Canada’s Defense Ministry has adopted a new strategy to procure surface combatant ships for the Royal Canadian Navy in a move to accelerate proposed delivery schedule two years ahead of the original timeframe.

Judy Foote, Canadian minister of public services and procurement, and John McKay, parliamentary secretary to the minister of national defense, announced the naval ship acquisition approach on Monday.

Under the revised approach, the Defense Ministry will choose a current warship design for modification instead of selecting companies to perform the changes on the Canadian surface combatant.

Steve Brunton, Canada’s shipbuilding adviser, provided input on the government’s effort to refine the procurement approach.

Canada wants to retire its legacy destroyers and frigates and expects construction of the country’s future surface combatant to begin after the Arctic offshore patrol ships are completed in the 2020s.