Canada Irving Shipbuilding has begun construction on the first 15 new ‘River’ class (Type-26) destroyers as part of the CSC (Canadian Surface Combatants) program. The Canadian Defence Ministry and the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) officially confirmed that the programme commenced on June 28, 2024. The budgeted cost for the 15 ships is $56-60 billion. The first three vessels will be named HMCS Fraser, HMCS Saint-Laurent and HMCS Mackenzie to replace the four Iroquois-class destroyers and 12 Halifax-class frigates. The full-rate construction is expected to begin in 2025, and the destroyer will be in the early 2030s. The programme will be completed in 2050 with the delivery of the last vessel.
The program was claimed by BAE Systems, in collaboration with Lockheed Martin Canada, based on the Royal Navy’s (RN) Type 26 City-class frigates. The ‘River’ class destroyer has a length of 151.4 meters, a beam of 20.75, a draft of 8 meters and a displacement of 8,080 tonnes. The destroyer incorporates a Combined Diesel-Electric And Gas (CODLOG) propulsion system and reaches a maximum speed of 27 knots. Its standard range is 7,000 nautical miles (12,964 km) and requires a crew of 210. The combat management system is AEGIS, while the ship has a cooperative engagement capability and an integrated cyber security system. The ship’s primary radar is the AN/SPY-7(V)3.
Its armament consists of 16 NSM (Naval Strike Missile) anti-ship missiles, two RAM anti-missile systems, 24 Mk.41 VLS cells for RIM-162 ESSM Block.2 missiles (96 missiles in total), RIM-66 SM-2 and BGM -109 Tomahawk. She also carries twin torpedo tubes for 324mm Mk.54 MAKO torpedoes, a 127mm main gun, two 30mm cannons and 11 12.7mm or 7.62mm machine guns. She can deploy a CH-148 Cyclone-type helicopter.
