No Joint Frigate Development For UK And Canada

The joint frigate venture between Canada and the UK has been ditched. Given the Canadian Navy's recent experience with used BAE Systems-built submarines, a home-grown frigate design may be preferable. After all, Canada didn't do so bad with the Halifax class frigates!

The Conservative government is slamming the door on a British proposal that the two countries work together in building new warships.

"Canada will not be pursuing collaboration with the United Kingdom on our new surface combatant fleet," Jay Paxton, a spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay, said Sunday.

Paxton was reacting to comments made by London's top diplomat in Ottawa, who told The Canadian Press that Canada and Britain could make better use of scarce public dollars by collaborating on new warships.

[snip...]

In Canada, the navy is refurbishing 12 of its 1990s era Halifax-class patrol frigates. They are expected to reach the end of their life expectancy around 2025.

Defence Department planners are working on a replacement ship, tentatively called the Single Class Surface Combat ship. The plan would involve building different types of warships on the same hull design.

A frigate replacement program would form a major component of the Canadian government's new shipbuilding strategy, a 20-year, $35-billion plan designed to create jobs in two shipyards.

By: Shelldrake