A new Canadian Multi-mission Corvette (CMC) Project has been created by the Department of Defence (DND) to replace the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN’s) existing 12 Kingston-class Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels (MCDVs) that are approaching 30 years of service. CDR asked Quebec-Bureau Chief, Peter Diekmeyer, to speak with Team Vigilance to get an update on their offering to the Canadian government and learn more about the Vigilance-class vessel.

Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy continues to drive the revitalization of domestic naval supply chains. However, experts have long recognized emerging gaps. For example, the RCN’s 12 Kingston-class MCDVs that need to be replaced – for which the Canadian Multi-mission Corvette (CMC) Project has been set-up. In recent months, this ambitious initiative – which opens a range of replacement options – has acquired renewed momentum.

“Canada has the world’s longest coastline,” says Derek Buxton, Vice President of Business Development at Vard Marine. “Recognition that our country needs to increase defence spending to close the gap on agreed NATO commitments opens the door for new funding to address key naval and security priorities. These include assuring freedom of navigation in the sea lanes to and from our major ports, safeguarding our natural resources in the exclusive economic zone and protecting critical sub-sea infrastructure. Vard Marine has worked on many naval programs for vessels that do all these things.”

Buxton’s extensive career in the RCN, Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and within industry has provided him with a 360-degree understanding of defence ecosystem dynamics. He was thus a key driver of Vard Marine’s recent partnering with Ontario Shipyards (formerly Heddle Shipyards), Thales Canada, SH Defence and Fincantieri as the core members of Team Vigilance, which last year floated a concept vessel for high-tempo sovereignty missions.

“Vigilance is a lightweight but capable naval vessel and a bona fi de naval combatant that can cover all the missions of the current Kingston-class MCDV, but which can also perform military roles that they and the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPV) cannot,” Buxton told CDR. “They are specifi cally designed to meet naval standards for maneuverability, stealth and survivability for operations in domestic and international waters in both benign and contested environments.”

A SOLUTION CENTERED IN ONTARIO

Team Vigilance hopes to leverage Ontario Shipyard’s Port Weller facility as the project’s major production site. The locale could also serve as a keystone to help reinvigorate the province’s naval production capabilities. “Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy includes yards in Quebec, as well as Eastern and Western Canada,” says Buxton. “However, Ontario and the Great Lakes are a maritime region with excellent potential supply chain partners who would love a chance to contribute.”

Ted Kirkpatrick, Director of Business Development and Government Relations at Ontario Shipyards agrees. “The Port Weller dry docks were once the epicentre of shipbuilding in Canada. Notable vessels including the CCGS Des Groseilliers and the MV Arctic (the largest commercial ice breaker in the world at the time of launch) and many others were built there.”

Ontario Shipyards’ infrastructure enables it to build several Vigilance-class vessels concurrently. In fact, the facility is easily able to accommodate six plus vessels at various stages of construction concurrently without any major infrastructure upgrades. “Ontario has the largest underutilized shipbuilding capacity in Canada,” Kirkpatrick told CDR. “The Vigilance Project would enable us to bring untapped capacity online and bring shipbuilding back to Ontario.”

Buxton cites the existence of local steel producers and industrial fabricators on the banks of the Great Lakes who can deliver cut and formed structural components directly to the facility. Team Vigilance is currently surveying other local and national suppliers in order to optimize proposed construction, economic activity and job creation.

“It’s early days,” admits Buxton who is convinced that responsibility falls on industry to think ahead given the fact that MCDVs are creeping on 30 years of service. The fact that increasing numbers of experts are opining that they need to be replaced has only added to his sense of urgency. “We are currently working with industry and supply chain partners to provide advice the RCN can use during the Project Identification phase to help get the ball rolling in a more formal way.”

THALES

Travis Dowd, Director of Sales and Strategy at Thales Canada is thrilled about the opportunity to offer the multinational defence giant’s combat systems, communications, and navigation technology as Team Vigilance and its government procurement counterparts examine the various options. This would be a natural fi t for Thales Canada which has been a vital Tier-1 partner since it signed its fi rst contract under the National Shipbuilding Strategy back in 2012.

Dowd isn’t shy about the importance of those contributions. “A ship without systems is like a human body without a heart,” he told CDR. “We were thrilled to be asked to participate in Team Vigilance. Our role as the Electronic Systems Integrator (ESI) on earlier NSS programs for the RCN and CCG definitely helped.”

Design and development work that Thales Canada did on the electronic systems for Canada’s Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels (OFSV) and the Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessels (OOSV) also contributed. Particularly important is the fact that the three OFSVs have been accepted by the CCG and are in-service, and the OOSV is now in production with its major systems, such as the integrated bridge, being installed at Seaspan’s Vancouver shipyard.

VARD

According to Buxton, Vard is fully prepared to design the vessel and lead the project. The naval architecture and marine engineering consultancy, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vard Group AS in Norway which in turn is owned by shipbuilding giant Fincantieri, describes itself as a global reference player in bespoke multi-mission naval vessels.

The Canadian company boasts a deep reference list of naval vessel programs that position it to take the leading role as part of Team Vigilance. This includes a growing portfolio of contemporary naval designs ranging from 70 to 125m in length which it has provided to naval and government clients in Canda, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and many other countries around the globe. In fact, right now there are seven naval programs underway around the globe building ships designed by Vard Marine.

“The support of our ownership and the breadth of experience we have acquired in recent years give us the organizational depth and flexibility to shepherd through a complex project like this which has a lot of moving parts,” says Buxton. “We have been involved in many naval programs across all phases and stages, so we know what to expect.”

PREFERRED SUPPLIERS

In October 2023 Team Vigilance introduced their Preferred Supplier Program inviting Canadian companies to join up and contribute to the overall effort. “We want to rekindle the level of national ambition that existed in the 1990s with the Canadian Patrol Frigate program and ensure Vigilance is designed, built and equipped in Canada to the maximum extent possible” says Buxton. Many companies have already signed on to the Vigilance Preferred Suppliers program, many more are sure to follow.

While the Defence Policy Update (DPU) released on April 8th did not explicitly mention the CMC project, it did announce $9.9 billion over 20 years to improve the sustainment of the RCN’s naval fl eets. “Our hope is for the announcement of a formal industry engagement process that would lead to the issuance of a “Request for Information” and later a Request for Proposal,” Buxton told CDR. “Ontario’s shipbuilding ecosystem is ready.”

Peter Diekmeyer is CDR’s Quebec Bureau Chief