I have seen that is one of the types under consideration, but I have a few reasons to think it is poorly suited to the stated goals of the procurement as I have read it.

• It is a coastal defence boat, it is roughly 1/2 the tonnage of the KSS-III type from Korea. This limits it’s capabilities in the large patrol areas Canada is looking to operate. Being designed to operate primarily in the Baltic and other bodies of water off European coasts, it is less well adapted to the large expanses of the Pacific, where Canada will be looking for deployments.

-While the technology transfer is a positive value for the potential contract, my understanding is that Korea is also open to this type of structure. More importantly, from my reading of the procurement, the goal is to focus on an “off-the-shelf” approach. The focus will be on acquiring vessels rapidly from the existing manufacturer with minimal specific changes for Canadian service. Hanwa Ocean, the builder, has moved over the past months to begin working with Canadian partners to get the process underway https://babcockcanada.com/babcock-and-hanwha-ocean-sign-a-technical-cooperation-agreement-for-the-canadian-patrol-submarine-project/ . This readiness to move quickly could shave years off the time needed to get the first hull in service.

-Due to it’s smaller size and coastal defence role, the type 214 does not have VLS on board. This is a significant miss in capability, I have some armchair geopolitical reasons for that which I’ll blather about in a moment, but generally this limits the mission types the submarine can accomplish. It would likely lead to Canada deploying ROK developed cruise and ballistic missiles giving the boats a whole new mission envelope that would allow greater impact if supporting shore defences against landing for example.

Into the “just my opinion man” section, or the even more of my opinion I guess! We are at a transitional state in Canada, and it’s a state we share most closely with our allies in the Pacific. It isn’t possible to ignore the recent SCOTUS ruling in the US. After listening to federal lawyers, and seeing the dissenting views from the justices, America is only a democracy insofar as nobody is currently using the unrestricted personal authority granted by the highest court. Continuing to base our sovereignty and continued liberal democracy on the support of a nation in that political situation is very shortsighted. ROK and Japan are two other nations that may be feeling a similar concern. Without a large entity and a geographical cluster like the EU to rely on, we are nations that have over-relied on the US for protection, that always has come at a cost of policy pressure and whatnot, but how will that pressure be wielded going forward? As a platform, the KSS-III type allows for options in the future which may seem very far away or outside of the Canadian mindset. Ultimately, it is a stealthy patrol submarine, which in a geopolitical pinch, can provide Canada with the only continuously effective deterrence known to prevent loss of sovereignty. Canada helped develop nuclear weapons, and operated them until 1984. In my opinion the world is moving in a direction that could leave us very alone and vulnerable to multiple larger authoritarian states, we could ramp up and spend billions to equip more units and build defences, but none of that brings us to parity. Citizens in ROK recently responded to polling indicating a majority support the development of nuclear deterrent there. Obviously I don’t think this will happen, but I do think that Canada would be very wise to acquire systems going forward that diversify our sources away from potentially untrustworthy nations. Also, keep options open. Shit’s not going well.

As far as I can tell the KSS-III class of subs from ROK would be the frontrunner. Last year Babcock, the company that provides maintenance for our current subs, signed a contract to cooperate on the deal with Hanwa Ocean. It’s one of the best conventional subs, it has 6xVLS with the next block stretched and supposed to feature 10xVLS. Also, it’s in production, which could mean relatively quick turnaround once they were ordered. The fact that it can deploy the Hyunmoo 4-4 ballistic missile is also a pretty big deal. If Canada were to be faced with a hypothetical scenario of a powerful belligerent dictatorship, stealthy submarines with ballistic missiles could provide interesting options for credible deterrence.

I carry an emergency $50 with me and I haven’t had to use it in a few years. I do not miss change jangling in my pocket.

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Roll towards the target (except when you shouldn’t)?

The crab, damn.

Sometimes even old enemies can be brought together by the discovery of what they have in common as opposed to what divides them. Violent atrocities against civilians for example.

It’s perfectly reasonable for PC gamers who use the Steam platform, which provides copy protection, to be annoyed by having to sign onto services they otherwise would never use. There is no purpose to it aside from marketing and data collection.

I don’t think the protests would be happening if the current administration wasn’t providing significant assistance in the acts of genocide being perpetrated by Israel. I’m very glad I’m not American, faced with voting for an evil man who has deep connections to genocide to prevent an evil man who will accelerate the course of the country into fascism. I am however a little concerned that my country is on the same continent.

We could also use the descriptor, “anti-genocide” for these protests, but that’s a bit on the nose I guess.

I’m referring to the push by Christian fundamentalism to implement Project 2025. It would functionally result in a dictatorship guided by religious zealots. That’s why the comparison to Iran. Canada is in a very precarious position these days, unless you’re fond of joining in with the dissolution of democracy and human rights that is advancing pretty relentlessly down south.

random article about it from a couple years ago

We can only hope that the disintegration of global politics, and the formation of a Christian version of Iran on our border will drive defense reform.

“…and receives well compensated board position at random corporation.”

The wailing of hedge fund managers and the minions of the super rich is what lets us know the government is doing the right thing.

Shocking, the super-rich warning the economy will collapse if they aren’t allowed to become utra-rich (as quickly as they can now).

If the criteria for declaring a state military organization as terrorists, is abuses of international humanitarian convention and the rules of war, then the Revolutionary Guard can pop onto the list along with the IDF. And a bunch of others really. Calling groups and people terrorists is pretty popular these days, but the word actually has a legitimate use, which isn’t to ratify Israeli acts of war against other sovereign nations. Even if, like Israel, those nations are run by shit heads.

Huh. Anyway.

This is the reality of what’s going on, the mainstream outlets aren’t quite able to bring themselves to say it out loud. Any other nation but Israel and the sanctions would be ramping up, but here we are, still wondering if this is the atrocity that means we should stop shipping weapons to them.

People seem to still be struggling with the Israeli strategy. Like many previous genocides, including the Holocaust, which the term originates from, hunger is a primary weapon. The Ukrainian holodomir, the Irish potato famine, the Armenian genocide, the goal is to save ammunition and simply remove the infrastructure of life from the target group. Israeli attacks have destroyed the water, power, administrative, and health care of the population. The issue now is that while the people are dying, international aid is mitigating the effectiveness of destroying infrastructure. A strike like this is so blatantly targeted because it’s a signal. With 3 weapons they have shut down a channel that could provide critical nutrition to tens of thousands of borderline surviving Palestinian people every day. It’s meant to have a chilling effect on relief efforts. Combined with the slow border checks, the political efforts to defund UN relief agencies, it helps accelerate the goal of removing the population from Gaza. It’s not an accident, earlier strikes on UN relief warehouses and personnel weren’t accidents, and the killing of around 100 journalists and many of their families weren’t accidents. They’re messages, get out of the way.

This is a little bit silly, that pretty clearly was a mistake, it also led to new ROE regarding the safety cordon around approved targets. Additionally Serbia was a combatant nation, that’s why embassies often evacuate nations involved in hostilities. Israel routinely attacks 3rd country targets, they struck with multiple weapons. Syria and Iraq are not parties to the current situation in Gaza. The idea that countries with governments or general population that are not in favour of the IDF massacre of civilians means almost every country is “involved” according to Israeli targeting doctrine.