Backgrounder: Investments in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN)

The RCN will continue to be a blue water Navy, capable of operating globally across the deep waters of open oceans, and conducting the spectrum of maritime operations from humanitarian response and disaster relief to combat. Enabling responsive, resilient and agile projection of naval power anywhere in the world, the Naval Task Group, a fully networked, globally deployable, and tactically self-sufficient team of up to four naval combatant vessels and a support ship, with its own embarked Command Staff and maritime aircraft, will continue to be the core RCN operating concept. Naval Task Groups are able to engage in a wide range of missions, independently or with allied forces.

Today’s security environment requires that Canada have a Navy that is: designed and structured to operate in some of the most extreme ocean conditions; networked and interoperable with our partners and allies; and organized and sized to project power responsively and effectively far from Canada’s shores.

Through Strong, Secure, Engaged the Government will deliver the capabilities the RCN needs to meet future defence and security challenges, both at home and abroad, and to carry out the tasks required of a modern navy.

We will:

• Replace the surface fleet through investments in 15 Canadian Surface Combatants. Defence conducted a year-long re-costing of the Surface Combatants. This involved private sector firms as well as international experts, such as the U.S. Navy. Based on this review, Defence estimates the cost of 15 ships at between $56 - $60 billion. The policy sets aside funding to deliver the full complement of ships the Navy needs to provide capability across the full range of operations. They will replace both the Iroquois-class destroyers and the Halifax-class frigates with a single class of ship capable of meeting multiple threats on both the open ocean and the highly complex coastal (littoral) environment;
• Acquire new or enhanced naval intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems, upgraded armament, and additional systems for current and future platforms allowing for more effective offensive and defensive naval capabilities;
• Upgrade lightweight torpedoes carried by surface ships, maritime helicopters, and maritime patrol aircraft;
• Modernize the Victoria-class submarines – a vital capability to both the defence of Canada and protection of Canadian naval assets in deployed operations, providing stealth sea control and sea denial capabilities;

And as previously announced:

• Two Joint Support Ships – will be critical to the mobility of maritime forces and the enabling of sustained international deployments. These ships will provide core replenishment capabilities for supplies such as food, fresh water, and ammunition, as well as capacity for sealift and increased support to forces ashore; and
• Five to six Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships – will significantly enhance CAF capabilities and presence in the Arctic and augment presence on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. These vessels will better enable the RCN to assert and enforce Arctic sovereignty. They will provide operational capability in the north further into the navigable Arctic season between June and October.

The Government will provide $17.5 billion on an accrual basis ($53.5 billion on a cash basis) to fund equipment projects for the RCN over the next 20 years. This includes:

• $2.9 billion over the next 20 years for two new equipment investments in the RCN to replace obsolete components of current systems and improve the Royal Canadian Navy’s ability to meet evolving underwater threats;
• $14.6 billion over the next 20 years to fully fund planned equipment projects.

The policy sets aside funding to enable the Navy to acquire the full complement of 15 Canadian Surface Combatants needed to provide capability across the full range of operations. Defence conducted a year-long re-costing of the Surface Combatants. This involved private sector firms as well as international experts, such as the U.S. Navy. Based on this review, Defence estimates the cost of 15 ships at between $56 - $60 billion. Much of these funds will be spent after the 20 years covered by the policy.

New Investments in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN)