How’s that for governments’ managing defence procurement:  Earlier (July 14):

“Canada First Defence Strategy” and the Joint Sometime Ship (JSS)

Just over four years ago in Halifax the government promised to buy three new Joint Support Ships for $2.9 billion, with the first ship to be delivered in 2012.

Today in Halifax the government promised to buy two, somewhat less capable (see here for the capability reductions), JSS for $2.6 billion (with an option for a third, hah!)…

The project in fact goes back a perishingly long way.  This is what the vessel was envisaged as looking like in 2004, under the Liberals (first delivery was supposed to be in 2011–12 then, more here):

Update: Other images, including more recent designs, here.

Upperdate: I also blame the Navy for wanting a ship that was neither fish nor cetacean, as it were. An all-singing, all-dancing vessel that tried to do too much…

Then:

Joint Sometime Ship (JSS), Take 2

…from the start of a round-up piece by Defense Industry Daily:

Canada’s C$ 2.9B “Joint Support Ship” Project, Take 2

As part of its spate of military modernization announcements issued just before Canada Day (July 1) 2006, the Canadian government issued an RFP that began the process of defining and building 3 “Joint Support Ships.” The aim was to deliver 3 multi-role vessels with substantially more capability than the current Protecteur Class oiler and resupply ships. In addition to being able to provide at-sea support (re-fueling and re-supply [that type of ship is called an AOR]) to deployed naval task groups, the new JSS ships were envisioned as ships that would also be capable of sealift operations, as well as amphibious support to forces deployed ashore.

This was expected to be a C$ 2.9 billion (USD $2.58 billion) project. DID describes the process, the 4 pre-qualified industry teams participating, and some of the issues swirling around Canada’s very ambitious specifications. Specifications that ultimately sank the whole project, in a manner that was predictable from the outset [emphasis added]. Leaving Canada’s navy with a serious problem…

Now:

Navy close to getting new design for ships
Transport vessels may be ready in 2017; $2.6B project has yet to be signed

A winning design for the Canadian navy’s new transport ships could be selected by late next year, but it’s still unclear when the vessels might become operational.

Ian Mack, a top procurement official at the Defence Department, said a decision will eventually be made between a design now being done in-house for the government and existing designs of ships now in service with other navies.

“We’re going to select either a concept design or we select a military-off-the shelf design,” said Mack, DND’s director general for major project delivery on land and sea programs. “In both cases the shipyard has to take whatever we give them.”

The selected design for the Joint Support Ship will then be provided to the shipyard that has been picked by the federal government to handle construction of the country’s warships [that's part of the government's recently announced "National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy" which will select two shipyards, "...one to build combat vessels, the other to build non-combat vessels..."; how having two shipyards, each with a monopoly on constructing certain types of ships will be cost-efficient beats the heck out of me]…

Specific delivery dates are still not firm since a contract on the $2.6-billion project has yet to be signed. The program had originally wanted to deliver the ships by 2012, but that plan was derailed when previous bids submitted by shipyards were rejected in 2008 because they didn’t meet the government’s requirements.

“We’re a number of years adrift from where we were,” Mack said when asked about delivery dates. “I think suggesting we’ll have this capability in the water by 2017-2018″ is accurate…

The JSS would replace the existing 40-year-old supply vessels that haul fuel and ammunition for naval formations at sea. The JSS and other federal ship programs are expected to be discussed when government and industry officials meet in the Ottawa area Oct. 13…

Mack said the project was scaled back because of cost and the fact the military now has access to more transport aircraft and leased ships to haul equipment and supplies. He said the new ships will be outfitted with electrical systems and other gear so command and control and other equipment to support ground forces could be installed later [emphasis added, officially projected capabilities at bottom here]…

So less capable than planned or desired. But at least the government is finally willing to consider buying an existing foreign design in order to save money (which they finally agreed to do a year ago for some new Canadian Coast Guard vessels). And to ensure the blinking things work.

Some two years ago our Navy actually looked at Dutch plans for a similar type of ship, but nothing came then of that exploration. And even the Dutch will have the hulls of their new ships built in Romania to save money:

…
The difference between the Canadian and Dutch JSS is in the procurement approach. The Dutch vessel’s hull will be built at the Damen shipyard in Galati, Romania, with the rest of the construction in the Netherlands [note that Damen is the same company whose design is being used for our new Coast Guard vessels mentioned above]…

Although our government is now open to foreign designs it still insists–as would any other Canadian govenment–that the construction be done in Canada. Pork. Pork. Porc.

Meanwhile the rather smarter Aussies have bought Spanish designs for new naval ships–with some construction also being done in Spain.

Mark
Ottawa