Previously:

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

Now, 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. Will a second go-round in 2012-13 help any?…

July 14/10: Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND) issues background materials concerning a second attempt at the JSS project. Specifications are very, very thin [emphasis added]. The second go-round is listed as a C$ 2.6 billion project, though currency strength would offset some of the $300 million reduction. So would the revised plan of buying 2 ships, with an option for a 3rd.

Canada’s proposed shipbuilding strategy fits into the plan, but a construction bid can’t be expected before 2012 at the earliest. The mission description is close to meaningless [emphasis added], and will remain so until tradeoffs are specified among these capabilities, and exact requirements become clearer…

Jan 18/10: The Dutch go ahead with their own multi-role “Joint Logistics Support Ship” program, with a budget of EUR 385.5 million for 1 ship [emphasis added, do the math for our cost per ship]. Could this represent a JSS contender if the project resurfaces [or at least a possible design to buy]? Read “Dutch Order Multi-Purpose Support Ship” for the full story…

But note this from the last link above:

…
The program’s last-reported budget is EUR 365.5 million, and the ship is due for delivery in 2014. The question will be whether the program can remain on budget and on-schedule, or whether the versatility requested will create design and testing challenges that will raise the final price, and result in late delivery…

Sounds, er, familiar.

Mark
Ottawa