Overview
- The federal procurement team is finishing an internal evaluation and has told officials a preferred bidder — either South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean or Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems — is likely to be named by the end of June.
- The Canadian Patrol Submarine Project seeks roughly 12 diesel-electric boats in the ~3,000‑ton class and is estimated at about 60 trillion won (roughly $40–43 billion), with final costs to change if Ottawa demands modifications.
- At CANSEC in late May, Hanwha pressed its case by showing the KSS‑III platform, citing air-independent propulsion, lithium-ion batteries and a recent 14,000‑kilometre deployment to Esquimalt as proof of reach.
- TKMS countered at the show by stressing NATO interoperability and long experience supplying allied navies while both firms floated competing domestic economic packages and dozens of Canadian industrial agreements.
- If one bidder is chosen, the decision will drive regional jobs, steel and shipyard contracts and delivery schedules that affect when Canada’s aging Victoria‑class boats are fully replaced before the mid‑2030s.