Let's Talk with Noah (Post-Holiday Mini Edition) (12/26/25): People & Submarines, A400, Will the CDC be a new Halifax?, Jets on GLAAM
I couldn't help myself.
I know you all asked me to take a break. I know I promised I would keep it low this week. The page is so blank though, so empty. There should be more. I can't stand to see no posts for three days, and despite planning a post for tomorrow, it isnt enough to fill the gap I see.
So what better time to answer some of the questions I missed the last two weeks and pump out some content in the drought! Consider this a mini-episode, a lottle pick up after the christmas rush. My treat to all of you! This isn’t a full Let's Talk, but decently-sized enough to hopefully tie over your fill on a slow week!
As always you can ask your questions, and vote on others, over on our Slido page. It will be up until Monday! A lot of you sent stuff in DMs also but I prefer the stuff there as it can be voted on and also kept open to everyone. If you enjoy my content also consider supporting TNSR over on our Kofi!
Q1. Please Noah take a break this week. We don't care if you spend a few days going silent. You deserve the rest
Sadly I cannot bring myself to do it. I'm sorry. I need to try and post something lol. The page is to empty right now.
Q2. Could the GLAAM accommodate a few VTOL fighters? It's not doing enough
Don't say that or Davie might actually try and pull that off. To answer seriously, no. There is no way you could accommodate a F-35B on something like GLAAM. Firstly, the flight deck is not built to withstand the heat generated from the F-35s Pratt & Whitney F135 emgine. This not only presents a major risk to damaging the flight deck, but can release debris into the air that could present a risk to the engine itself.
Second, it's impractical. While you might be able to modify something like GLAAM to accommodate a tiny amount of F-35, the needed space for the additional fuel storage, maintinence facilities, and munitions stores, just to name a few, makes zero sense for what would be less than 5 fighters.
You would essentially be redesigning the whole ship, by which point why the hell are you modifying GLAAM? Just pick something else. There are designs out there, quite a few of them honestly. Just go with a proven design. These aint going up to the archipelago to do loopy-loops for the seals.
Q3. I'm convinced Noah, if they spent the last little while on going from Leopard LEP to full on replacement. I'd bet we can do the same to the Herc Project and go for A400 haha
The A400 is a potential future option. It fixes the restrictions we have with the C-130J fleet in terms of space, is widely used by allies, and has demonstrated some pretty incredible capabilities when it comes to runway requirements that makes it a feasible option.
There has also been a renewed effort to demonstrate the A400 in cold and arctic envionrments. The French took a lottle trip around the Arctic with thr A400 visiitng Greenland, Puvirnituq, Cambridge Bay, Resolute Bay, and Iqaluit as part of Cold Weather training.
As far as I know the tests wemt better than expected, and the A400 performed as expected. There is onviously more to operations than singular trips around the place, however it is a good demonstration that the platform can operate in the Canadian Arctic, and helps with learning about where potential deficiencies may be.
I like the A400. It offers superior payload capacity (about 17 extra tons), range (2100nm vs. 3,400nm with a 20t payload), amazing short/unpaved runway performance despite it's size, modern glass cockpit, fully digital Fly-By-Wire (FBW) system, and in my opinion a better sensor suite.
If it were up to me I would be all in on the A400. I love it. However we can't discount the proven, rugged capabilities that the C-130J proves. Its a tough, reliable little bastard that we know works when we need it, even if the design is outdated. I will also say that the Block 8.1 upgrade being done on the C-130J fleet is nice as well.
You pay for it cost wise, fuel wise. Thats the same for any move to a larger, modern platform. It's almost lways gonna carry that burden. I believe it's worth it overall for the capabilities it brings. The fact is that the C130 as a family is becoming a bit small for modern needs.
It’s a 70+ year old design that exists at the pinnacle of “lets make everything massove in size” trend that has captivated the defence industry. Platforms get bigger, C-130 can only be stretched so much to accommodate.
Q4. Talking about steel got me thinking... is there any other aspect of CPSP that you think is being overlooked?
People, and I'm not talking about crewing. Similar issue to steel, how prepared is the workforce to partake in the maintenance of these submarines? How do the companies and their partners plan to tackle this issue?
This is an issue for everyone, but TKMS is gonna have a harder time with this as they're gonna have to build up a workforce from near nothing. There is a natural pathway that Babcock has made as part of Team Victoria-Class to train people for this role. That's an advantage in their favor.
Also advantageous is the choice of steels used. Babcock and Hanwha can leverage the easy pipeline between HY-80 to HY-100 from thr Vicky to KSS-III. That means, on there end, not a whole lot changes. They aint equal, there are stricter requirements with HY-100 and some training that will need to change but you're fundementally working with a similar product.
