Canada and Poland Sign Letter of Intent to Link Defence Industry Work to EU SAFE Funds

Overview

• The Letter of Intent that David J. McGuinty and Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz signed Tuesday formalizes a plan to pursue closer defence-industrial cooperation under the EU’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) framework.
• Polish officials and state media reported the agreement outlines Ottawa’s planned purchases of Polish unmanned systems such as the Warmate, FlyeEye and Gladius, a detail not fully enumerated in Canada’s readout.
• Ministers discussed establishing ammunition production capacity in Canada and left technical and contractual details to be negotiated, building on Ottawa’s recent investments to expand domestic munitions and drone manufacturing.
• Poland has positioned itself as a SAFE implementation leader and helped secure Canada’s December 2025 entry into the mechanism, which allows EU-backed borrowing and coordinated procurement across partners.
• Both governments plan to refine project scopes and funding rules before the July NATO summit in Ankara, with potential near-term effects including new factory jobs in Canada and stronger transatlantic supply chains for support to Ukraine.