An artist’s impression of the Canadian Type 26 design. (BAE SYSTEMS)

The Canadian Government has announced it has selected a team including Lockheed Martin Canada and BAE Systems offering BAE’s Type 26 design for the new Royal Canadian Navy’s future Canadian Surface Combatants requirement.

Canada’s selection of the Type 26 is the third country, all Commonwealth and five-eyes members, to select a Type 26-based design after the UK and Australia. The vessels will be built at the Irving Shipbuilding Inc yards in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and will replace Canada’s 12 Halifax class frigates in service.

The Type 26 was selected ahead of two competing designs, the Dutch De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate offered by Alion Canada, and a design based on Navantia’s F105 Cristóbal Colón frigate which is a development of the design upon which Australia’s Hobart class DDGs are based.

Following the Type 26’s down-select, the Canadian Government will now engage with Lockheed Martin Canada to conduct “negotiations with the company on intellectual property rights, an assessment of combat systems performance”, and “an assessment of the company’s financial capability to deliver the project, together with the verification of various other administrative matters.”

A contract signature is expected in the coming months, with construction due to commence in 2022.

“We are thrilled that Canada’s Combat Ship Team has been selected as the preferred bidder for the Canadian Surface Combatant design – today is a great day for the shipbuilding industry in Canada and a significant milestone for the National Shipbuilding Strategy!” a BAE Systems statement reads.

“We’re confident that our proposed solution meets the requirements established offering the best ship for Canada with the world’s most advanced warship design and bringing together a pan-Canadian team employing thousands of highly skilled employees across a diverse spectrum of engineering to high tech trades careers.

“Our proposal is a true industry team effort, and we look forward to providing any additional information to the Government of Canada and Irving Shipbuilding – We are Ready on Day 1.”

There is no information available yet as to what combat, weapons and sensor systems have been proposed for Canada’s requirement, but it’s likely Lockheed Martin’s Aegis baseline 9 will form the basis for the proposal.