Thanks for the responses Todjaeger, ngatimozart, and hauritz. Very interesting indeed. The fact that Sea Ceptor could intercept out to 60 kms is also quite interesting, and makes one wonder if MBDA is aiming to replace ESSM, and not RAM, with the intense marketing blitz here in Canada.
Hauritz, the CSC
Draft SOR had the following requirements: Long-range SAM, short-range SAM, and CIADS (see Note1 below).
The definition of CIADS is a bit controversial, from what I can gather, in some instances seeming to differentiate itself from CIWS by being missile based (like RAM and Sea Ceptor), versus gun based (like Phalanx and Millenium). However, I have seen both CIADS and CIWS refer to gun and missile based point defence systems. Perhaps one of the defence experts can chime in on this? So, I'm not entirely sure what the RCN was looking for with this requirement. Presumably it was a point defence
capability, not a specific system. In any case, it would appear that the CSC will not have a gun-based point defence system, if the bidders' models are representative. That evidence points towards CSC having RAM or SeaRAM for the CIADS requirement. I've tried to sum up the most likely possibilities below.
CIADS: RAM blk 2 (or Sea Ceptor?)
Short-range SAM: ESSM blk 2 (or Sea Ceptor?)
Long-range SAM: SM-x (SM-2 MR, SM-6, or perhaps both. See Note 2 below.)
Note1: Here is an interesting slide deck, a few years old now (2014), but it outlines the basic requirements for CSC:
StackPath
Page 32 is where it shows the air warfare requirements (bottom right quadrant). Some of the information is out of date, but it still paints an interesting picture of the required capabilities. Unfortunately, the final SOR is not available publicly, that I could find, so it is difficult to know how much from the draft is relevant. However, based on what we have seen to date, I believe that the air warfare portion is pretty accurate.
Note2: More information can be gleaned from a cost audit done by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) in 2017:
http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/web/default/files/Documents/Reports/2017/CSC Costing/CSC_EN.pdf
Page 15 suggests that missiles under consideration are ESSM, SM2-MR, Harpoon, Tomahawk, and SM-6. Interestingly, RAM was not included in this estimate.