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Canada has announced that it will move to acquire 12 submarines in an effort to enhance maritime security in the rapidly evolving Arctic region.
Canadian officials confirmed that the Ministry of Defense was discussing with manufacturers and plans to invite bids from companies later this fall. The new submarines must meet critical requirements such as “stealth, lethality, persistence, and Arctic deployability,” ensuring they can operate across Canada’s three oceans and support international missions.

The Ministry added, “Canada’s new fleet will need to provide a unique combination of these requirements to ensure that Canada can detect, track, deter and, if necessary, defeat adversaries in all three of Canada’s oceans while contributing meaningfully alongside allies and enabling the government of Canada to deploy this fleet abroad in support of our partners and allies.” Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair also chimed in, saying, “As the country with the longest coastline in the world, Canada needs a new fleet of submarines.”
This development came days after Canada, the United States, and Finland agreed to collaborate on building icebreakers for the Arctic region. This pact includes enhanced information sharing on polar icebreaker production, workforce training across all three countries’ shipyards, and promoting the purchase of icebreakers from American, Finnish, or Canadian shipyards to Western allies.
Other partnerships:
While in Washington DC for the NATO summit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also announced a partnership with Germany and Norway to strengthen maritime security cooperation in the North Atlantic to support NATO’s deterrence and defense. Trudeau also committed to reaching NATO’s 2% defense spending target by 2032 and pledged $367 million in new military aid to Ukraine.
A point of contention:
US lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have been critical of Canada’s defense spending, which fails to meet NATO’s 2% GDP requirement. Currently, Canada spends 1.34% of its GDP on its military.