I agree that with the quoted budget there is no way Canada will be able to buy 15 large frigates.I agree, the RCN's planned 15 replacement ships will not happen. I don't believe our current government will ever commit much above the previous allocation of 26 billion CDN. The RCN will be luckly to get 8 CSC ships. Our dollar continues to decline. The AOPS went from 8 to 6 ships and that reduction occurred when our dollar was much stronger. Building the Queenston class AORs offshore would get the RCN one more CSC.
Faced with the same problem the British have opted for a hi-lo mix of frigates. I would be interested to hear whether on not a mix of frigates and corvettes would be worth considering in Canada's case given that the alternative would seem to be slashing the size of its frigate fleet.