The Type 212CD uses a austenitic stainless-steel in the Amanox family. As far as I know it is a variant of 1.3964 grade steel like we discussed before. It MIGHT be along the lines of 1.3974 which increases the amount of Nitrogen (along with Chromium and Nickel to a lesser extent) to increase the yield strength but thats plain speculation from me.
Same family, same basic capabilities, same advantages. However it is a unique, new addition to Canada’s shipbuilding industry, one without a workforce to build off of, one that requires very different facilities and training compared to HY-100, even among regular shipyard workers.
I do wanna make note that things can change, people can be trained. However no calculation is just gonna assume that a workforce pops up eventually. We'll always examine with the trends and workforce we have
Maintinence/ISS makes up 50% of the evaluation for CPSP. It is the single most important category. It is also, in my mind, the most complex and difficult to break down because there are a million factors involved.
People will remain a very hard limit to capacity. Training people isn't easy, and it takes time to build a competent workforce. One side with an active, working pipeline and little issue with the transition will benefit at the start.
I won't get into the complexities of both here, nor the skills of the shipbuilding industry. That is something I wanna tackle in a proper article. I won'tbe able to do it in a Q&A alone. I'm curious to see both sides plans to build up the appropriate workforce.
Q5. Is there anything Canadian made or being made similar to the saab nimbrix or small counter drone missiles.
North Vector Dynamics and their CI-60 CUAS vehicle and CM-70 CUAS missile are likely what you're thinking of!
The CI-60 serves both as a CUAS interceptor and a subscale aerial target system. As a kinetic interceptor, it is designed for drone-on-drone neutralization, specifically targeting Class I UAS. It features a compact, lifting-body design powered by electric propulsion, allowing it to reach speeds exceeding 225 km/h at a range of ~2km. The vehicle is lightweight (approx. 0.8 kg) and is designed for rapid field assembly and launch from a portable rail system. Beyond its role as a weapon, the CI-60 is used by naval and air forces for live-fire training, providing a realistic, high-speed simulation to qualify air defense crews.
The CM-70 is a low-cost interceptor built to neutralize Group I through III. Unlike traditional missiles that may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, the CM-70 has a low price point of just under $10,000 a shot. The CM-70 is engineered for scalable, high-volume production as an alternative to traditional V-SHORAD systems.
It features a mass of approximately 2.5 kg, a length of 0.72 meters, can achieve high-subsonic speeds of over 720 km/h, and has a range of ~2km. To operate effectively in electronic warfare environments, it is designed to be "radio silent," utilizing onboard Al-powered infrared (IR) guidance to track and intercept targets without relying on GPS or active communication links.
I like the team at NVD. I think they make great products, and they're full of talented individuals. They're someone I would definetly watch out for!
Q6. Any updates on when the IFM RFP should be released? I'm a bit impatient waiting!
Soon, can't say exact timeframe but sometime soon we should see it. We should see a few big RFI/RFP drop over the next three months.
Q7. Any idea on when nTACS will drop it's RFI?
See above. They're now moving at rapid speed since I last checked on them, and are pushing hard to get their RFI out as soon as possible. So maybe you won't have to wait long? I think you'll be happy here.
Q8. So is CDC going to be Halifax class flight 2 with smaller crew component and possibly a ice rating on the hull?
I dont call her the Minifax for nothing! In seriousness we don't know exactly where on thr high-low spectrum CDC will fall yet. This is generally accurate to the picture I have heard discussed. The fact is that the world has become more volatile, and as we have seen with the Houthis and ongoing Red Sea conflict, even smaller states and motivated actors can gain access to fairly capable Strike and Anti-Ship weaponry.
The Halifax may have been good for the 1990s requirements and demands. It is now what the navy sees as the bare minimum for a capable combatant able to operate indeoendently in a potentially contested enviornment.
People might forget that the gap between the Halifax-class and CDC will be the same as the Halifax was to the St. Laurent-class! Thats a long time, and things do change. The same bare minimums can shift quickly as time goes on.
It also helps that packages have gotten smaller. You can fit a fairly capable air-search radar, Hull-Mounted sonar, and other such equipment is fairly small packages these days, far smaller than you could have twenty years ago. That comes both from physical sizes as electronics shrink and in the power requirements needed to run them.
So depending on what exact capabilities you desire you can get away withba lot. Vigilance 75 is a great example of just how much you can cram these days into a tiny package. They managed to fit an NS-100, STIR Tracking & Illumination Radar, Scout Mk3, and a Hull-Mounted sonar.
So it isnt like it can't be done. You could fit the Halifax package into a fairly smaller vessel. Same for VLS. Thats no longer a luxury. You need VLS to be a combatant, unless you're a Coast Guard vessel painted to look like, say, a frigate because the last frigate got banished to the shadow realm and you need a replacement within an unreasonable timeframe.
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Well...I didn't spew coffee but yeah...that was funny.
Anyone else spew coffee all over their phone at the constellation reference? No? Just me? Cool 😎