Ottawa inks initial contract for new River-class destroyers with Irving

OTTAWA — The federal Liberal government signed an initial deal with Irving Shipbuilding for the Royal Canadian Navy’s new River-class destroyers.

The implementation contract is worth $8 billion for the first six years and only covers part of the tab for the first three ships, which will eventually cost $22.2 billion, to be built in Halifax.

Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee hailed it as a “major step forward” for the project meant to replace the Navy’s aging destroyers.

Ottawa has 15 of these advanced surface combatants on its shopping list — the bare minimum the Navy requires to defend Canada and meet its international commitments.

The federal government expects nine to be delivered by 2040, coming in small batch orders of several at a time. Lockheed Martin is a major subcontractor in the project, delivering the AEGIS combat system that tracks ships through radar and computers.

The Department of National Defence pegs the expected total cost to be about $60 billion, with the first vessel expected to be delivered in the early 2030s.

Ottawa is looking to the new ships to replace the retired Iroquois Class destroyers and allow it to swap out the aging Halifax Class frigates.

The Navy still relies on the Halifax class but the amount of effort going into keeping them running is only growing as they operate past their intended life expectancy.

The announcement aligns neatly with the federal political calendar and comes amid a flurry of news from Ottawa on procurement and appointments rushed out over the weekend.

And it lands while Parliament is currently on pause as the Liberal party selects its next leader.

The party chooses its replacement for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday, amid speculation in the capital of an expected early election call sometime in the weeks after the new leader is sworn in.

A new government would have most likely compounded existing delays to the contract, and Defence Minister Bill Blair had previously said he planned to have the contract signed by the end of last year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2025.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press