Germany or South Korea? Carney expected to unveil new submarine deal

Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to announce which submarine has been chosen to replace Canada’s aging fleet in a multibillion-dollar military procurement that could be one of the biggest Canada has ever done.

Carney is touring a Canadian Armed Forces base in Halifax on Monday afternoon, where he will announce “new measures to make Canada more secure, resilient, and prosperous,” the prime minister’s itinerary said.

Canada has been in the process over recent years of assessing offers for its plan to purchase 12 new submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy. The frontrunners for Canada’s new submarine contract so far have been German firm TKMS and South Korean firm Hanwha Oceans.

TKMS is a market leader in Europe and is responsible for supplying most of NATO’s conventional submarines. The TKMS 212CD sub is the firm’s latest model, designed to be less detectable by sonar, and has yet to start rolling off assembly lines.

The TKMS campaign for the submarine contract has focused on the fact that Germany and Norway, NATO alliance countries, are buying the same model. Interoperability — doing things like training and repairs together — is a stated goal of the alliance.

In contrast, Hanwha has launched an advertising blitz, plastering airports in Canada with advertisements and hitting broadcast TV and streaming platforms to showcase its KSS-III.

Canada’s fleet of four Victoria class submarines is expected to be out of commission by 2035. Only one is currently functional and the government will likely find itself forced to cannibalize some of those remaining subs for spare parts.

Hanwha, which boasts a massive shipbuilding factory in Geoje, South Korea, that makes heavy use of robotics, has pitched Canada an aggressive delivery schedule — four subs by 2034 and then one a year until they’re all delivered.

— with files from The Canadian Press