Zona Militar spoke with Glenn Copeland, General Manager of Lockheed Martin Canada, at the Sea Air Space expo in early April about the company’s Combat Management System 330 (CMS-330), which is operated by the Canadian Navy. The system has also found clients in South America, namely Chile, with other potential customers sought in South America and Europe.
CMS 330 was initially developed for the Royal Canadian Navy and installed aboard the fleet of Halifax-class frigates. “We took a generation leap of what Canada used to operate and developed a system for modern warfare,” Copeland explained. The CMS will remain Halifax’s combat system for the future as Lockheed has landed a “contract valued at more than US$1.5 Billion to maintain the Halifax program through the end of operational life in the 2040s,” the Lockheed executive explained.
The system is now installed on other vessels operated by the Canadian fleet, namely the Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels and the Joint Support Ships (the new tankers), and it will be on the Coast Guard Arctic Offshore variants—hulls 7 and 8, Lockheed explained. “We want to expand our solutions into the Coast Guard.”
International customers are also being sought. The company confirmed that there are discussions with Portugal for the Vasco da Gama-class frigates. Lockheed is offering a joint project with Elbit, which would manage the shipyard in the country for the modernization efforts. “We have been formally notified that we are the preferred tender,” Copeland mentioned. The company hopes to expand its presence by supplying the CMS-330 to vessels like tankers and the new flat-top drone carrier, which is under construction by Damen in Romania for the Portuguese Navy.
In South America, the combat management system has been installed aboard Chilean frigates. The three Type 23 frigates were upgraded with CMS-330 in a program that lasted from 2017 to 2024. “We closed the program and now do service and support. We are in the second year of training and usability,” Copeland explained.
Lockheed hopes to expand its presence in South America. “We like the market in South America,” the company told ZM. “We understand Buenos Aires may even begin looking at requirements, and we would like to open discussions for a program for the Argentine Navy’s MEKO 360-class frigates, although” the project is in its very early stages.
Similarly, the company hopes that Chile will select Lockheed again for its future shipbuilding projects. “We hope to be their CMS provider again for the next generation of ships.” The Chilean state-run shipyard ASMAR is building transport vessels – the Escotillón IV project – and hopes to build frigates next decade.
As for other countries, Lockheed confirmed, “We tried in Colombia for the PES frigate project, but it didn’t work.” The Colombian Navy ultimately selected Saab.
Zona Militar asked about the adaptability of the CMS-330 for non-combat missions, as Latin America has not experienced inter-state warfare in three decades, and the primary day-to-day missions of navies these days are constabulary. The company assured ZM that CMS-330 can be installed aboard a variety of surface vessels and for different missions. “Architecturally, the CMS was designed so the capability fits anywhere across the spectrum of missions, from constabulary missions to highly intense, multi-domain warfare operations,” Copeland told ZM.
Lockheed told Zona Militar that the system was initially introduced for export in 2013 and is updated regularly through internal investments and when customers have new requirements. “We have two versions, one for the Canadian fleet and one for export.” The versions are also modified depending on user requirements. “In the case of the RCN and the HALIFAX Class Frigates we maintain seven versions and a beta at any given time, and they are upgraded as needed by the customer. This is a hot production line,” Copeland summarized.
In late 2024, Lockheed delivered the 10th version of CMS-330 to the Canadian Navy, which was installed on the HMCS Ville de Québec (FFH 332) frigate, currently on deployment with the Royal Navy Strike Group.
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