The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) has initiated a plan to upgrade navigation system hardware on a range of surface vessels and submarines.

The supplier OSI Maritime Systems (OSI) said it has signed a deal with RCN to design, build, test, certify and deliver MIL-SPEC navigation system hardware upgrades to replace legacy systems that were originally provided by the company, some dating back to 2001. OSI will also provide spares and training support.

The fleetwide upgrade includes 44 surface ship and five submarine systems. All of the work associated with the design and build will take place at OSI’s Burnaby Production facility – a 20,000 square foot (1,858 square meters) state-of-the art operation from which OSI delivers integrated bridge systems to its global customer base.

“The relationship OSI has with the RCN is significant,” stated Ken Kirkpatrick, OSI president and CEO. “We are proud of being a Canadian company supporting Canada’s military, and a fleetwide provider of warship navigation systems to RCN since 2001.”

“The scope of the contract demonstrates we are a proven supplier,” Kirkpatrick said. “We are able to provide a complete package to our NATO and Allied customers from concept to delivery and include support over the lifetime of the product.”

The agreement also includes a five-year in-service support contract to ensure the systems are maintained and fully operational at all times.

The new in-service support agreement complements an existing RCN fleetwide support contract which was agreed in 2014 and covers ECPINS - OSI’s Warship ECDIS software.