A new contract has been signed between BAE Systems and Irving Shipbuilding Inc. (ISI), marking a significant step forward in Canada’s River-class destroyer programme—the largest and most complex naval shipbuilding project undertaken in the country since the Second World War.

This agreement follows the Canadian Government’s award of an implementation contract to ISI for the first three of 15 planned warships, along with training, spares, and maintenance support.

The River-class destroyers will form the backbone of the Royal Canadian Navy’s future fleet, providing decisive combat power for naval operations and joint-force missions ashore.

The multi-billion-dollar programme aims to equip Canada’s armed forces with cutting-edge capabilities, ensuring readiness for counter-piracy, counterterrorism, intelligence and surveillance, humanitarian assistance, and search-and-rescue missions.

BAE Systems, which designed the destroyers to meet Canadian requirements, will provide technical support and consultancy services throughout the build phase. This will allow Irving Shipbuilding to leverage expertise gained from the UK’s Type 26 programme and Australia’s Hunter-class frigates.

Anderson Smith, International Programmes Director at BAE Systems, described the contract as a major milestone:

this contract marks a significant moment for the River-class destroyer programme, and I’m hugely proud of our team for their collective hard work and determination to bring us to this point. As we move into this next phase, our expertise and collaboration with our industry partners will be key to delivering a world-class capability for Canada.

Dirk Lesko, President of Irving Shipbuilding Inc, also highlighted the strategic importance of the deal:

this is a major milestone for Irving Shipbuilding and for Canada. This contract validates more than a decade of hard work by industry and government and provides stability for the hard-working men and women who design, build, and maintain Canada’s surface fleet.

The River-class programme is part of a multi-national effort between Canada, the UK, and Australia, all of whom have selected BAE Systems’ Global Combat Ship design for their future fleets. In total, the collaboration covers the construction of up to 29 ships across the three nations.

The 15 River-class destroyers will be constructed at Irving Shipbuilding’s Halifax yard in Nova Scotia, with BAE Systems’ naval shipbuilding team in Glasgow providing production support. BAE Systems already employs nearly 500 people on the project and expects to have up to 200 personnel based in Canada during the programme’s peak.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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99 COMMENTS

  1. I was thinking aloud: Could the Canadians build two T26 (RN spec) along with a follow-on order of two more from the Scottish yard? We need more surface vessels, and sharing the work with partners may be one solution. The mandate that only RN fighting ships can be built in the UK could cloud the process.

    • Maurice have you any idea how much the Canadian ships cost ? Same with Australia their labour costs are colossal compared to ours hence nearly 3 x the cost of ours. $8 billion for 3 ships.

      • The costs are key, however the urgency has more gravity. I’m talking about expediency as shown in WW2 when the RAF used Canadian-built Landcasters. The current downward slide in international affairs requires war preparations even though few countries have an appetite for conflict. Within a few years, the UK population may face air raid drills and the establishment of a Civil Defence so the public can be guided in the event of a non-nuclear misslie attack. In my mind, that’s how urgent the situation will be unless there is a significant change in defence spending, hence the purchase of warships and other kit from friendly powers.

        • What, you joking? Buy warships equipped with Incompatible combat systems to RN vessels? Agreed they need more warpons.

      • Someone did some number crunching regarding the River Class contract – taking into account exchange rates and through life costs their first Three come pretty much in the same Ball Park as our Batch 1.

        • That’s pretty much what I would have expected maybe the fit out would have made them a bit higher cost in my mind. Ours aren’t exactly cheap ships even though not by any means over armed.

        • Correct.

          The $80 Billion price tag for the Canadian River class is for the lifetime time investment of 15 vessels over a 40 year period.

    • In turn, some have long believed that either the Hunter or River Class would be a significant improvement over the Consternation Class. Oh well, another miscue and misadventure by the USN. It is not that we may require a functional fleet during the next 25 years…🤔😳🙄☹️

    • Not, unless Canada wants to renegotiate the contract, which would certainly delay RN getting full order of 8 T26.

  2. Excellent news. Now I’d like HMG to shove at least 2 but hopefully 4 more type 26s onto the RN programme. Now is the time to re arm whilst we can before we are thrust headlong into a war having to stop a dictator trying to build an empire via conquering our allies.

      • I agree people have no real understanding of just how close the US is to a constitutional crisis, indeed I don’t think even a fair proportion of the American public do. If Trump as he is now trying can neutralise the Courts and defies them (the Venezuelan flights yesterday may already have done so) then de facto dictatorship is a certainty it’s just how long it takes, how deep it will go and what physical resistance takes place. Many have said the mid terms are likely the last chance to stop it if they can get till then and if they aren’t cancelled. I just hope Milley is right when he said the forces are responsible not to any one man or body but to the Constitution because presently Trump and Musk are carving it up into little more than meat balls and Musk knows it’s either dictatorship or prison for unlike the President he won’t have immunity after he leaves office which is why he is trying to even buy elections for judges presently to try to gain any form of protection he can.

