Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/122908
P POINT COUNTERPOINT Continued from page 16 Yet, the only way to ensure that the Canadian Forces has both the quality and quantity of these stated capabilities is to leverage the RCN's buying power as effectively as possible. With expectations so high, it is critical that Canada be able to acquire ships that are not only capable but also affordable, both at initial purchase and over the lifecycle of the fleet. The initial stated target for 15 new ships has been met with scepticism from some in government and industry who take the view that 15 frigates are unaffordable within the budgetary envelope of $26 billion. With the cost of new design, testing, development, configuration, and the risk that comes from a green sheet approach, the concern regarding affordability must be taken seriously. A custom design and one-of-a-kind model will increase costs substantially versus other options. The price difference is not just evident at the time of purchase, where an initial sticker shock is inevitable, but also with increased lifecycle costs. The fiscal and trade-off expenses of an orphan design without an established international supply chain for spare parts as well as institutional tested capabilities that come with lessons learned are intuitively higher, even to the most casual observer. Canada's naval requirements include unique considerations that do not easily enable an off-the-shelf (OTS) design. In addition to the aforementioned operational requirements, the need to regularly operate in a temperature range from -30 to +30°C, the ability to maintain a firm alliance with the United States Navy and allied partners, and the need for uniquely Canadian military communications all have an impact on cost. The CSC program, with its extensive requirements and its shrinking budget, should benefit from modifying a proven ship. Such an approach would reduce the difficult decisions the RCN may be forced to make when it comes down to cost capability trade-offs. The Canadian project-by-project approach to shipbuilding has shown itself to be inefficient. Politicians and flag officers alike recognized that the renewal of the RCN and Coast Guard fleets could not be accomplished unless a new procurement 18 APRIL/MAY 2013 www.vanguardcanada.com Continued from page 17 model was adopted, hence the hope of NSPS. Certainly, new technology has to be incorporated into the fleet, but an OTS ship class can benefit from using existing technology in many areas. Modifying existing technology does not mean purchasing obsolete technology. This approach could deliver a balanced, capable ship using proven ship design and proven equipment. R&D costs should be much lower, on a relative basis, and construction costs should be easily estimated with applied fiscal and programmatic discipline. In short, an OTS approach offers the possibility of a modern, useful, cost-efficient ship that could be built more quickly, thereby increasing the buying value of Canada's budget. The "built quickly" characteristic is central to developing naval ship classes that have in the past suffered from long lead times from concept to construction, cost overruns, and borderline obsolescence by the time they reach fleet service. These are the unavoidable consequences of designing, developing, testing, and incorporating new and unproven technologies. In contrast, an OTS platform is already designed, developed and tested with proven technologies. Only new integration costs need to be considered for capabilities not yet integrated, but even those costs will remain significantly lower than if one were to design and construct a frigate from scratch. This modified off-the-shelf approach could allow the RCN to drive its own selection of the sensors and weaponry systems independent of a ship design, although a design would have to demonstrate its flexibility to accommodate, with modifications, the weapon system selected. Naval ship design is a complex process. The primary function for many ships is to serve as a platform for the weapons systems. Canada does not need to build cutting edge, futuristic ships from scratch – specially when the government's budgetary envelope is increasingly constrained. The federal government's objective must be to build an affordable, modern and capable warship that protects Canada's sailors while providing Canadians with economic opportunities. the opposite extreme from that experienced in the North Atlantic or North Pacific. This demands a ship and systems be designed to operate in the widest range of temperatures, humidity and weather conditions. In short, Canadian ships must be able to operate in temperatures ranging from −52.2 °C in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, to over 50 °C (not counting humidity which can average over 90 percent) in the Persian Gulf. This is over a 100 °C difference. In Halifax alone, home of Canada's East Coast Fleet, the temperature can vary from – 26.1 °C to 34 °C. Arguably, there are no other countries in the world that operate in such varying conditions on a daily basis. Few if any off-the-shelf ship designs can cater to such needs. Acquiring ones that don't meet the operational expectations of Canadians or cannot be supported by Canadian industry would, at a minimum, be embarrassing, but worse still could be the wrong decision from an operational perspective. Canada must be wary of acquiring ships designed for a narrower range of climatic and sea keeping conditions not optimized for Canadian industrial support. Optimally, such design modification work should, at least in part, be done in Canada. Above all, the outcome must be a design that meets Canada's range of operational and support requirements in a cost-effective manner. In the coming months, the government of Canada is expected to announce ship design selections for new ships, with many more to come in the not too distant future. The important lessons that the government should keep in mind is that while it is sometimes tempting to buy off-the-shelf designs, short-term cost savings can have significant ramifications in the future, from costly refits to significant operational limitations. Sometimes it costs a little more for a ship designed to meet the range of capability that the Canadian government expects of its navy and coast guard, but the long-term benefits more than make up for it, not to mention the economic benefits of building and maintaining the ships here in Canada. The reality is, choosing a ship design that is expected to last 30-40 years and meet a wide range of expectations is not quite as easy as going to the car dealership down the street and buying a car off the lot.