Vanguard Magazine

14 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2026 www.vanguardcanada.com I N T E R V I E W KEITH COFFEN Q: Thanks Dave, you've laid out the scale, timing, and workforce realities we're fac- ing. Darcy, from your perspective, what role does industry need to play—starting now—to ensure the infrastructure, sus- tainment, and delivery model are ready to support the new submarine capabil- ity? And what is the industry's role in the transformation of the new submarine? DARCY BYRTUS Our role has become especially promi- nent. But there will have to be collabo- ration across all parts of the enterprise. What I see is we talk about infrastructure, we talk about in-service support, and we talk about workplace training. All of these things not only have to get done, but they have to get done at the same time. There's little point in having training facilities, workshops, and lift facilities in place and ready to go if there aren't the people there to operate and manage them. As Dave pointed out, infrastructure is likely to be the long pole here—most major infrastructure programs take 15 years or more to execute. So, as we've heard today, especially given the lessons we've learn from the National Shipbuild- ing Strategy, in certain areas industry has done a good job of showing it can be done. We see this in the work Seaspan, Stantec and Babcock are doing. And, of course, we'll be getting valuable lessons from the submarine supplier. So, this is going to have to be a lot more collaborative than I think we are collectively used to in these types of programs. And it's going to be impacted by the type of in- service support contract that gets executed. It's going to involve transferring those tech- nologies and expertise. It's going to involve updating the current staff across uniformed public service, industry staff, and ensure those supply chains and all the systems are in place, so we don't repeat legacy issues. Earlier this morning we talked about the Royal Canadian Navy's capability and training challenges, and how industry can support the Navy as it scales. That task be- comes even more complex when you con- sider we're tripling the fleet and introducing much more advanced technology. There's going to be new materials and require- ment. There's going to be new sensor tech- nologies, new noise-canceling technologies, hydrodynamic ice and so on. I was in the original nuclear program way back when we were buying nuclear. We had a lot of studies about ice at the time, and it was kind of déjà vu for me when I heard the panel earlier today discussing all the things we have to consider around Arctic activities. There are a lot of considerations here. One of the big things is that this whole enterprise is going to require a concerted, consistent, and long-term commitment by the government to ensure we deliver. It means sticking to a clear, long-term stra- tegic plan so industry—large, medium, and small companies alike—have the con- fidence that investing today will deliver re- turns over time and not be abandoned in four or five years. That level of commitment from govern- ment is going to be critical to the sustain- ment of all the elements of this industry. One point raised today that bears reinforc- ing is the need for industry to adapt to new regulatory and material certification re- quirements for the future submarine fleet. This will require meeting environmental standards both domestically and under a certification regime that will differ from that of the parent submarine. That's the kind of expertise that hasn't been mentioned much today. I want to remind everyone that it's something we'll have to get up to speed on because these submarines are going to be deployed glob- ally with NATO and our Asia-Pacific part- ners. We're going to have to make sure that we are capable of doing that. KEITH COFFEN Q: Given the scale of what you've out- lined—new infrastructure, new tech- nologies, new regulatory requirements, and a fleet that is both larger and more complex—how realistic is it for the ship- building, repair, refit, and maintenance industries to meet the demand for skilled trades by 2030? And in parallel, how does the Navy prepare its own workforce to keep pace? DARCY BYRTUS It's going to be an enormous challenge. It will require deep partnerships across indus- try and the STEM ecosystem, and signifi- cant early investment by the Department of National Defence in people. Just as im- portantly, there needs to be a structure that can adapt as technology evolves—because, as we've heard today, capability sustainment will be continuous, not a one-time effort. This isn't going to be a static, technology that stays still. Investments with academic institutions, research institutions, innova- tion programs, and so on to adopt a lot of that and keep the people going and up- dated will be critical. In the near term, this will require deep collaboration with the submarine builder. Builder expertise needs to be embedded early in the development of in-service support and maintenance programs—and Canadian personnel embedded alongside them. This isn't just about re-skilling ex- isting shipyard and Navy staff; it's about building an entirely new level of capability to support a fleet that is three times larger. We're probably looking on the order of 1,200 submariners instead of 350. So it is that is probably the biggest chal- lenge because you can build all the build- ings you want. You can have all the pro- cesses in place, but if there's no people there to execute them, then we will face serious challenges. "Infrastructure is likely to be the long pole here — most major infrastructure programs take 15 years or more to execute." — Commander Darcy Byrtus RCN (Ret'd), Former President, BMT Canada "Three years ago, I don't think there were any builders at Deep Blue except for me. And now there's a whole bunch. Thanks to all of you builders for your interest." — David Hudock, National Director, Defence and Federal Government Relations, PCL Construction

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