Particle.news
Download on the App Store
9 ARTICLES
·
last mo.

Canada Channels $900 Million Through NRC to Kick-Start Defence R&D With New Jet and Drone Hub

Ottawa is using the National Research Council to move its new Defence Industrial Strategy from plan to execution by funding homegrown development in priority technologies.

Attendees pass an image of the Bombardier Global 6500 Aircraft at the CANSEC trade show in Ottawa in 2023.
NRC President Mitch Davies, left, Minister of Industry Melanie Joly, Minister of National Defence David McGuinty, and Secretary of State (Defence Procurement) Stephen Fuhr, participate in an announcement in the hangar at the National Research Council Flight Research Lab in Ottawa, on Monday, March 9, 2026. (Justin Tang/CP)
Secretary of State (Defence Procurement) Stephen Fuhr and Minister of Industry Melanie Joly are seen past the rotor blades of a LX300 UAS, as they listen to a demonstration at the National Research Council Flight Research Lab in Ottawa, on Monday, March 9, 2026. (Justin Tang/CP)
Image

Overview

  • The NRC outlined more than $900 million in commitments, including over $500 million for next‑generation aerospace work featuring a Bombardier Global 6500 research aircraft and a Drone Innovation Hub in Ottawa and the Mirabel area.
  • The Global 6500 will be modified in Abbotsford, B.C., by Cascade Aerospace and Bombardier with completion targeted for 2028, and Bombardier notes the platform is assembled in Mississauga and draws on more than 65 Canadian suppliers.
  • NRC IRAP’s Defence Industry Assist stream, launched in January with $241 million, is providing funding and advice to Canadian SMEs developing dual‑use technologies.
  • Targeted science allocations include more than $161 million over five years for quantum technologies and $28 million for a Biomedical Countermeasures Initiative to bolster diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics capacity.
  • Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, Defence Minister David McGuinty and Secretary of State Stephen Fuhr announced the package, which The Globe and Mail reports will count toward the government’s 2% of GDP defence‑spending goal this fiscal year.