Construction is underway on Canada's Land-Based Test Facility at Hartlen Point in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia—a critical piece of infrastructure needed to bring the Royal Canadian Navy's 15 new River-class destroyers into service.
The facility will integrate and test the destroyers' combat systems before they're installed on the ships themselves. Think of it as a shore-based twin of the ship's brain—radar, sensors, weapons systems, the whole stack—allowing crews to work out the bugs on land before heading to sea.
Testing grounds: PCL Construction broke ground in November 2025 and expects to wrap up construction in early 2028. The project will sustain roughly 200 jobs over that span.
The 12,567-square-metre facility sits on a 10-hectare footprint directly on the coastline, giving it a 130-degree transmission arc over the Atlantic. That ocean access is essential for testing the destroyer's combat systems in conditions that mirror real operations.
Why here: Hartlen Point checked all the boxes—DND already owns it, it meets security requirements, and there's enough space to house all the systems in one location rather than spreading them across multiple sites.
The facility isn't a weapons testing range. It's an integration centre where complex combat systems get commissioned and debugged before installation on the actual ships.
Parallel paths: DND started site prep work back in 2023—roadway access, grading, extending municipal services—while the River-class design was still being finalized. That phased approach kept the project timeline on track even as ship specifications evolved.
The facility design had to progress alongside the destroyer design itself, since you can't build a test facility without knowing exactly what you're testing.
Fleet replacement: The River-class destroyers will replace Canada's aging Halifax-class frigates and retired Iroquois-class destroyers. The new ships are meant to handle evolving maritime security challenges and support international naval operations.
Canada has the world's longest coastline, and the government is positioning the River-class as critical to protecting Canadian waters and sovereignty.
More to come: The LBTF is just the first infrastructure project for the River-class program. The navy will need jetties, warehouses, training facilities, and more to support the new fleet once it's operational.
Defence Minister David McGuinty called the facility "mission critical" for bringing the new ships into service and preparing personnel to operate the incoming systems.
The project feeds into Canada's broader commitment to hit NATO defence spending targets while supporting domestic economic growth through defence infrastructure investment.
