The State Department on Monday approved a potential $1.7 billion Foreign Military Sale (FMS) of the Aegis Combat System (ACS) to Canada for use in its new Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) ships.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of the sale on Monday as well.
Canada will use this equipment to help deliver its first Aegis-capable
CSC. DSCA said this will increase Canadian maritime forces’ interoperability with the U.S. and other allied forces and “significantly improve network-centric warfare capability for the U.S. forces operating globally alongside Canada.”
The requested sale includes four shipsets of the ACS; one Aegis Combat System Computer Program; four shipsets of AN/SPY-7 Solid State Radar Components; four shipsets of Cooperative Engagement Capability; and three shipsets of the MK 41 Vertical Launch System.
The FMS also includes other equipment and services like the Mode 5/S capable Identification Friend or Foe equipment; early ACS development activities for the CSC Project; hardware to support development and testing in U.S. facilities; and various training and technical support services.
The prime contractor for this sale is Lockheed Martin [LMT]. DSCA noted in its announcement of the sale that “there are a significant number of other companies under contract with the U.S. Navy that will provide components, systems, and engineering services during the execution of this effort.”
In 2019, Canada officially selected Lockheed Martin’s team design to build 15 new CSC vessels based on the BAE Systems Type 26 Global Combat Ship (Defense Daily, Feb. 8, 2019).
Last year, the State Department approved a potential $500 million sale of 100 Raytheon Technologies [RTX] Standard Missiles-2 Block III missiles and 100 MK13 vertical launch systems to Canada for installation on the 15 CSCs (Defense Daily, Nov. 5, 2020).