How Canada might go about replacing its aging submarine fleet is an ongoing exercise, but the nuclear-powered option looks to be off-the-table. This much is not new; however, Canada was also just reminded of its exclusion from the AUKUS nuclear submarine pact between its close allies the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.
It may be a very long time before Canada makes a commitment for replacement submarines given that defence experts aren’t envisioning it being part of a new national defence policy to replace 2017’s Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE).
“It won’t be in the defence policy update,” James Fergusson, deputy director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba, said in an interview….