Type 26 design named as Canada's future frigate/CSC(updated)

[maxim]

Not surprising that the decision is challenged. Apparently many of the contenders thought that the bidding process was staged.

[Haijun watcher]

Chronicle Herald

Warship contract pause lifted
Premium content
Andrea Gunn (agunn@herald.ca)

Published: Dec 11 at 12:38 p.m.
Updated: Dec 11 at 1:32 p.m.

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal is no longer asking the federal government to halt awarding a definition contract in its massive multibillion-dollar warship procurement.
The tribunal, an independent quasi-judicial body dealing with matters of international trade, wrote a letter to Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) late last month ordering the department to postpone the award of any contracts related to the Canadian Surface Combatant project while it investigated a complaint from competing bidder Alion Canada.
In a letter to PSPC dated Dec. 10, the CITT says its original postponement of award of contract direction issued to the federal government has been rescinded further the government �having certified in writing that the above procurement is urgent and that a delay in awarding the contract would be contrary to the public interest.�
Though the CITT is is no longer asking the federal government to postpone awarding a contract, Alion�s complaint to the CITT is still active and under investigation.
In October, a bid from Lockheed Martin Canada was identified by the federal government as the preferred design for Canada�s new fleet of warships after a lengthy and sensitive competition. The Canadian Surface Combatant project is the largest procurement in Canadian history and will see 15 warships built at Irving Shipyards in Halifax for between $56 billion and $60 billion.
(....SNIPPED)

[Admiral John Byng]

the type 26 should not have been selected as not a proven design compared to the other designs that are in use now.

That is true but it is the only design which has specialist ASW acoustic features. If Canada wishes to have a highly capable ASW platform then it needs to take the risk of a new design. If it wanted an AAW or a general purpose frigate then it might do better to go with one of the others.

[maxim]

I have read this statement about the Type 26 being the only one optimized for ASW, but is this really true? Is there any reference for that except of marketing by the Type 26 producers?

It is not even sure, who were all the initial contenders before several refused to participate anymore.

[Admiral John Byng]

As it is the Royal Navy's new specialist ASW frigate I am pretty sure it has the necessary design features for that task (and the price tag!). As far as I know the other contenders for the Canadian contract are either general purpose frigates or were built for AAW. Therefore it seems likely that the Type 26 is the only one that has the acoustic quieting properties associated with specialist ASW.

Not many navies seem to be interested in providing for high level ASW tasking but the RCN has historically seen it as a necessity.

[maxim]

The Italian and French FREMM are designed for ASW, the same could be possible (I am not sure) about the Spanish design (even it is a development of the �lvaro de Baz�n-class). I do not know which design ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Canada submitted (high likely not the Baden-W�rttemberg class Wikipedia states) and we also do not know any details of the proposed designs by Alion and Odense Maritime Technology. For sure designs based on AAW frigates, but that does not mean that the Type 26 would be the better ASW ship than those designs.

[Timmy C]

The Alion design is the Dutch De Zeven Provincien design with some modifications - likely not too much though, to keep within the intent of "off the shelf" design, even if they didn't know Canada was willing to take an unbuilt design like Type 26.

It's a crude measure, but from all the promotional materials I've seen, neither Alion nor Navantia emphasized their designs' dedication to ASW to anywhere near the same extent at Type 26. Presumably, if either had ASW measures built into their designs, they would be loudly and proudly advertising it to counter the Type 26 claims of superiority in that regard.

The FREMMs, TKMS, and Odense companies did not submit official final bids to the process and are therefore not eligible to be chosen by the government of Canada.

[maxim]

Sure, some companies do not submit bids, in at least in several cases because of the fear that the selection process was not fair (an impression, which is still there).

The Type 26 producers had to stress something, because they have the otherwise most risky proposal. All other companies have working, proven designs - in contrast to the Type 26 builders.

Anyway, that means that the statement that the Type 26 is superior regarding ASW is based on a mixture of marketing promises, hopes and assumptions.

[Timmy C]

Anyway, that means that the statement that the Type 26 is superior regarding ASW is based on a mixture of marketing promises, hopes and assumptions.

Short of actual combat experience, access to highly-classified testing and exercise information, or talking to folks who are willing to leak the relevant info, I'm not sure if we can know more about this with more certainty.

