Canada has 2,000 drones of all types in its military inventory. Prime Minister Mark Carney wants the country to be able to build millions within two years.
That goal sits behind the 100-year partnership Carney and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed on Thursday in Calgary. The declaration covers defence and security, trade and investment, energy and critical minerals. The details, and how it will be carried out, are to be settled in the coming months.
“Canada will always stand in solidarity with Ukraine,” Carney said beside Zelenskyy. “Canadians understand in our bones the importance of your struggle. There is no qualification to our commitment.”
Contracts for drones
The two governments started with a set of contracts. Canada awarded deals worth up to $50 million to six firms in New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan, a first wave meant to raise the number of drones the Canadian Armed Forces have deployed tenfold. The order covers intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drones and uncrewed ground vehicles.
Canada also plans a drone marketplace, borrowed from Ukraine’s wartime practice, where individual military units can contact companies directly and get what they need quickly.
On the industry side, General Dynamics Mission Systems-Canada and the Ukrainian company Green Tech Harvest will develop and produce drones and related technology together. An earlier tie-up between Airlogix LLC and Sentinel Research & Development was announced in May. Ottawa and Kyiv further plan to co-produce uncrewed systems, counter-drone technology, munitions and artificial intelligence technology.
“Canadian industry will learn from the most battle-tested developers on Earth,” Carney said.
Zelenskyy said Carney had pushed to speed up the co-production deal. Teams had told the two leaders a drone agreement was possible in 90 days. “Then Mark said, can we have it in nine days? And the teams immediately said, ‘Yes, of course.’”
Zelenskyy also appeared to get ahead of Carney by announcing that Canada was ready to join FREYA, a European anti-ballistic missile defence project led by the Ukrainian company Fire Point. It is meant to be a cheaper alternative to American Patriot batteries, which are in short supply.
Why not stockpile
Drone technology moves fast. On the battlefield, some equipment is outdated within three to six months, and tactics can change in four to six weeks as both sides adapt.
Lt.-Gen. Darcy Molstad, commander of Canadian Joint Forces Command, told CBC News that stockpiling is not the answer. “If we had two million drones on our shelves, then in a month or two months or six months, they may all be obsolete,” he said. What Canada needs, in his view, is an industrial base that can produce at scale and ramp up when needed. He called Ukraine a world leader in drone use: “We have a lot of operational lessons to learn from them.”
Money for air defence and energy
Carney announced a further round of spending. Canada will put $350 million toward air defence interceptors, bought through the United States’ JUMPSTART program. It will also provide nearly $435 million in loan guarantees to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for energy security, including winter gas purchases, since Russian strikes keep hitting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Another $200 million in concessional loans is planned through Export Development Canada for reconstruction.
Up to $40.1 million will go to rehabilitation programs for Ukrainian veterans and their families.
