The Canadian Navy is divided into two regional fleets, one in the Pacific and one in the Atlantic. Its current seven frigates are concentrated in the Atlantic Fleet. There is no reason to think that the Canadian government would split its new destroyers in a similar manner, with most of them sailing from Atlantic ports.
In other words, the destroyers will be primarily aimed at European threats, namely Russia. For this mission, the destroyers are being heavily armed and equipped with 24 Mk 41 vertical launch cells for a variety of long-range missiles, eight launchers for anti-ship missiles (Kongsberg Naval Strike Missiles), as well as self-defense weapons such as guns and short-range air defense missile launchers.
It is worth noting that the Mark 41 missile cells are “strike length”, meaning that the missile cells extend deep enough. Rivers‘It has a steel hull and can carry some of America’s largest missiles, including the Tomahawk land attack missile, which has a range of up to 1,000 miles.
The Canadian Navy does not currently have any Tomahawks, but they would not be difficult to acquire, apart from the cost of $2 million per missile. The Royal Navy plans to equip eight Type 26 missiles with Tomahawks.
of riverBut the fleet still has a long-range land-attack capability: eight Naval Strike Missiles can strike ships at sea and targets on land up to 100 miles away.
Still, the new destroyers will primarily be air defense and anti-submarine platforms, firing SM-2 missiles to intercept enemy aircraft, drones and missiles from as far as 100 miles away, and launching torpedo-equipped Cyclone helicopters to pursue enemy submarines.
It would have been nice if they had come sooner. The government in Ottawa is not in any particular hurry. riverDespite the age of the fleet, Halifax Frigates. The first of the new destroyers will be commissioned in the next six years. The 15th and final destroyer is scheduled to enter service in the 2040s.
But at least Canadian leaders are showing more urgency about their surface fleet than their rusting submarine fleet. The Royal Canadian Navy operates four 230-foot-long diesel-electric submarines, one in the Atlantic Fleet and three in the Pacific Fleet.