South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean has partnered with Babcock Canada to strengthen its position in the ongoing Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP) competition. Under the newly signed teaming agreement, Babcock Canada will serve as the exclusive in-service support provider, ensuring the fleet’s operational readiness and lifecycle management over the coming decades. This partnership builds upon a 2021 memorandum of understanding and a 2022 technical cooperation agreement between the two firms.
The agreement comes after Ottawa announced in August that Hanwha Ocean had been shortlisted as one of two finalists for the multibillion-dollar program, competing directly with Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems. According to Babcock Canada, local involvement in the sustainment phase is vital to guarantee both cost efficiency and long-term availability of the submarine fleet.
The CPSP carries an estimated price tag of C$60 billion ($43 billion) and is one of Canada’s largest defense procurements in decades. The program aims to deliver its first submarine by no later than 2035, with the full fleet operational by 2043. Babcock’s parent company, Babcock International Group, already supports the entirety of the UK’s submarine fleet, adding weight to its Canadian subsidiary’s role in the project.
Hanwha Ocean has committed to an aggressive delivery timeline, pledging that if awarded the contract in 2026, it could deliver the first submarine by 2032, with three additional boats arriving by 2035. The company expects to maintain a production tempo of one submarine per year thereafter, giving Canada a faster route to renewing its undersea warfare capability.
