Naval News – An interview with Admiral Art McDonald, Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff. The former Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy spoke about the importance of cooperation with regional countries including Japan and his country’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific region.

War Zone – The Royal Canadian Navy’s Victoria class diesel-electric submarine HMCS Corner Brook will be out of commission until at least next summer after a recent leak caused damage to the boat, which has already been undergoing maintenance for some six years. The plight of the Corner Brook in many ways reflects the at best disappointing service career of all four of the Victorias, which Canada first agreed to acquire second-hand from the United Kingdom more than two decades ago and that have spent far more time laid up than at sea.

Naval News – The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) released the latest details on the configuration of its next generation frigates: the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC). They will be heavily armed, featuring Naval Strike Missiles, Tomahawk and both ESSM and Sea Ceptor.

– Naval News – HMCS Harry DeWolf, the first of six Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS), was delivered on 31 July to the Royal Canadian Navy.

– Forbes – The Canadian navy is about to get its first new large warship in two decades. But HMCS Harry DeWolf, the first of up to eight Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels, is all but unarmed. Her only organic weapon is a 25-millimeter cannon on her forward deck.

– Naval News – The Government of Canada is modernizing its fleet of 14 CP-140 Aurora aircraft. The Aurora Incremental Modernization Project (AIMP) involves 23 individual projects to acquire, integrate and install new mission systems and sensors onto the CP-140 for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. This project is being executed in a phased approach with four blocks; blocks I, II and III are complete, and block IV is now in the implementation phase.

– USNI News – The Canadian Coast Guard will be procuring six new program icebreakers to replace its current aging fleet of icebreakers.

– NPR – Cambodia’s prime minister has denounced as “fake news” a report in The Wall Street Journal that his country had signed a secret deal to allow Chinese warships to use a naval base in the Gulf of Thailand.

– Defense News – The Royal Canadian Navy is moving toward Britain’s Type 26 frigate design, a multimission ship designed to cut through the water quietly, hunt submarines, and defend against hostile missiles and aircraft.

– War Zone – The Canadians have already spent more than a decade working to identify a replacement for their aging Halifax-class frigates.

– CBC – The MV Asterix is the first naval ship to be delivered since the launch of the National Shipbuilding Strategy. Built in Germany, the former container ship was converted to a naval support ship at the Davie Shipyard in Quebec. The Asterix will replace HMCS Preserver and HMCS Protecteur, two supply ships no longer in service.

– Breaking Defense – The contest to build Canada’s next warship just kicked into high gear, and it’s a preview of the US Navy’s own frigate competition, with many of the same players.

– The Diplomat – According to media reports China will double the number of its Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Divisions (AMID) from two to four. Initially, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fielded two AMIDs, one stationed in Guangzhou, the other in the Nanjing Military Region, with a total number of about 30,000 men. Now total manpower in the AMIDs will be around 52,000 – 60,000. These new amphibious forces are meant to complement the roughly 20,000 strong elite PLA Marine Corps in future conflicts over the East and South China seas as well as Taiwan, although the PLA Marine Corps and the AMIDs still lack a joint command system.

– BBC – Canada’s navy has imposed a near-total ban on its sailors from drinking while at sea.

– War is Boring – Ottawa’s weapons plan is unrealistic and late.

– Winnipeg Free Press – Two of the fleet’s three destroyers, HMCS Iroquois and Algonquin, and both supply vessels, HMCS Preserver and HMCS Protecteur, have made their last voyages and will be decommissioned

– USNI News – The Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Toronto (FFH-333) was overflown by three Russian planes — two fighters and a surveillance aircraft — on Sunday, according to a Monday statement from Canadian Defence Minister Rob Nicholson. “While the Russian military aircraft that circled the HMCS Toronto did not in any way pose a threat to the Canadian ship, their actions were unnecessarily provocative and risk escalating tensions even further,” Nicholson said in the statement.

– 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.