Navantia aims to sign a historic contract with Canada to sell it 12 conventional submarines of the S-80 class

This was during the NATO Summit in Washington. Canada took advantage of this event to officially announce its intention to renew and expand its submarine fleet, “in order to allow Canada to detect and deter threats and control our maritime access. We made this commitment because Canada’s current fleet, made up of four Victoria-class submarines, is becoming increasingly obsolete and expensive to maintain. Canada needs a new fleet of submarines to protect our sovereignty from new security threats,” explained Defence Minister Bill Blair.

To this end, the acquisition of up to 12 conventionally powered submarines with the ability to navigate under ice has been announced. Canada is beginning the process to formally engage industry in this acquisition. Through the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP), Canada will acquire a larger and more modern fleet of submarines that will allow the Royal Canadian Navy to covertly detect and deter maritime threats, control maritime access, project power and strike capability both on its three maritime fronts and beyond its shores.

It should not be forgotten that Canada is the country with the largest coastline in the world, so submarine surveillance capabilities are crucial. In addition, the Arctic has become a particularly hot spot from a geopolitical point of view, but also from an environmental one, as the increase in temperature and melting ice have made this area “a vast and sensitive region and more accessible to foreign actors with growing capabilities and regional military ambitions. By 2050, the Arctic Ocean could become the most efficient shipping route between Europe and East Asia,” explains the Canadian Minister of Defence.

While the document released yesterday does not specify what type of submarines Canada is seeking, it did announce that “the Department of National Defence is currently in the process of meeting with potential manufacturers and partners, as part of the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP). A formal request for information will be released in the fall of 2024 to obtain more information regarding the acquisition, construction, delivery and operational capabilities of potential bidders who may build submarines for Canada. This RFI will also seek to obtain information that will enable the establishment of a submarine maintenance capability in Canada. This acquisition will allow Canada to develop closer ties with its allies and partners and establish a strategic partnership that will not only deliver the submarines themselves, but will create a lasting relationship between Canada and its strategic partners to support personnel training and information sharing.”

Canada’s key submarine capability requirements will be stealth, lethality, persistence and Arctic deployability, meaning the submarine must have extended range and endurance. Canada’s new fleet must offer a unique combination of these requirements to ensure that Canada can detect, track, deter and, if necessary, defeat adversaries across Canada’s three oceans.while contributing significantly alongside allies and enabling the Government of Canada to deploy this fleet overseas in support of our partners and allies.

“We are seeing increased Russian activity in our air approaches and an increasing number of Chinese dual-purpose research vessels and surveillance platforms collecting data over Northern Canada that, under Chinese law, is made available to the Chinese military,” they said.

Canada has also announced new defence spending of $8.1 billion over five years and $73 billion over 20 years.

In 1998, the British government purchased four Victoria-class submarines, which were delivered to Canada over a four-year period between 2000 and 2004. The first three submarines (Victoria, Windsor and Corner Brook) entered service with the RCN shortly after their arrival in Canada. The fourth, Chicoutimi, was delivered to Canada in 2004, but did not enter service with the RCN until 2015, due to a fire in 2004 and subsequent work required.

The British submarines in service were old and, for many situations, practically useless. In fact, the United Kingdom sold them for $750 million after they were rejected by Pakistan, Portugal and Chile. They were so badly damaged that they have spent more time in dry dock than in the water. Ottawa has been forced to invest billions of dollars in the fleet over more than two decades to address various problems and incidents, such as fires and faulty welds. Several accidents also occurred during military operations and sea trials.

As early as 1987, the Canadian Government’s White Paper on Defence recommended the purchase of 12 nuclear-powered submarines capable of navigating under the ice and defending its sovereignty in the Arctic region. However, the proposal was abandoned due to significant opposition from both the public and the media, who rejected the nuclear option and the enormous expense it would entail.

Now, tired of spending money on repairing, maintaining and trying to modernise their old submarines, the idea of ​​buying 12 new ones has taken shape again, but not with nuclear propulsion, but with conventional ones. The aim is to contribute to “high-level NATO operations”, argued a 2017 government report, which advocated implementing a procurement procedure similar to that of Australia, which had just selected Naval Group to provide the Royal Australian Navy with 12 Shortfin Barracudas, with industrial and technological transfers in the mix.

The Royal Canadian Navy intends to take advantage of Canada’s ongoing defence policy review to at least replace its four Victoria-class submarines. at a time when China is investing heavily in its submarine capabilities, as is Russia, whose submarines have been increasingly conducting patrols in the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean.

In July 2021, the Canadian government also initiated a fledgling program called the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP).to thoroughly analyse the available options and determine their specific needs. The Navy is urging the government to include submarine procurement in its revised defence policy. At a defence conference in Ottawa last month, Chief of the Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre said he would make the case for submarines on behalf of the Navy.

Although the possibility of developing these vessels with in-house technology was considered, implementing such a strategy could take up to fifteen years and the decision to launch such a program must be taken as quickly as possible.

This is where Navantia would come into play, as the S-80 class submarines it is building for the Navy would fit perfectly with Canada’s wishes. A recent report by the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies (IEEE) analyzed the situation of this market and came to the conclusion that Only seven companies worldwide were able to offer conventional submarines. Using a multi-criteria evaluation process, he compared the Spanish submarine with the rest and came to the conclusion that “The characteristics of the S-80, Navantia’s collaboration with Electric Boat and the use of the most modern systems in the S-80 make it a good candidate for export. Navantia has done its homework and has the potential to make a strong comeback in this exclusive market. But let’s not fool ourselves; they should not be complacent. Arms sales are often linked to politics and their competitors will do everything possible to win the contracts.”

The design elements used in the S-80, the report says, are the same as those used in many French, British and American nuclear submarines. The capabilities of the S-80, the innovative AIP system and the care taken with the acoustic signature have made it a good product, but it needs to complete all the tests and enter into service for it to become a reality and not just a project.

LNavantia’s main competitors The other six companies are the German company Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems GmbH (TKMS), which has sold its submarines to the navies of 13 countries. The other six companies are the French company Naval Group (formerly DCNS), the Russian company Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering of St. Petersburg, the Chinese company State Shipbuilding Corporation of Jiangnan, the Japanese consortium Mitsubishi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, the Swedish company Saab-Kockums, and finally the Spanish company Navantia with its shipyards in Cartagena.

Of these seven manufacturers, the Russian and Chinese companies should be ruled out, for obvious reasons, so Spain will have to compete with the Japanese Souryu class, which it has not yet managed to sell to any customer; the Swedish A-26, whose first unit will be delivered in 2027 to the Swedish Navywhich puts it at a disadvantage compared to Navantia, whose first submarine, the S-81 Isaac Peral, was delivered to the Navy last November; and then there are the French Scorpene, already in service and sold to numerous countries, and the Barracuda, with two versions, one nuclear and one conventional.initially intended for the Australian Navy, but ultimately unsuccessful. The delivery of the first conventional unit to Australia was scheduled for 2025, but the project’s failure leaves the future of the submarine unknown.

AND, Finally, there is the German model from Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems, which has sold more than 20 submarines to several countries in the last decade.“German submarines are adaptable to the needs of any Navy and their AIP system is a benchmark.

According to the aforementioned IEEE report, and analyzing a series of different expert factors, The S-80 would take first place among the other competitors, closely followed by the German U-212 (second) and the Japanese Souryu and the French Shortfin Barracuda, both in third place.