{"id":336,"date":"2024-11-08T19:15:28","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T19:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=336"},"modified":"2024-11-08T19:15:28","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T19:15:28","slug":"canada-inks-1-85-billion-cad-deal-with-lockheed-for-halifax-class-frigate-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=336","title":{"rendered":"Canada inks $1.85 billion CAD deal with Lockheed for Halifax-class frigate support"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Canadian government recently awarded\u00a0Lockheed Martin Canada a contract<\/a>\u00a0valued at up to $1.85 billion Canadian dollars ($1.33 billion USD) for the continued combat system integration and in-service support of the Halifax-class frigates for their remaining operational lives.<\/p>\n

Glenn Copeland, general manager of rotary and mission systems for Lockheed\u2019s Canada branch, told Breaking Defense here on Wednesday that Lockheed\u2019s original long-term contract began in 2008 and ended recently. This new deal, he added, has options that persist through 2045, which is when the last frigate is expected to retire from the Royal Canadian Navy\u2019s fleet. As the systems integrator, Lockheed\u2019s job and the contract\u2019s purpose centers around continually updating the software running the fleet\u2019s combat management system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Royal Canadian Navy\u2019s fleet of Halifax-class frigates are the backbone of maritime operations at home and abroad,\u201d Bill Blair, Canada\u2019s minister of national defence, said in the government\u2019s Oct. 31announcement<\/a>. \u201cThis in-service support contract will ensure our frigates remain operationally effective until the arrival of our future fleet of River-class destroyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lockheed\u2019s combat management system, dubbed CMS330, is proliferated throughout Canada\u2019s fleet, but the new contract, also speaks to the state of the Royal Canadian Navy\u2019s fleet and the challenges its top admiral has\u00a0bluntly acknowledged his force is faces.<\/p>\n

\n
The Halifax class<\/a>\u00a0is considered an integral workhorse for the RCN\u2019s operations. But with the first-in-class having entered the fleet in the 1990s and the last one needed to remain operational into the 2040s, Ottawa is endeavoring to keep that class online well past its original service life projecting its retirement in the 2030s.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s a necessary measure until Canada brings online the Canadian Surface Combatant, its new warship that was recently named the\u00a0River-class destroyer. That new class of ship is being built by Canada\u2019s Irving Shipbuilding, which subcontracted Lockheed Martin for the design, a derivative of BAE Systems\u2019 Type 26 Global Combat Ship. Copeland said the first three ships are under contract, and a second contract for another six is anticipated following a full-rate production decision later this year. The first ship is scheduled to be operational in the early 2030s.<\/p>\n

Lockheed\u2019s CMS330 combat management system will also be installed on the River class, which Copeland hopes will help to boost its reputation in an effort to sell it abroad in Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of countries out there right now that have either a MEKO-class or something similar that they want to modernize, plus a bunch of countries that are doing new hull construction warships that don\u2019t\u201d require the Aegis Combat System \u2014 a competing CMS also made by Lockheed that\u2019s favored by the US Navy but one that is a more expensive and niche capability compared to CMS330, he said. A \u201cMEKO\u201d class of ships is a term that originates from German firm Blohm+Voss\u2019s family of warships that are multi-purpose in nature and focused on ease of maintenance and low cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on 42 platforms right now and I think in 10 years, we\u2019ll be on well over 75,\u201d Copeland added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Canadian government recently awarded\u00a0Lockheed Martin Canada a contract\u00a0valued at up to $1.85 billion Canadian dollars ($1.33 billion USD) for the continued combat system integration and in-service support of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[65,66],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-naval","tag-canada","tag-frigate"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/CANADA-FRIGATES.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=336"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":413,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions\/413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}