Canada tests Swedish CB90 fast assault craft for future amphibious operations.

The Canadian Armed Forces have received two Swedish Stridsbåt 90 combat boats on loan for formal operational evaluation following joint training with Sweden's Amf 4 Älvsborg Amphibious Regiment. The trials enable Canadian defense planners to assess the high-speed assault craft's transit speed, shallow-water maneuverability, and troop-loading performance for littoral operations. This evaluation provides empirical data to determine whether the platform can bridge mobility gaps between small rubber assault craft and larger naval surface vessels.

The evaluation measures key technical metrics including a 40-knot operational speed, a 300-nautical-mile range, and an 18-troop capacity per hull. These trials build upon previous Canadian procurement concepts to analyze the feasibility of integrating high-speed littoral maneuver units into national defense structures.

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The CB90 is a Swedish fast assault craft designed to move 18 equipped troops directly onto shallow shorelines at 40 to 45 knots, combining a 0.8 to 0.9 m draught and twin-waterjet propulsion with up to 1,800 hp. (Picture source: Saab)

On September 16, 2026, the Swedish Navy announced that two Stridsbåt 90 combat boats, also known as CB90 fast assault craft, had been loaned to the Canadian Armed Forces for evaluation after Canadian crews trained with instructors from Sweden's Amf 4 Älvsborg Amphibious Regiment during summer 2026, followed by the transport of the boats across the Atlantic. The evaluation moves Canada beyond the October 31, 2022 concept that examined a 20-boat CB90 HSM force, allowing the country to measure transit speed, fuel consumption, shallow-water access, formation handling, landing procedures, and troop loading times. The standard Strb 90H variant combines a 15.9 m aluminum hull, a 3.8 m beam, a 0.8 m draught, a 20.5 t maximum displacement, a 39 to 40 knot speed, and a capacity for 18 fully equipped troops in addition to its crew.

The newer HSM increases the maximum displacement to 24.5 t, uses two 900-hp Scania V8 diesels for 1,800 hp combined, and reaches 45 knots. Saab also specifies a 38-knot cruise speed in Sea State 1 or less and a 300 nmi range at that speed, and the HSM also integrates a combat management system and a Trackfire remote weapon station to the troop-carrying configuration. Canada's evaluation can therefore test whether the CB90 provides a useful mobility layer between its small rubber assault craft and much larger naval vessels. The standard Strb 90H uses an aluminum hull measuring 15.9 m overall and 14.9 m at the waterline, with a displacement increasing from 13 to 13.3 t empty to 15.3 t standard and 20.5 t fully loaded.

Original propulsion consists of two 625-hp Scania DSI14 V8 diesels producing 1,250 hp through twin waterjets, while later Swedish life-extension work replaced these with two 700-hp Scania DI13 engines for a total of 1,400 hp. This increased the maximum-displacement power density from 61 to 68.3 hp/t, even if the speed remained in the 39 to 40-knot range. Range figures include 240 nmi at 20 knots and 320 nmi for Strb 90H. Eighteen fully equipped troops occupy the central compartment and leave through bow doors and a ramp, allowing direct disembarkation onto a suitable shoreline. With two boats, Canada already has a nominal 36-soldier lift per sortie, sufficient to test the basic building block from which larger platoon-, company- or battalion-scale formations could be calculated.

At 40 knots, a 25-nmi movement takes 37 minutes 30 seconds, and 50 nmi takes 1 hour 15 minutes before maneuvering and landing time are added, giving a multi-boat force the ability to reposition infantry over tactically significant coastal distances within hours rather than operating only as a final ship-to-shore connector. The HSM changes the performance margins without substantially increasing the boat's external dimensions. Length rises to 16.3 m and draught to 0.9 m while retaining the 3.8 m beam, and displacement reaches 18 t light and 24.5 t maximum. Two 900-hp Scania V8 diesels provide 1,800 hp, 44% more power than the original H, despite a 19.5% maximum displacement increase, further raising power density from 61 to 73.5 hp/t. Maximum loaded speed is 45 knots, with a specified cruise point of 38 knots in Sea State 1 or less, with a 300-nmi range.

