Soldiers look at a drone as a team from the Canadian Navy test thermal imaging drone capabilities in Arctic environments in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, in February, 2025.COLE BURSTON/AFP/Getty Images
Christopher Collins is a fellow with the Polycrisis Program at the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University.
Jonathan Berkshire Miller is the co-founder and principal of Pendulum Geopolitical Advisory, based in Ottawa.
Unmanned drones are the new soldiers, scouts and artillery of modern warfare. Yet, Canada is falling behind our allies and adversaries. As a G7 country with vast and vulnerable Arctic territory and rising NATO commitments, we lack a coherent drone strategy integrating national security and civilian applications.
Drones’ transformational impact on war is clearest in Ukraine. In response to the Russian reinvasion, the Ukrainian military developed low-cost, mass-produced attack drones for battlefield use, while also creating long-range strike drones to hit strategic targets in Russia and sea-based drone to target the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Russia has responded in kind, and both sides continue to innovate and adapt. Some have compared the pace of drone warfare innovation in Ukraine to the rapid advances in aviation during First World War.
This is a global trend. The past few months have seen drone attacks in Haiti, Sudan and across the African Sahel region. Military drones are proliferating across the Middle East and are increasingly being used by international organized crime.
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One especially concerning development is Russia’s use of drones to harass countries across Europe. Germany alone tracked more than 1,000 suspicious drone flights in 2025, many tied to Russia. And, in recent months, drones believed to be of Russian origin disrupted air traffic by forcing closures of airports across the EU. The new head of Britain’s MI6 spy agency described these incursions as “tactics that are just below the threshold of war” by an “aggressive, expansionist” Russia.
Closer to Canada, analysts believe drones will be crucial for the upcoming geopolitical contest over the Arctic. And Russia is heavily investing in drones capable of operating in the Arctic’s harsh conditions.
Responding to rapidly advancing drone technology, our allies are implementing new strategies. In June, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order laying out a plan to “Unleash American Drone Dominance.” The U.S. Army has unveiled plans to buy a million drones, and the War Department asked American industry to make “300,000 drones quickly and inexpensively.” Britain is developing a similar drone strategy, and the Europeans are developing a “drone wall” to defend EU airspace from Russian drone incursions. Poland, on the front lines of Russian aggression, has said it will spend more than $3-billion on “anti-drone fortifications” along its eastern border. Canada should follow our allies and develop a national drone strategy.
At a time when interest and commitment to Canada’s malnourished defence ecosystem is getting unprecedented attention by government, a comprehensive Canadian drone capability could provide both military and civilian benefits. New drones could surveil foreign vessels in the Arctic while also measuring ice thickness and tracking wildlife. Drones along our land border could both enforce border security and provide early warning for wildfires. Small drones that provide our military with battlefield reconnaissance capabilities could be adapted to inspect aging civilian infrastructure.
Drone war in Russia leaves soldiers wary of the skies and civilians weary on the ground
A national drone strategy could build on Transport Canada’s “Drone Strategy to 2025,” which focuses on integrating drones into Canada’s domestic civil aviation system. Although vitally important, this document was developed largely in isolation from national security considerations. Such a siloed approach misses critical opportunities for learning, cost savings and innovation synergies across the many agencies and departments increasingly relying on drones to do their work.
Canada’s military realizes the strategic value of drones. In a recent interview, Lieutenant-General Michael Wright, Commander of the Canadian Army, said that in a potential future conflict, he wants the Canadian Armed Forces to be able to “flood the zone” with drones. Canada has been supporting Ukraine to build combat drone capabilities, and has moved to urgently procure anti-drone systems for Canadian soldiers serving with NATO in Latvia.
However, Canada has underinvested in military drones compared to allies and potential adversaries alike. For example, Canada currently has no drones capable of patrolling the Arctic. And, while global conflicts demonstrate that drone technology evolves on a timeline of months, the 11 large “SkyGuardian” drones the Canadian military bought from California-based General Atomics in 2023 are currently under construction in San Diego and won’t be fully operational until 2033. This delay is partly due to the need to adapt the SkyGuardians to operate in Canada’s harsh northern conditions, and partly due to a strategic and procurement process that has operated on what one expert called a “glacial” timeline.
Canada provides $50-million to buy drones and drone parts for Ukraine
Canada needs to do more. Drones are becoming essential technological infrastructure, like satellites. As with satellites, mastering this technology allows countries to monitor their airspace and borders, enhance their security, and support their economic development.
Such critical technology should be developed and procured domestically. In the current age of geoeconomics, dependency on foreign suppliers can lead to delayed deliveries, restricted capabilities, and reduced leverage in unrelated negotiations. We need a comprehensive drone strategy that leverages our private sector innovators and ensures our drone technology is designed and manufactured in Canada, not California.
Canada has the components for drone excellence: world-class universities, a skilled work force, and a major aerospace industry with a track record of innovation. What’s missing is a national vision and supporting policy architecture, including procurement co-ordination across government departments and industrial policy comparable to peer countries.
This is where a national drone strategy would come in. It would ensure Canada remains a credible security partner, a sovereign nation capable of monitoring and defending its territory, and a competitive player in the industries that will drive 21st-century prosperity.