Vanguard Magazine

30 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2026 www.vanguardcanada.com T H E LA S T W O R D • Other nations are rearming and may be exhausting their maritime industries, leav- ing minimal support available for Canada to tap into. The possibilities and requirements Ideally, the RCN would have a broader range of assets – many more than two JSS, Arctic-capable mobile repair platforms, an Arctic-capable amphibious landing craft (as Vice-Admiral Topshee has mentioned recently) and minehunters. This also in- cludes Arctic-capable autonomous un- crewed capabilities in significant numbers, which admittedly is an arena that the RCN has been studying and recently launched contractually with MDA for an Uncrewed Aircraft System. For big, crewed ships, it may be necessary to disrupt planning at Seaspan's shipyard in Vancouver to build additional JSS. Further- more, experience with the JSS and the Polar Icebreaker might support an Arctic-capable amphibious landing craft. It should also be possible to leverage selected shipbuilding companies outside NSS to construct and de- liver blocks for Arctic-capable corvettes and mobile repair ships, minehunters and per- haps even further batches of River Class De- stroyers. It is important to note that multi- yard block construction carries its own risks. Strong leadership at one or more final as- sembly shipyards will be critical, along with realistic expectations during the early phases as learning curves are addressed. The advantages of autonomous vessels are well understood. In his recent article in Australia's The Strategist, (https://www.as- pistrategist.org.au/small-smart-many-what- maritime-autonomy-can-teach-us-about- self-reliance) Jason Van der Schyff made the following points: • "The next wave of defence capability can be realized by … unlocking the industrial depth that already exists across Australia's recreational, commercial and civil mari- time sectors." • Regarding autonomous vessels for the Royal Australian Navy, he noted that "The right design is closer to a truck than a warship … cheap enough to lose, flexible enough to upgrade and sturdy enough to operate without bespoke support." As in Australia, Canada has companies building a wide range of vessels and smaller aircraft that could provide a distributed in- dustrial base. This capacity could be lever- aged to generate a fleet of uncrewed ves- sels—operating on, over, and under the seas—at scale as part of an evolved National Shipbuilding Strategy 2.0. There are plenty of designs available that we might build with Canadian sensor and data communica- tion technologies. Not insignificant will be the impact that this level of growth in shipbuilding has on the capacity and capabilities of a wide range of Royal Canadian Navy organizations. These include Naval Engineering and Test Establishment (NETE); Defence Research and Development Canada's Atlantic Re- search Centre; the Canadian Forces Mari- time Warfare Centre; naval intelligence at Trinity; ammunition depots on both coasts; Sea Training establishments east and west; and Bases Halifax and Esquimalt, including jetties, maintenance and logistics facilities, syncrolifts, docking infrastructure, and port defences. This expansion may also extend to sup- porting new home ports on each coast for fleets of larger autonomous uncrewed ves- sels, enhanced Arctic support at Nanisivik and potentially elsewhere in the North, and increased demands on Ottawa-based organizations delivering maritime capabil- ity—namely Maritime Equipment Program Management (DGMEPM), potentially augmented by a contracted Level Zero Life Cycle Material Management function, and the Major Projects Delivery division (DGMPD-Sea), which is expected to tran- sition to DIA. The magnitude of this skilled personnel growth challenge must not be underesti- mated. As well, the Coast Guard's capabilities in support of the RCN need to be recon- sidered in the broadest sense, including uncrewed vessels. If we are serious about achieving a wartime footing, every vessel in the government's fleet should be con- sidered for the potential to contribute to the Navy's continental defence missions through upgraded capabilities. Preparing for future vulnerabilities A wartime footing in today's disruptive technological environment demands that potentially significant vulnerabilities must also be explored. Some of the more chal- lenging include: • scaled-up weapon-carrying drone attacks by the thousands; • satellite-generated energy beam weapons; • the complete loss of satellite support for months; • a scientific breakthrough that turns the oceans transparent; • attacks generated with the aid of AI and quantum computing; • electromagnetic pulse impacts; • artificially generated and pinpointed tsu- namis or violent storms; and • multiples of the above concurrently. Who and how? Ideas and policies are great, but there are three questions that the RCN, think-tanks and conferences need to grapple with: how do we tackle NSS 2.0, what in the long list of desirable new capabilities are the priori- ties, and where do we find the people to hire who can enable the launch and con- tinuous delivery of new RCN vessels and capabilities? The current government has promised much bigger budgets for the Canadian Armed Forces. To accelerate platform ac- quisition projects under the DIA, they have mused about reducing rules and processes and accepting greater risk. All of this will be supported by an en- hanced domestic defense industrial complex. These are essential enablers of NSS 2.0. Expectations matter. Some people have suggested that the DIA will require endless sprints. Perhaps a more realistic metaphor for a wartime footing might be continuous New York City Self-Transcendence 3,100- mile foot races, with sprints required fre- quently along the way–and this pace needs to permeate all efforts forthwith. The time is now to develop the NSS 2.0 strategy and plan that will allow those in- volved to 'proceed with all due dispatch'. Nothing less will prepare us to face a no-fail set of missions to equip and maintain a sig- nificantly enhanced RCN. I sincerely hope our naval enterprise is way ahead of me. Rear-Admiral (Retd) Ian Mack served for a decade (2007-2017) in the Department of National Defence, with responsibilities re- lated to the National Shipbuilding Strategy, three shipbuilding projects and four vehicle projects. Ian is a Fellow of the International Centre for Complex Project Management, the World Commercial and Contracting As- sociation and the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

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