        • Within the next 4 years we could see
          • a police state established in the USA with Putin-style rigged elections (the FBI are already being used like SS goons to break-into agencies that operate outside of executive control)
          • a split, with Democratic and Republican states forming rival nations
          • civil war
          • a miraculous recovery of democracy, separation of powers, and a return to the rule of law.

          The last is what I hope for, but I’m not counting on it. Unfortunately too many Americans are naively closing their eyes in despair, keeping their heads down, and hoping it will all go away in 4 years…

          • Chris, some of us can read a history book and have bothered to turn to the pages marked “Germany 1930’s”
            I know reading is difficult for you, but give it a try.

    • We thought we needed almost 20 ASW focused frigates in the relatively benign 1990’s which should tell us something.

      • Yes they still had over 200 submarines. Now Northern fleet have maybe 18 operational and Baltic has 1 🤞🏻

    • Why?
      We have T45s, so our T26 fit out is perfect for the AWS role.
      Only issue is we really need 12/13 ASW hulls and ideally another 2-3 AAW destroyers.

      • So one tricks ponies worked well in Falklands did not they? And that was a with 50 escort navy.

        If you reduce the size of your navy you need more multi mission ships to reduce the impact of losses and intensive use and upgrading.
        Only 6 AAW capable ships 3-4 operational, losses and damages make 1-2 and suddenly your are reduced to a coastal navy.

  4. Excellent news, Canada really needs to sustain its increase in defence expenditure and buy European if they can’t rely on America for now

    • The realities of ship and weapons procurement largely preclude any rapid changes in spec. Things are awkward right now to say the least, and while the Rivers are based on Type 26 hulls, their combat system, armament and sensors are largely American. The RCN is out of time on the River class, they needed them in service a few years ago and they have no time to change things at this point. Any change at all would likely add years to the first ship.

      A silver lining is that by the time the first ship is delivered (2032-ish), the current US administration will already have been out of office for a couple of years. I can only imagine that things will have settled down by then.

        • Trump is 78, unless they figure out a way to turn him into the Emperor from Warhammer 40K, he just won’t last forever even if he manages to get re-re-elected. I don’t know anyone who actually likes JD Vance, even the MAGA people I know don’t have anything good to say about him, even as they idolize the tangerine Mussolini. Trumpism seems very tied to Trump himself. Even so, a lot will depend on who the Democrats here pick as their front runner, I hope they don’t screw it up.

          • Boy are you ever out of touch. It’s obvious you are a Democrat and haven’t a clue how Republicans and Independents view Vance. MAGA loves J D Vance and he will be the Republican nominee in 2028. The Democrat Party is now at its lowest polling point in its history -a 29% favorability rating and its prospective list of candidates for the 2028 election is a joke. Kepp living in your fantasy world.

          • Trump is angling to create a political dynasty, one to overshadow the Bushes or the Kennedys. Let’s face it, getting a relative to succeed him is probably the only way he’s not going to face jail time once out of office.

            As for Vance, he’s worse. Trump is in this purely the power and opportunity to enrich himself; a kleptocrat. But Vance is an ideological zealot mentored by Peter Thiel – who back in 2009 wrote that he “no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible”.

      • You may need to suspend your imagination, it won’t be as simple as that as we know Trump has three options, abandon elections through martial law or some excuse for an executive order, do a Putin and try to force through extra terms with corrupt elections no doubt, after all Musk is getting information on every voter to manipulate, or he will ensure MAGA have a winning candidate one way or another to take over and cover his ass. That MAGA candidate/President could very easily be worse than Trump however difficult to believe that may seem. The illegality of so many of Trump’s henchmen and women not to mention the useful idiots suggests to me they have a plan never to be called to justice and that’s scary.

        • Where was the panic when the DoJ was sending staff to the NYC prosecutors office to start a political witch hunt of Trump? Or when the Steele dossier was outed as a complete fabrication of British intelligence?

          Or do we pretend those things didn’t happen?

          • Oh dear, you mean the DoJ prosecuted a Felon. So sad. You’d be complaining about Hitler being jailed after his failed putsch as well.
            I’m not shocked that Alex and you are in agreement, having him agree with you doesn’t strengthen your case.

  5. Let’s hope they fit a better multi-purpose radar from the Cannucks or Aussie T26’s, remove those mushroom farms and fit mk41 only

    • No chance of that now! CAMM used for point defence, is a fraction of the price of ESSM, and taking into account of recent probs with it on European frigates armed with ESSM.

  6. A couple of ice breaking capable assault ships / frigates would probably be very useful in coming years… High Arctic, Svalbard, Greenland

  7. Commission the Canadian /Norwegian Swedish ect i.e any one but American ship yards at ‘Mates rates’ as a matter of Urgency, UK Politicians get off your lazy backsides and stop bringing down our ‘Amazing Loyal Armed Forces ‘and also to those who adhere to internal service shameful derogatory banter ‘Cease forthwith ‘as a matter of National Security ,Pride as all these Negative comments are only helping and encouraging ‘Our Enemies ‘including those from within.

