Naval group urges refit for Canadian subs to patrol Arctic

Naval group urges refit for Victoria-class subs to patrol Arctic 16 hours ago

OTTAWA (CP) — The Navy League of Canada says the federal government should refit the country's often maligned Victoria-class submarines for limited under-ice operations if it is serious about defending the Arctic.

The defence group's national deputy director, Jerod Riley, says the biggest military threat faced in the North comes from foreign submarines.

The ability to track them and neutralize them should be a key plank in any defence strategy, he said.

The navy conceded last week that the country's new Arctic patrol ships, announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper with much political fanfare in July, won't be designed with sonar - or have the ability to hunt submarines.

Capt. Ron Lloyd, in an interview with The Canadian Press, said the navy would have to rely on other means to keep track of underwater intruders.

Riley said the Victoria-class submarines, which have had a controversial, glitch-filled history, could be refitted with an air-independent propulsion system.

As it stands, only nuclear-powered submarines are capable of remaining submerged under Arctic ice for long periods of time. But conventional subs, like the diesel-powered Canadian boats, can be designed from the outset - or refurbished - in order to allow for limited Arctic operations.

When the former Liberal government bought the four second-hand boats from the British in 1998 the stated intention was to outfit them with an independent propulsion system powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The technology, however, has not panned out and the idea was quietly dropped.

The navy has struggled to put the submarines, mothballed by the Royal Navy in the early 1990s, into active service. The biggest blow to the program happened in October 2004 when the last of the boats, HMCS Chicoutimi, caught fire on its maiden voyage to Canada, killing one crewman. Other submarines have had hull rust and leaking problems.

All of the bad press is one of the reasons the navy is reluctant to upgrade the propulsion system, Riley said.

"There's also simply not enough money in the system to make it happen," he said. "The mission in Afghanistan is draining the Defence Department's budget."

German shipyards are the leaders in refitting submarines with an air-independent propulsion systems, delivering 122 boats to 16 different countries over the last 30 years.

Over the last few years Sweden refurbished three of its older boats on its own with a hybrid liquid oxygen-diesel engine that allows the submarines to operate underwater for 14 days at a stretch without surfacing to recharge batteries.

The head of the Senate Security and Defence committee dismissed the notion of upgrading the Victoria-class.

The navy's program to bring HMCS Victoria, HMCS Windsor and HMCS Corner Brook up to Canadian standards, as well as repair the fire damage on Chicoutimi, is behind schedule and would be set back further, said Liberal Senator Colin Kenny.

He also questioned whether Canada wants to be hunting submarines in the Arctic, given that many of the so-called intruders would be allies, such as the United States and possibly Britain.

Riley said the real concern would be submarines belonging to rogue nations, not allies.

Kenny said he's not convinced the Conservative government's heavy military emphasis in the Arctic is necessary, given that the waters surrounding the archipelago will ice-free for perhaps three months a year.

Harper announced in July the purchase of six to eight armed, medium icebreakers, a deepwater port and an Arctic training centre for the army.

"It's one of the screwiest ideas to come out of this government," said Kenny.

Establishing a Canadian presence in the North has more to do with economic development and getting companies up there to explore for resources than with building bases and ships, he said.

He said the new Arctic ships will be more important for patrolling the Atlantic and Pacific coasts than they will be in the Arctic