Canada has selected German ship and submarine manufacturer TKMS as the preferred supplier to deliver the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN’s) next generation of diesel-electric submarines (SSKs).
Following the announcement made by Prime Minister Mark Carney during his visit to Canadian Forces Base Halifax on the country’s east coast on 6 July, the Canadian government and TKMS will now begin negotiations to put in place all necessary arrangements to deliver this future capability.
Under the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP), the RCN is looking for up to 12 new SSKs to replace its existing Victoria-class boats. The replacements are now expected to come in the form of TKMS’s Type 212 Common Design (T212CD) hull. According to Canada’s announcement, the first four submarines are scheduled for delivery by 2034.
The T212CD is already under construction for the German Navy and the Royal Norwegian Navy as part of a bilateral strategic partnership. Canada’s decision opens the possibility of evolving this into a trilateral partnership, enabling the three NATO navies to collaborate on capability development, operations, maintenance, support, and training and exercising for the new boats.
Canada’s strategic need for its new submarines is to develop the ability to carry out sustained operations, particularly surveillance tasks, across the three oceans it borders – the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific.
In announcing its decision, Canada underscored the significance of the new capability for operating – and building deterrence – in the Arctic. While noting that climate change has increased adversaries’ opportunities to access areas of Canadian territory and interests there, the CPSP’s T212CD boats are capable of extensive underwater surveillance and Arctic patrol operations and are fully interoperable within a NATO context.
Many of NATO’s key North Atlantic navies are seeking to increase surveillance and deterrence presence in the Arctic region.
South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean – the other final contender in the CPSP bid process, with its KSS-III Batch 2 SSK design – remains as a reserve supplier, in case the negotiations between TKMS and Canada are not successfully concluded.
by Dr Lee Willett