At that speed, 50 nmi takes 1 hour 19 minutes, 100 nmi 2 hours 38 minutes, and 300 nmi 7 hours 54 minutes. The Trackfire RWS is equipped with daylight television, thermal imaging, and laser ranging through an independently stabilized sensor module, while the combat management system distributes information between crew stations, other boats, and command elements. HSM crewing consequently increases from three to four, trading one additional operator for organic surveillance, target acquisition, fire-control and command functions. The HSM can also accommodate ballistic and CBRN protection, while Saab identifies smaller missile systems and remote weapon stations among the equipment that can be incorporated into the current design. Sweden built the CB90 more as a fleet-level amphibious system rather than a small patrol boat class.

Dockstavarvet won the competition in 1988, delivered prototypes 801 and 802 in 1989, and received an order for 120 boats in June 1990, followed by Series 1 boats 803-814, Series 2 boats 815-877, and Series 2B boats 878-907; another 27 protected Strb 90HS boats were ordered in 2002. At 18 troops per hull, 10 boats provide 180 troop positions, 20 provide 360, and 120 provide 2,160 if every craft is allocated to transport. Sweden instead created the Strb 90L battalion-command and Strb 90 KompL company-command variants, while the HS incorporates armor, CBRN overpressure, air conditioning, and auxiliary electrical generation. H-model armament can include two forward 12.7 mm machine guns and another 12.7 mm weapon or grenade launcher amidships, with four M9 mines or six depth charges as alternative payloads.

The resulting fleet can divide hulls between transport, command, protected movement, surveillance and weapons carriage without introducing separate boat types for each task. The October 31, 2022 Canadian concept examined 20 CB90 HSMs for $60 million, equivalent to $3 million per boat at the proposal's price level. Twenty boats carrying 18 soldiers each provide 360 nominal troop positions, while a 306-soldier, three-company light infantry battalion requires exactly 17 full 18-man loads, theoretically leaving three of 20 boats for command, reconnaissance, or armed escort. A seven-boat detachment provides 126 troop positions, six boats 108 and five boats 90, while three seven-boat groups would require 21 hulls and provide 378 positions. Twenty standard three-person crews require 60 operators, compared with 80 for 20 four-person HSM crews, before additional crews, maintainers and instructors are counted.

The concept also proposed moving seven-boat groups by flatbed truck or rail, separating strategic movement across Canada's continental distances from tactical movement after launch and allowing a 126-troop boat group to be repositioned without consuming its fuel and mechanical life on long coastal transits. Existing fleets provide useful numerical comparisons for a potential Canadian force. Norway acquired 20 S90Ns after evaluation in early 1996; Mexico acquired 40 between 1999 and 2001 and built another eight under a licence obtained in 2002; Malaysia operates 17 CB90-family craft, and Peru has pursued 24 boats. Norway's S90N carries two M2 Browning 12.7 mm machine guns and a Protector remote weapon station and incorporates an auxiliary generator, motorized stern anchor, additional bow compartments and Kongsberg navigation equipment.

In 2004, Norway fitted an S90N with a stabilized Hellfire launcher and a gimballed electro-optical and infrared sensor incorporating laser designation for live-fire trials, demonstrating that the hull could physically combine high-speed movement with a guided missile system. The U.S. Naval Expeditionary Combat Command selected the design for Riverine Command Boat testing in July 2007; SAFE Boats International received a $2.8-million prototype contract, and the U.S. Navy subsequently operated two Riverine Command Boats. The resulting force sizes provide Canada with several different reference points for the difference between a specialist detachment and a fleet intended to move substantial ground forces.

The CB90 family is also moving beyond the original crewed troop-transport role. Saab's Enforcer 3 uses a CB90 hull with Autonomous Ocean Core, navigation, communications, and ISR equipment to support autonomous operation, with mine detection and clearance, ISR, and electronic warfare among the applicable missions. This follows earlier expansion into command boats, armored HS variants, the 1,800-hp HSM, Trackfire integration, and guided-missile experimentation while retaining a roughly 16 m hull and less than 1 m draught. For Canada, the two boats can generate data on fuel burn by speed, loaded range, crew endurance, landing-cycle time, maintenance hours, formation spacing, high-speed operation by sea state, and the number of sorties achievable per day. Those measurements can then be converted directly into fleet requirements, but the sustainable lift will depend on how many hulls must be reserved for command, armed escort, maintenance, and training rather than troop carriage if Canada moves further.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.