I was thinking, wow that's a lot of money! But they're talking about Canadian dollars... I guess it's still a lot of money. But you don't get those bespoke US toys for free!
I'm not impressed however. Neither with the Type 26 nor with the Canadians plans to buy 15 of them. I'm sure the RN will be very happy with them, but they'd be happy with a rowboat after how much they've had to give up for those useless carriers. And I don't really get why the Aussies are buying them, because they are also using their own systems instead of what the Brits are designing it for. Because those Brits just need to be special and pretend they still have a relevant defense industry.
Anyway, the Type 26 just seems very expensive for what it brings to the table. But even so, the Type 31 is by no means comparable as it is in a completely different class of performance. And while I like the FREMM and what the Italians have done with it. I wouldn't trust those French bastards to run a bath let alone a shipbuilding program. So a bullet dodged there I say!
However BAE isn't exactly know for it's problem free designs and on time, on budget deliveries...
The Type 26 hull is expensive because it's *really* quiet. The RN has specialised in ASW for a long time as part of it's NATO commitments and Type 26 has a lot of noise reduction elements which go wayyyy beyond anything previously seen. So, it's a large, roomy design, very quiet and has a very flexible layout. Additionally, the program (from the offset) invited members of various foreign navies to observe, participate and contribute.
The end results speak for themselves - two 5I countries have picked the design up.