Halifax company awarded $15-million contract to develop training software

HALIFAX – A Halifax-based company has been awarded a $15-million contract to design software for the navy’s Arctic offshore patrol ships.

Fleetway and Irving Shipbuilding awarded the contract to Bluedrop Training and Simulation under the national shipbuilding program.

The patrol vessels are being built in Halifax and are the first ships to be built under the combat vessels package of the federal shipbuilding contract.

Bluedrop is a Canadian-owned small company that has worked with the Armed Forces for more than three decades.

Jean-Claude Siew of Bluedrop says the company’s virtual training and simulation centre is the only facility of its kind in Canada and will be used to provide the navy with training technologies for future sailors.

The company says it has 25 employees dedicated to work on the patrol ships project, including eight positions created as a direct result of the shipbuilding strategy contract.