At CANSEC 2023, Vard Marine Inc. (VARD), a Fincantieri company, proudly launched VIGILANCE, as their solution to replace the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) Kingston Class Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels (MCDV) under Pillar Two of Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). In conjunction with Team Vigilance partner companies Thales Canada, Ontario Shipyards, SH Defence, and Fincantieri, VIGILANCE will provide the RCN with a lightweight and operationally flexible military asset that is highly capable and globally deployable. VIGILANCE can perform all the roles of the existing MCDV, while also fulfilling crucial naval warfare duties beyond the capabilities of both the MCDV and the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPV).
This collaboration ensures Team Vigilance can meet the needs of the RCN’s future Multi-Mission Corvette program with a tailored naval solution, striking the optimum balance between capability and cost, while also maintaining the life-cycle cost advantages VARD’s naval designs are known for.
As a part of the ongoing effort, Team Vigilance continues to assemble a broad coalition of Canadian companies that can offer important services and vital equipment to the program. Building a robust coalition is key to the core objective that VIGILANCE be designed in Canada, built in Canada, and equipped in Canada. To this end, Team Vigilance launched their Preferred Suppliers Program at DEFSEC 2023 in Halifax last October.
SSI introduced as a Preferred Supplier to Team Vigilance at Mari-Tech 2024
This May at Mari-Tech 2024 in St. John’s, NL, Vard Marine and Ontario Shipyards announced SSI, a global leader in shipbuilding software solutions, as a preferred supplier. This partnership leverages SSI’s innovative digital shipbuilding platforms to enhance Team Vigilance’s design, engineering, and production capabilities, reinforcing SSI's commitment to supporting digital transformation across Canadian shipbuilding.
Joining Team Vigilance as a Preferred Supplier allows SSI to share their decades of shipbuilding technology expertise and experience supporting digital transformation for military ship designers and builders. This announcement also further cements SSI’s role as a key player in enhancing Canada’s sovereign naval capabilities.
SSI has been at the forefront of digital shipbuilding transformation for over 30 years, offering specialized software, services, and expertise tailored to the unique needs of shipbuilders. SSI’s flagship products, ShipConstructor and ShipbuildingPLM, are integral components of their Digital Shipbuilding Platform. This comprehensive, open architecture solution integrates seamlessly with other systems, ensuring a unified source of truth for shipbuilding project information throughout the entire lifecycle.
Adopting the SSI solution will give all Team Vigilance partners and Preferred Suppliers a unified connection to a digital twin for the entire Vigilance class, as well as for the individual vessels as they are designed, built, and set into service. Simultaneously, it will provide the RCN, and their selected in-service support partners, access to the digital thread required to execute maintenance, repair, and overhaul activities, giving them a modern and complete overview of their vessels - both as-built and as-maintained.
David Males, Director of Business Development for SSI, stated, "At SSI, we are thrilled to join Team Vigilance as a Preferred Supplier. Our commitment over the past 34 years has been to drive forward the digital transformation in shipbuilding, and this announcement is an extension of that. We are proud to support Canadian shipbuilding through our innovative technologies and comprehensive expertise working with defense designers and builders. Joining Team Vigilance further cements our role as a key player in enhancing Canada’s naval capabilities."
Alicia Nash, Vice President of Operations at Ontario Shipyards, said, “As we work towards the revitalization of the shipbuilding industry in Ontario, a critical component will be the adoption and implementation of cutting-edge technology in the shipbuilding process. With the addition of SSI to Team Vigilance, we ensure that we have a strong foundation of technological expertise, which will allow us to successfully deliver the future Multi-Mission Corvette for the Royal Canadian Navy.”
Derek Buxton, Vice President Business Development, Vard Marine Inc., said, “The SSI software suite offers a complete solution for design, engineering and construction. It is the only home-grown Canadian solution of its type and SSI has achieved huge export success, being for the design, construction, and sustainment of defense projects across North America and in shipyards around the globe. Being true to our core motivating principle that VIGILANCE will be designed, built and equipped in Canada, we are very pleased to announce that the SSI solution will be deployed at Ontario Shipyards if we are selected to deliver the Vigilance Class to the Royal Canadian Navy.”