Euronaval 2022: Canadian Surface Combatant preliminary design review nears completion

Lockheed Martin is expecting to start delivering the first Canadian Surface Combatants in the early 2030s. (BAE Systems)

Lockheed Martin Canada is expecting to complete the preliminary design review (PDR) for the country's next-generation surface combatant in the coming months – marking another milestone for the programme.

Speaking to media at the Euronaval 2022 maritime exhibition in Paris, on 18 October, Glenn Copeland, general manager of Rotary and Mission Systems, Canada, said the company had entered into the PDR phase for the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) earlier in 2022 and was planning to complete it by year-end or early 2023.

The PDR milestone will mark the programme's transition from engineering functional design into the detailed design phase. Under current planning, the critical design review phase will run from 2023 to early 2024 and then transition into the final design review phase, which is expected to complete in 2025.

Initial production of the first ship is planned to start in 2024, Copeland said. “With our partners in Canada plus Irving Shipyard, we will continue that production through the late 2020s, and then we expect to start delivering the first platforms to Canada in the very early 2030s, with a view to achieving full operational capability by 2031–32,” he said.

As efforts to finalise the design continue, the company is also in the process of downselecting the systems and subsystems for the ships.

In 2018 Lockheed Martin Canada – partnering with BAE Systems and offering a Global Combat Ship design derived from the UK Royal Navy's Type 26 frigate – was selected as the CSC ship design and combat system partner for the 15-ship programme.