OTTAWA - From a massive ad blitz featuring 好色tv broadcast icon Peter Mansbridge to a cabinet minister calling on shipbuilders to cough up a car plant, the brief race to replace Canada鈥檚 aging submarine fleet turned heads in more ways than one.
The unusually short competition to build the navy鈥檚 next submarine fleet seemed to focus on everything but the boats themselves 鈥 even though the two vessels in the running are, in some ways, very different.
At no point during the two-year-long procurement competition did the federal government ever really talk about the boats' capabilities. The navy made it clear very early on that either model would do just fine.
With the July NATO summit right around the corner, the Liberal government is expected to announce its chosen supplier for up to 12 submarines in the coming days.
It's a massive order, worth tens of billions of dollars 鈥 enough to catch the attention of South Korean manufacturer Hanwha as Seoul aspires to make itself the fourth-largest defence exporter in the world.
Hanwha launched a massive ad campaign, plastering airports in Canada with advertisements and hitting broadcast TV and streaming platforms to showcase its KSS-III.
Even its competition 鈥 a European market leader responsible for supplying most of NATO鈥檚 conventional submarines 鈥 took note of the ads that appeared as far away from the coasts as Winnipeg and Calgary.
鈥淭his is nuts, honestly,鈥 said Oliver Burkhard, CEO of rival bidder TKMS, in an interview at the CANSEC military trade show in May. 鈥淲e're not used to this.鈥
His typical competitors 鈥 French, Spanish, Italian, British and Swedish submarine makers 鈥 鈥渄o not do this," he said. Submarines aren鈥檛 supposed to be so visible, after all. These competitions usually focus on what the subs can actually do, and the sales pitches are aimed squarely at governments 鈥 not everyone.
鈥淭his is unusual. Let them try it,鈥 he added. 鈥淚f they have success, then maybe say this was a big strategy and we have won this because of our advertising. If they do not win it, then they are the more popular one who has lost 鈥 the most popular loser.鈥
But Hanwha is not a typical competitor. While it has never exported subs before, it boasts of its massive shipyard facility and has offered Ottawa a breakneck delivery schedule.
Hanwha says it is making a long-term play with the ads. It鈥檚 a household name in Korea but not yet known in countries like Canada as a top defence supplier, said its 好色tv CEO Glenn Copeland.
鈥淚t's about brand recognition and it's about understanding what our capabilities are, and as people have understood, it's a pretty powerful company,鈥 Copeland said in an interview days after the big defence trade show.
He said the ads also 鈥渃ertainly got the attention鈥 of several levels of government and resulted in a lot of knocks on their door.
Hanwha might be new to exporting subs but its boats are already being used by the Korean navy. One sailed to Esquimalt, B.C. in May.
The TKMS model 212CD sub is the firm鈥檚 latest design and has yet to start rolling off assembly lines. It offers cutting-edge engineering from a long-established manufacturer.
While all subs are quiet, the 212CD has a diamond-shaped hull designed to make it less detectable by sonar.
The TKMS campaign for the sub contract has focused on the fact that Germany and Norway, NATO alliance countries, are buying the same model. Interoperability 鈥 doing things like training and repairs together 鈥 is a stated goal of the alliance.
While the details of the bids remain classified, the public side of the Korean campaign has wowed some observers.
"Korea has gone all-out to win this," said Paul Mitchell, a professor of defence studies at the 好色tv Forces College. "In some ways, I think it鈥檚 theirs to lose."
Early on, Hanwha pitched an aggressive delivery timeline 鈥 four boats in the water by 2035, then one boat per year. The Germans then revised their own schedule to speed up deliveries late in the game.
Hanwha鈥檚 KSS-III is a bigger, more spacious boat than the 212CD, something that can affect modifications and range.
Designed to keep North Korea in check, it also comes with an added capability to vertically launch ballistic or cruise missiles from the sea to hit land targets 鈥 something the German boats don鈥檛 have.
鈥淭he strengths that the German boat has over the Korean boat are harder to quantify 鈥 interoperability, the layout of the boat itself, and I would argue the language factor 鈥 You鈥檙e dealing with navies that have extremely good English-language capabilities,鈥 Mitchell said. 鈥淎nd language is going to be a real significant issue.鈥
Most experts say the contest appears to be a dead heat or is marginally leaning to one bidder or the other. No one really knows, since Ottawa is keeping it tightly under wraps.
The federal government鈥檚 behaviour during the last two years has also been somewhat unusual. It changed the normal rules and processes to speed up what is likely the biggest military purchase in Canada鈥檚 history, advancing it by several years.
Ottawa made a surprise move to extend the bid deadline this spring. Industry Minister M茅lanie Joly publicly declared she hoped the bidders would include in their packages an offer to open a new car plant in Canada to help the struggling auto sector.
That led to an additional offer from Hanwha 鈥 a possible joint venture to build military vehicles.
Those who watch military purchases closely were not entirely shocked.
鈥淚 would say that's par for the course for Canada, honestly,鈥 Mitchell said.
When Canada was about to order its current Victoria subs from the U.K. in the 1990s, he said, Ottawa asked for an extra $50 million discount at the last minute.
With procurement projects this large, economic benefits often come to the fore.
鈥淭his is a quite unusual capability acquisition, in part because it's very significant in value,鈥 said Darren Hawco, a retired naval officer now working with Deloitte.
鈥淲hile many procurements of military capabilities are modest in value, relatively speaking 鈥 this procurement is different because of its size, because of its (geopolitical) strategic alignment outcomes, and because of the economic potential to Canada overall.鈥
Retired vice-admiral Mark Norman said he鈥檚 been 鈥渞eally impressed鈥 by both bidders.
鈥淭he Koreans have been extremely aggressive and they have led the way in the public domain. They've been out there communicating, not just making deals but also communicating the nature of those deals," he said.
"The Germans equally have been working hard but more behind the scenes."
He said he鈥檚 not convinced either company has a clear edge since Ottawa's decision will come down to how it assesses the value of the economic benefits and strategic partnerships on offer. Publicly comparing capabilities only gets a sub maker so far.
鈥淭he difference between a Toyota Camry and a Honda Accord is fundamentally buyer preference,鈥 Norman said.
鈥淭hey both basically do the same thing. They both are the same configuration, basically the same product. They're just packaged differently and they deliver their capability in slightly different and nuanced ways.鈥
This report by 好色tvwas first published June 21, 2026.
