What's Canada Buying? October 20, 2012

• Big Honkin’ Ships (1)  “Irving has announced the engineering firm that will re-design part of the Shipyard in Halifax in advance of the national shipbuilding contracts.  Hatch Mott MacDonald has 40 employees in Nova Scotia. That number is expected to grow to 65.  The modernization plan will cost about $300 million and provide many new upgrades. It will be mostly paid for through a $260 million interest-bearing loan from the Nova Scotia government.  Steve Durrell, the President of Irving Shipbuilding said he expects the work will begin in the spring of 2013 and give a big boost to the local economy.  “The estimate for both engineering and construction is some 2.3 million person hours which translates into some $73 million in wages.” ….”   
  
• Big Honkin’ Ships (2)  “Work on the first batch of Arctic patrol vessels at Halifax Shipyard could begin as early as 2015, the president of Irving Shipbuilding Inc. said Friday.  On the one-year anniversary of the announcement that the company was awarded the exclusive right to negotiate with the federal government the construction of $25-billion worth of combat vessels, Steve Durrell told the media that the timetable calls for work on the first vessel to start then.  That was contingent, however, on the federal government approving funding for the design and engineering phase of the project.  “This is a vital milestone that is critical, allowing us to begin the work in 2013, which in turn allows us to cut steel on the (Arctic patrol vessels) in 2015,” Durrell said.  However, when the announcement was made on Oct. 19, 2011, the initial plan was to start work in 2013 or 2014.  “That was the original dates that we had estimated at the time. Coming into knowing what we see for vessels and see for the design requirement and mitigating the risk associated with the design, we see 2015 as the realistic time to cut steel.”  The last Arctic patrol ship would be delivered by 2024, at which time the company expects to be working on the remaining destroyers and frigates that would fulfil the contract ….”        
• Big Honkin’ Ships (3)  Thanks to Mark Collins for sharing this one  “The Department of National Defence Canada is using BMT Fleet Technology to assist its Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS) Project Office to acquire six to eight vessels for the Royal Canadian Navy.  BMT was contracted by the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) to provide design, engineering, logistics and management support services (DELMS) to the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS) Project Office. These ships will be capable of:      Conducting armed sea-borne surveillance of Canada’s waters, including the Arctic;    Providing government situational awareness of activities and events in these regions;    Cooperating with other elements of the Canadian Forces and other federal government departments to assert and enforce Canadian sovereignty, when and where necessary ….”
  
• F-35 Tug o’ War  Company says all OK for the moment  “Flight-testing of the Lockheed Martin F-35 is ahead of the 2012 plan, and software development is making up lost ground, now standing at two months behind schedule. Steve O’Bryan, Lockheed Martin’s v-p for F-35 program integration and business development, told a meeting in London sponsored by The Air League that the F-35B STOVL version that the UK will buy is 40 percent ahead on flights and test points. Of the nine million lines of software code in the aircraft, 87 percent is now in flight test, with another 6 percent in laboratory tests. In response to earlier concerns, Lockheed Martin established a second software laboratory at its Fort Worth facility, at a cost of $150 million and employing 200 more people ….”

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