– Real Clear Defense – Maritime power is hardly the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Canada. Yet, Canada’s coastline is the longest in the world, amounting to 243,000 kilometres. With access to three oceans – Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific – the world’s waterways are certainly integral to Canadian security. That the Royal Canadian Navy has been neglected in the budgets of successive Canadian governments has played some part in building the perception of the country as a non-actor in maritime affairs. But the tide may be turning.

– Defense News – Canada will have to rely on its allies to resupply its warships at sea for a two-year period because of ongoing delays in the construction of a new fleet of support ships for its Navy.

– Postmedia – The navy’s last operational submarine is now sidelined until 2016, leaving the service without an underwater capability and potentially throwing into question the future of the submarine fleet.

CBC – Navy helicopter contract renegotiated

The federal government is dropping key performance standards for navy helicopters due this fall in exchange for the manufacturer’s promise to guarantee another $80 million in work to Canadian aerospace.

(Thanks to Justin for the link!)

Defense Industry Daily – Canada’s CH-148 Cyclones: Better Late Than Never?

Canada’s Maritime Helicopter Replacement Program has been a textbook military procurement program over its long history. Unfortunately, it has been a textbook example of what not to do. While Canada’s Sea King helicopter fleet aged and deteriorated to potentially dangerous levels, political pettiness and lack of concern turned a straightforward off-the-shelf buy into a 25+ year long odyssey of cancellations, lawsuits, rebids, and more.

Thanks to Justin for the article!

(Republished due to a typo in the link – my fault…)

Defense Technology International – Canada’s Naval Gap

Canada has a total of thirty-three warships and submarines doing everything a first-world Navy should be doing—patrolling its home coast, performing humanitarian missions in places like Haiti, and participating in the multinational Task Force 150 off the coast of Somalia and Yemen. But to hear the country’s top military officers tell it, Canada’s ships are too old, too few, and have some significant technological gaps that the country is struggling to fill.

Virginian Pilot – Canadian, Italian navies stop pirate attack on Norfolk-based cargo ship

The Maersk Virginia, a 950-foot U.S.-flagged container ship owned by Maersk Line Ltd. of Norfolk, escaped an attack by pirates today in the Gulf of Aden, Maersk said. The Canadian and Italian navies helped stave off the attack.

BBC – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed Canada’s decision to send a frigate to Somalia to protect ships carrying food aid from pirate attacks.
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BBC – As the race to back up claims over the resources of the Arctic Ocean heats up, Canada has said it will build two new military bases in its far north.

BBC – Arctic neighbours draw up battle lines.

BBC – Russia ahead in Arctic ‘gold rush’.
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Associated Press – Canada announced plans Monday to increase its Arctic military presence in an effort to assert sovereignty over the Northwest Passage – a potentially oil-rich region the United States says is international territory.
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Canadian Press – A key federal cabinet committee has given the go-ahead for a plan to construct six corvette-sized Arctic patrol vessels. The patrol vessels, which are almost as large as the navy’s frigates, are a step down from the armed Arctic icebreakers that the Conservatives promised in the last election campaign and will likely not be in service before 2015.
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Washington Post – A long-standing legal wrangle between the United States and Canada could complicate future shipping through the Arctic as global warming melts the ice in the Northwest Passage.
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Halifax Live – Canada is undertaking sovereignty patrols in the Arctic.
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CTV – Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor confirms Ottawa will go ahead with its plan to commission the construction of three naval supply ships.
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CBC – Repair work on the fire-ravaged HMCS Chicoutimi won’t start until 2010, leaving the Canadian navy short by one submarine and raising concerns about whether the vessel will ever be returned to service.
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Canadian Press – Will Canada arm its icebreakers to help enforce its sovereignty in the North?

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CBC – Canada’s new government plans to defend the sovereignty of its Northwest Passage more aggressively than in the past.
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Chronicle Herald – HMCS Athabaskan will join the Standing NATO Response Force Maritime Group 1 in Kiel, Germany. On Jan. 26, the destroyer will become the flagship for the squadron of Canadian, American, German, Portuguese and Polish vessels.
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Canadian Press – The Canadian Navy ends rescue operations in the Gulf Coast.
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CBC – Canada is sending a task force to aid relief efforts on the Gulf Coast???

???as did the Dutch and Mexican Navies: CBS – Gulf Coast Invaded???With Kindness.
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BBC – Canada is sending its navy back to the far northern Arctic port of Churchill after a 30-year absence.
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CBC – The first of four Canadian navy submarines has returned to sea, after they were all grounded in the wake of the deadly fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi last fall.
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Ottawa Citizen – Taxpayers could be shelling out up to $465 million for upgrades to Canada’s troubled second-hand submarines while navy officers hope to start receiving seed money in a few years for a new underwater fleet.
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Canadian Press – The renewed investigation into the fatal fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi has been put off until next month while the submarine’s captain and two officers seek legal advice.
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Canadian Press – Canada’s navy is operating at tens of millions of dollars in the red and has been for years, inhibiting its role off Canada’s coasts and elsewhere, its chief told a Senate committee on Monday.
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