Vanguard Magazine

11 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 www.vanguardcanada.com SUBMARINE T oday nearly 90% of all traded goods are carried across the world's oceans, over 11 bil- lion tons a year or roughly 1.5 tons for every person on the planet. The world's shipping lanes are the arteries of an integrated global econo- my connecting the world like at no other time in history. In Canada, our economy, prosperity, and very way of life are inextri- cably tied to the sea. We are rightly proud of Canada's role in helping to shape today's world and the role we play in continuing to protect those achievements while building towards a better future. However, the freedom and prosperity enjoyed today is not guaranteed tomorrow. Each and every day, the men and women of Canada's Armed Forces protect Canada and promote peace and stability the world over. Our navy, working alongside allies and partners around the world, helps pro- tect and preserve the free, unencumbered use of the sea. Submarines are critical to this effort. Their stealth, persistence, and lethal- ity, bring capabilities and strategic options to a government that no other platform can. When it comes to safeguarding the arteries of our integrated global economy, submarines are the ultimate guarantor. As recent as 5 or 6 years ago, this Ma- hanian appeal for submarines would likely have sufficed. A direct appeal to our pros- perity, a hat tip to the influence of sea power on economics, and repetition of many historical arguments given to sup- port or defend submarine acquisition. But, the world has changed. While these arguments remain perfectly valid and in- deed, still important reasons for investing in submarines, they do little to convey the complexity of today's security environ- ment. This approach stops short of dis- cussing new, real and 'unique-to-Canada' threats. It stops short of fully describing the revitalized and increasingly important role for submarines in a globe made small- er by longer range conventional weapons, a defence problem made more difficult by an over the pole threat AS WELL AS a from the sea threat. In recent years the growing complex- ity of the global security situation and the emergence of new, real, and 'unique-to- Canada' threats has given submarines and their unique combination of capabilities new relevance. In today's tremendously complex security environment, for Canada BY Cmdre (N) JAMIE CLARKE [RET'D] CANADA'S CRITICAL SUBMARINE REQUIREMENTS Her Majesty's Canadian Submarine VICTORIA sails in the vicinity of Esquimalt Harbour while wearing a poppy on its sail in Esquimalt, British Columbia on 5 November 2021. Photo: S1 Kendric Grasby, DND

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