) for air defense/strike, NSM anti-ship missiles, and torpedo tubes. These ships will have the capability normally found on Frigate Class ships. These ships will be Polar Class 6 rated with a range of 7000 nautical miles, capable of patrolling the Northwest Passage.
All three classes of the Royal Canadian Navy’s surface combatants will house onboard hangars, for helicopters, UAS, or unmanned aerial systems.
An Improved and Independent Navy
By 2045, the Royal Canadian Navy will be highly capable, and independent of requiring any foreign naval or other Air Force aid. When combined with Canada’s new A-OTH Radar, new AWACS planes (likely Saab GlobalEye AWAC), and Gripen E/F fighters designed to fight in Arctic conditions, Canada will have all that it requires to defend Canadian airspace.
The intent of any nation’s military forces is the protection of national sovereignty and the lives and property of its citizens. Canada’s newly improved armed forces, on land, in the air, on the surface as well as beneath the ocean’s surface that surrounds Canada will be purely the purview and responsibility of the Canadian Armed Forces.
Finally, the Canadian Armed Forces will have sufficient funds to ensure its competence, capability and required strength.
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