Canada chooses British-designed frigate for multi-billion warship contract
The Canadian government said last night it had selected the British-designed Type 26 Frigate in a competition for its new generation of warships.
The BAE-designed frigate was being put forward by a consortium led by Lockheed Martin Canada and also including BAE, CAE, L3 Technologies MDA and Ultra Electronics.
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A contract award is expected this winter with construction due to start in the early 2020s.
The multi-billion dollar project is the largest and most complicated procurement exercise in Canadian history.
“These ships will form the backbone of our Royal Canadian Navy and will be Canada’s major surface component of maritime combat power for decades to come,” the Canadian government said in a statement.
This marks the second recent success for BAE’s Type 26 after Australia awarded the company a £20bn contract for nine frigates in June.
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The Canadian deal would be a licensing agreement with the ships built at Irving Shipbuilding of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
BAE's design beat rival bids from Alion Science and Technology, which had submitted a bid based on the Dutch De Zeven Provincien Air Defence and Command frigate, and a Navantia-led consortium which had submitted a proposal based on the Spanish F-105 frigate.
BAE declined to comment.