  9. Whatever they do, and Whatever they buy needs to be kept out if the grubby paws of ITAR, as soon as that’s involved the yanks can put pressure on a project, why does anyone think the Americans want in on the tempest project, its got nothing to do with wanting then at the end, it’s so they can strangle the life out of the project and then offer thier own in its place

    • Sadly the entire sensor suite, and weapons fit out on the River Class destroyers (minus the main gun) are US made, so too late for Canada to avoid ITAR restrictions on those. On the bright side, the main use of ITAR is to prevent resale of weapons to foreign nations, and Canada is very unlikely to be selling River Class destroyers to anyone any time soon.

    • I would see it a little differently, US companies want in because it makes them money and they can diversify, sadly it then inevitably brings in the problems at National leverage that you refer to. Lockheed Martin as an example are scared stiff Musk is going to sabotage them so would love foreign orders and work. One little hint of this Musk as Govt representative is trying to cancel Verizon’s overhaul of their satellite networks and support systems worth billions and surprise, surprise replacement it with his own company. Totally illegal in the way he is doing it but who is going to g to stop him beyond the Courts when the White House is being used as a car show room these days.

      • You forgot to mention Musk is trying to get NASA’s SLS cancelled in favour of SpaceX’s Starship. TBH the SLS is too expensive and too limited, but Musk simply shouldn’t be in a position to influence. But conflicts of interests are far down the list of issues that America had at the moment…

        • Musk also dreamed up the Hyperloop, by his own admission, to get California HSR cancelled so that California would remain car dependent and he could sell more Teslas.

  10. Sorry folks if I’m totally ignorant on the topic, however, if my understanding is correct, the original tender for the warplane contract included a requirement that the winning bidder set up shop in Canada to build the birds here in Canada and to train both pilots and ground support crews here. The only bid that actually fulfilled all the requirements of the tender was the SAAB Grippon. No contract should have been awarded to any other manufacturer, period. Only pressure from the US on Canada got the F35 the contract. We are still waiting for the first bird to be delivered. We will also remain on the hook for years to come for ongoing R&D for these things. Even the planes that South Korea are flaunting are way cheaper. Best choice though is still the Grippon.

  11. With regard to Naval procurement. The new river class boats have the US mandating systems of theirs that we have to put on board the ships? What kind of B.S. is this? This should not be allowed to happen. Additionally, we also need new subs. Again, the South Koreans have 3 built already to go. Seems like a golden opportunity to buy them and leverage the balance be built in Canada, giving or shipyards knowledge and experience that I’m sure they are lacking. If not their ships, Germany makes a beautiful little sub, nice and silent as well.

    • The US hasn’t mandated anything be put on the River Class. Compare the Rivers to the British City’s and Australian Hunters (same ships) which have very different equipment on board. The US systems put on board where a choice by the Canadian Govt, back during the Biden days (or even the 1st Trump presidency) when the US was seen as a very stable ally.

      • The US was seen as a stable ally right up to January 20th, less than 2 months ago…

        Ukraine thrown under the bus, allies alienated or threatened with annexation, and a rapid dismantling of the rule of law in the USA.

  12. We are making the Right choice, by building here in Canada. With the expertise from the zlUK. We will learn greatly from their assistance. It’s about time we build our own and keep money here in Canada. At least our Nother Country, the UK, IS providing the expertise. We must develop better ties with the Commonwealth.

  13. Remember when T45 was being built, and the UK Gov, faced with every opportunity to NOT do so, decided to cut the number to 6 – a number bordering complete and utter irrelevance? Now we have to wait for Type 83 to plug what is a disgraceful capability gap for our fleet.

    Let’s not let the same thing happen here. Order more Type 26 now while the production is in full swing, or concede that we aren’t taking a leading role in European maritime influence.

    • Seriously?

      Here’s the planned Royal Navy in the coming years
      2 Aircraft Carriers
      6 Amphibious Assault ships
      6 Type 45 destroyers/type 83 destroyers
      8 Type 26 Frigates
      5 Type 31 Frigates
      3 Bay Class
      3 FSSS
      4 Tide Class tankers
      7 SSNs
      4 Dreadnought SSBNs
      and
      7 OPVs

      here’s the RCN:
      4 SSK’s bought 2nd hand from us.
      15 River class
      4 OPV’s

      • Also for the RCN:

        RFI for 12 subs released June of last year.
        6x Harry DeWolfe AOPV the RCN just completed
        12x Kingston Class Minesweepers will need to be replaced soon. Something similar and with more firepower in a corvette type class is something that will be acquired.

    • Because we sat on our ass while handing out money to to other countries and now we are playing catch up…finally. Oversimplistic but you get the idea.

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