National Post reports on new Ice-breaking "corvettes"

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/s...f-8d27d20561a6 (Subscription only, I'll give you the low down on the print version)

The Conservative government is considering buying a fleet of new "ice-capable" corvettes to allow our navy to patrol Canada's vast Arctic waters and abandoning...

Recently, there has been alot of criticism directed towards our MCDVs (Maritime Coastal Defense Vessels- http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/kingston/). Basically, they were originally designed for fisheries protection, training, and mine warfare. However, they are extremely slow (can only make about 12 knots) and the hulls are too thin for ice browsing. Its also useless as it cant catch intruding ships (worthless in the war on terror- but so will the proposed OPVs). A recent navy report has blasted the ships, and the Navy is cancelling a $100 million refit for the boats, and wants a bigger, more capable platform.....in other words, the Svalbard.
[i]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Svalbard1.jpg[i].

Its a 6300 ton Norweigan designed OPV...im sure many of you are familiar with it. Its can only make about 5 or 6 knots more than a Kingston, but it has long range, can cut through a meter of ice, and can handle a heli. Its almost confirmed that the gov't prefers several Svalbards over three big, expensive Canadian designed icebreakers- a Conservative election promise. Now, the navy and gov't are fixing their chequebooks on the Svalbard. They aern't even that expensive- only 80 million, without the radar and chopper. The Press has also reported some missile capability for the proposed ships are being looked at.

I just gotta say, I love you Norweigans right about now, and I bet Langsten AG are crapping their pants at the prospect of a six strong Canadian order.

I just hope the project will come to pass and we wont spend 2 billion on three heavy icebreakers that will take forever to design and build.