[Haijun watcher]

Ottawa Citizen

Complaint about Canada's warship procurement dismissed
David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: February 1, 2019
The awarding of a contract for a new warship fleet moved one step closer to reality after a trade tribunal rejected a complaint from one of the bidders that the process was flawed.
The Canadian government hopes to award the contract to Lockheed Martin Canada in the coming months for the Canadian Surface Combatant. That $60 billion project will see the construction of 15 warships in the largest single government purchase in Canadian history.
Lockheed is offering Canada the Type 26 warship designed by BAE in the United Kingdom.
But last year, Alion, one of the companies that submitted a bid on the project, filed a complaint with the Canadian International Trade Tribunal alleging the process was flawed and that BAE�s Type 26 can�t meet Canadian requirements. Alion has also filed a legal challenge in federal court, asking for a judicial review of the decision by Irving and the government to select the BAE design. Alion argues the Type 26 cannot meet the stated mandatory requirements, including speed, that Canada set out for the new warship, so it should be disqualified.
(...SNIPPED)

[maxim]

The process was changed 88 times!? That is really strange, especially, when a design won, which should have been never qualified on the first place, at least not for the original requirements.

[Admiral John Byng]

Navantia may have been quietly ruled out of the competition by the RCN since the sinking of the Helge Ingstad. Apparently some watertight compartments may have been compromised by a design flaw.

With the recent aggressive behaviour by Russia and with a potential vulnerability in the Arctic , I suspect that Canada has decided to prioritize ASW and that is why they have gone with the Type 26.

I don't know what the original requirements were but if the Canadians want to change them then they are free to do so. Perhaps they need to scrap this competition to make it all nice and legal, but Alion are not likely to benefit from that. All Canada needs to do under those circumstances is award the contract to Lockheed Martin.

[maxim]

The decision was made before Helge Ingstad sunk - and she sunk because of a collision with a large, 112,939 t, tanker, which holed several compartments below water, which would have sunk nearly every ship including also much larger ships.

[Admiral John Byng]

The decision was made before Helge Ingstad sunk - and she sunk because of a collision with a large, 112,939 t, tanker, which holed several compartments below water, which would have sunk nearly every ship including also much larger ships.

I should have explained it better. While the initial level that HI sank to was due to the collision, apparently the attempts to save her failed because compartments that were supposed to be watertight were not. These compartments were not damaged but were adjacent to ones that were. It seems there was a serious design flaw. Therefore she eventually sank almost completely under the water when the crew were expecting her to remain stable.

[maxim]

The newer analysis indicate that the initial damage was too massive holing several compartments.

Ingstad was hit by a 112,939 t tanker at speed at slight angle, so that the tanker's bow hit several compartments. The decision to evacuate was made very early after realising the extend of the damage.

As I had written: not many ships could survive such kind of damage.

[Haijun watcher]

Finally!

Ottawa Citizen

Liberals sign Canadian Surface Combatant contract- deal to be announced Friday
David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: February 7, 2019
The Canadian Surface Combatant contract was signed Thursday by the Liberal government. The contact with Irving and the Lockheed Martin-BAE consortium was negotiated in near record time.

The signing of the contract will be announced by Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough at the Irving yard in Halifax on Friday.

That $60 billion project will see the eventual construction of 15 warships in the largest single government purchase in Canadian history.

Lockheed offered Canada the Type 26 warship designed by BAE in the United Kingdom. Irving is the prime contractor and the vessels will be built at its yard.

Public Services and Procurement Canada did not respond to a request for comment.

(EDITED----------)

[Admiral John Byng]

It will be interesting to see how long it takes Australia and Canada to build their first ship. In the UK it will take 9 or ten years! Also the per unit cost will make an interesting comparison!

[maxim]

That would have been also my question.

The other one:
is it already known what kind of radar and weapons the Canadian ships will get? Will they look different compared to the British and Australian ships? Will it be worthwhile to built three models of the Type 26?

[Timmy C]

All models and CGI of the Canadian variant shows a very different "mast" appearance, and some of the CGI even show the low-infrared mesh screen for the funnel that's used on the Halifax class. They have not advertised which particular systems will be installed - but it seems we'll get a unique four-face fixed array radar that's not the SPY-1/6.

Here's are two renders of the Canadian version - note some minor differences, and that there's still a few years of design work to do to finalize the final configuration before steel gets cut in 2022-3.

[maxim]

Thank you!

If the Canadian ships will look similar to these CGI drawings, it will be interesting to built all three variants. Something for the late 2020s...