National Defence Minister David McGuinty in Mirabel, Que., on Tuesday.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
Ottawa is establishing a new secure facility for industry to test and experiment with uncrewed defence systems, as part of the federal government’s effort to accelerate the development of the technology through its defence build-up.
In an announcement on Tuesday, Defence Minister David McGuinty said the Uncrewed Systems Defence Innovation Secure Hub will be based in Mirabel, Que., where the federal government has already begun to build a separate centre for drone development.
“Drones are changing the way modern militaries operate, and Canada must be ready to develop, test and adopt these technologies at speed,” Mr. McGuinty said in a written statement.
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The hub is part of a national network of facilities Ottawa is establishing to develop the technologies identified as areas of sovereign capabilities through its Defence Industrial Strategy. The uncrewed systems hub is the second in this network to be established, after a maritime hub was launched as a pilot in November, in Dartmouth, N.S.
Similar to the first hub, the federal government has committed $29-million over two years for the establishment and initial operations of the uncrewed systems hub. This will be led by a consortium of 30 organizations, including the Quebec government’s aerospace innovation initiative, Espace Aéro, and other organizations from industry, academia and the not-for-profit sector.
The consortium was the winner of a call for proposals that the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces put out in February through Ottawa’s Innovation in Defence Excellence and Security program. Its members will be the primary users of the defence hub, but depending on the projects they undertake, other companies will likely be brought in as collaborators.
Not to be confused with Ottawa’s Drone Innovation Hub, which has also been established in Mirabel, this new defence hub will focus specifically on developing technologies based upon the needs of the Canadian Armed Forces.
Whereas the Drone Innovation Hub, which operates out of Ottawa as well, is being led by the National Research Council and focuses on defence as well as commercial applications, the uncrewed systems hub is being supported directly by the Canadian Joint Forces Command, a branch of the military that focuses on capabilities that are applicable across all domains, such as air, land and sea.
Areas of focus for the uncrewed systems hub could include the development of sensor systems to enhance situational awareness of the technology, improving the performance of drones in the Arctic or designing scalable production methods that are adaptable to sudden changes in demand.
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The facility is meant to be an environment in which industry can work alongside key stakeholders in government, academia and the Canadian Armed Forces to ensure what they’re building is directly related to the needs of their customer. It’s also supposed to help streamline some of the challenges industry faces when trying to test their technologies with the Armed Forces.
For example, it takes time to receive various levels of security clearance and often, smaller companies or startups working on new technologies don’t have the time or capital to wait for this level of approval to perform a preliminary test with the Armed Forces. Often, companies are also required to have a contract before they can even apply to receive clearance.
The defence hub will attempt, in part, to resolve some of this, bringing industry and military together in one space to collaborate and communicate.
The hub is being established under Ottawa’s Bureau of Research, Engineering and Advanced Leadership in Innovation and Science, or BOREALIS.
In its 2025 budget, the federal government set aside $68.2-million over three years for this bureau, which at the time, many industry stakeholders were hopeful would become Canada’s version of the U.S.’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency that’s heralded for its success stories, such as pioneering the internet.
The next hub expected to be announced as part of the national network is a secure facility for the research and development of quantum technologies. This hub was included in the call for proposals the government put out in February.