Overview
The River-class Destroyer (RCD) Project, formerly known as the Canadian surface combatant project, is the largest and most complex shipbuilding initiative in Canada since World War II. The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) chose the River-class name to reflect the uniting and critical natural force of rivers, and their role as an agent of our Canadian landscape, economy, food supply and culture. This name also pays tribute to the honorable and distinguished service of Canada’s past River-class ships and their ships’ companies.
The RCD Project is being delivered under the National Shipbuilding Strategy. It will replace both the Iroquois-class destroyers and the Halifax-class multi-role patrol frigates with a single class of ship capable of meeting multiple threats on both the open ocean and the highly complex coastal environment. This project will equip the RCN with 15 new state-of-the-art warships to bolster Canada’s naval capabilities at home and abroad, for decades to come.
The RCD ships will be able to conduct a broad range of tasks, in various scenarios, including:
- decisive combat power at sea and support during land operations
- counter-piracy, counterterrorism, interdiction and embargo operations for medium intensity operations
- the delivery of:
- humanitarian aid
- search and rescue
- law and sovereignty enforcement for regional engagements
Project at a glance
- Shipyard
- Irving Shipbuilding Inc. (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
- Project status
- Design phase
- Number of vessels (projected) to be built
- 15
- Project budget
- $56 to $60 billion
- First vessel delivery
- Early 2030s
Current status
The project is currently in the definition (design) phase. The design team from Lockheed Martin Canada (LMC) was competitively selected to provide the RCD design, which is based on BAE Systems’ Type 26 frigate. The design team, along with Irving Shipbuilding Inc., continues to develop the final design for the RCD.
Construction activities for the first ship are underway as part of the production test module. The test module will allow the shipyard to develop and test project-specific build processes and new supply chains, as well as reduce project costs by applying lessons learned to achieve efficiencies ahead of building the full ship.
In addition, work on developing the implementation contract for ship construction continues to advance.
The year ahead
- The Government of Canada, in collaboration with its partners, continues to prepare for the RCD implementation contract, with an estimated contract award date in late 2024 to early 2025
- Full-rate construction is anticipated to begin under the implementation contract in 2025
Progress of the project
- June 28, 2024: The Government of Canada announced that the first 3 RCD ships will be named His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Fraser, HMCS Saint-Laurent and HMCS Mackenzie, after Canada’s most important waterways that reach the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans
- June 28, 2024: Construction on the production test module began
- August 8, 2023: Canada announced an investment in the RCD Project’s infrastructure at Irving Shipbuilding Inc.
- The investment is expected to create or maintain over 800 jobs annually across various industries in Canada during the work period
- February 7, 2019: The design and design team contract was awarded to Irving Shipbuilding Inc. and LMC
- October 19, 2018: The preferred bidder was identified
- July 2018: All bidders submitted final proposals, including financial bids and cured technical bids
- October 2017: The amended request for proposals (RFP) was released
- October 2016: The RCD RFP was released