This session will present the “wicked” challenge of extending the life of an aging platform well beyond its design life. The Halifax Class is a critical asset to Canada and keeping the class reliable and relevant is essential. What does it take to push a naval platform beyond its design life without compromising readiness? This session dives into the engineering, supply chain, and digital transformation strategies required to sustain the Halifax Class well into the future. Join us to explore bold solutions for obsolescence, structural renewal, and industrial capacity building —because the next decade of fleet reliability depends on what we do now. The solutions being explored are as vast as the challenges involved with such endeavor. A new strategy is required, the status quo and perceived barriers need to be challenged, what was once considered “exotic” territory needs to be explored to define if the solution lies in this landscape. We will want to leverage the Mari-tech audience to discuss those challenges. Those are examples of questions we need to ask ourselves:

• Are we leveraging the right tools/technologies to enable this program to be successful? Are there tools/technologies ready now that can we leverage?
• Is Industry able to meet the growth and demands of the program? If not, how can we growth that enterprise to reach a support base we can leverage to meet the forecasted demand?
• How do we battle obsolescence? Are we looking at all possible options to continue the support of the Halifax Class?
• How do we establish a reliable and agile supply chain to support the growth expected of a life extension?
• How do we become better at providing industry with visibility on our issues and engaging early for solutions?
• Are we being bold enough in challenging status quo and perceived barriers preventing us from exploring new solutions? Or, are we going the wrong way with some of our perceived solutions?
  • Renewing (steel, piping) instead of stripout and inspect approach
  • Digitalization of a class of ship that was designed on paper
  • Develop the needed industry support to meet demand
  • Leverage available expertise