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The Canadian Forces and Department of National Defence has updated the status of a number of its major procurement programs including the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships which it says will be fully operational by 2025.

Under the schedule the first ship is to be delivered sometime this summer to the Royal Canadian Navy but won’t be operational until 2020, according to the update. Other ships will follow over the years with the fleet being declared fully operational in 2025, according to the schedule. Each ship will go through various tests and sea trials, with ships being brought on line as those are finished and crews are trained.

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The Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships, or AOPS, being built by Irving Shipbuilding, were announced in 2007 by then prime minister Stephen Harper. The vessels were supposed to be in the water by 2013. But the program has faced delays. Critics have also questioned why Canada is paying around $400 million per ship when Denmark received similar vessels for $70 million each.