The funding will be drawn from multiple sources, including capital investment from VENTURES, co-development of new intellectual property with Canadian small and mid-size enterprises, regional investment agencies, and federal programs. Calian said the approach is intended to strengthen operational readiness and long-term resilience while advancing technology collaboration nationwide.
The first initiative will establish a national, sea-to-sea-to-sea network of regional development labs to support the testing, validation, and scaling of defence technologies. These labs will bring together SMEs, the Canadian Armed Forces, NATO, government, academia, and industry partners to move solutions from concept to operational capability.
“Canada is facing a fundamentally different security environment and meeting the moment requires sustained investment, trusted partners and long-term commitment,” said Patrick Houston, Chief Executive Officer of Calian. “This investment reflects Calian’s confidence in Canada’s defence future and our responsibility as a Canadian company to help strengthen Canadian sovereignty as well as help build the Canadian defence industrial base.”
Calian emphasized that C5ISRT integrates command, control, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting into a single modern defence architecture suited for contested, multi-domain operations. “C5ISRT is not a future concept. It is an operational requirement of today’s battlefield and for Canada to own a truly sovereign capability,” said Chris Pogue, President, Defence and Space, Calian. “Mission success now depends on integrating data, systems and people across domains and the ability to sense, decide and act with speed and precision. Through this investment we are scaling the environments, integration pathways, and partnerships needed to turn innovation into operational capability, while ensuring Canada retains trusted, sovereign control of its defence data and systems.”
