Canada extends Asterix Combat Support Ship contract until 2025, with option to buy

Federal Fleet Services (FFS) announced that the Government of Canada has confirmed a two-year extension to the At-Sea Support Services Contract for the combat support ship, m/v Asterix. The m/v Asterix has been providing exemplary worldwide service to the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) since her deployment in 2018.

Over the past five years, Asterix has performed flawlessly in NATO and allied operations from the Arabian Gulf to East Africa and the Korean peninsula supporting a variety of missions from counter-terrorism to sanction enforcement. The vessel has not experienced a single day of unscheduled downtime, testament to the high quality of the crew, the ship and its systems. Asterix has been widely lauded by global allied navies and described as setting the “gold standard” in naval procurement.

Given Canada’s long-defined requirement for up to four permanent replenishment vessels, and the current plan for the delivery of two Protecteur-Class supply ships, extending the Asterix contract ensures the RCN can maintain essential replenishment-at-sea capabilities now and into the future.

“Locking in Asterix’s capability for Canada and the NATO alliance is smart business. Its strategic capability is critical to Canada maintaining a capable, deployable, blue-water navy. The RCN can deploy anywhere in the world in response to crises, conflicts or to support humanitarian missions. Everyone at FFS, seafarers and civilians, is proud that we will continue to provide this critical capability. Asterix has rightly become a permanent and well-integrated component of the RCN fleet,” said Rear-Admiral (retired) Gilles Couturier, CEO of FFS.

The total optional lease period for Asterix is 10 years although Canada can declare its contractual purchase option at any time.

Asterix was converted at Davie in just 18 months from a containership to a military specified support vessel at a cost which represents real value to Canadian taxpayers. Uniquely in Canada, Asterix is operated with a combination of FFS and the RCN crew.