As reported by Murray Brewster of CBC, the Canadian Armed Forces is expanding its military training program in the north. As a result, forces will be deployed for up to 10 months per year.
According to Lieutenant-General Steve Boivin, this will nearly double Canada’s yearly deployment time in the region:
“We want to be in the Arctic on a near permanent basis,” Boivin told CBC News in a recent interview. “The current approach to Operation Nanook puts us in the Arctic for five to six months a year. We’re looking at being there 10 plus months per year.”
Racing against time
This is a step in the right direction. Canada’s current military posture in the region is far from sufficient, and we are racing against the clock to assert our sovereignty in the North. As noted by Global Affairs Canada, Russia has been modernizing its Arctic military infrastructure for over a decade. Even amid significant losses in Ukraine, Russia has continued to invest in the region and has a larger presence than NATO, let alone Canada.
As U.S. Admiral Daryl Caudle explained in a February 2023 seminar, “Russia now has six bases, 14 airfields, 16 deep-water ports, and 14 icebreakers built.”
In partnership with Finland (NATO’s second most recent entrant after Sweden), the Canadian Government is acquiring new polar icebreakers to be delivered in 2030. Under current plans, the Royal Canadian Air Force will be waiting until the mid-2030s to be at full strength.
This creates a capability gap, and that means vulnerability, particularly as other nations, including the United States, hungrily eye the region.
The role of drones
To mitigate this gap, Canada should leverage our close ties to Ukraine, our aerospace sector, and our tech sector. In 2024, Toronto ranked fourth out of the top 50 tech markets, trailing only New York, Seattle, and San Francisco. Canada has the world’s seventh-largest aerospace sector, and our close ties to Ukraine, a global leader in drone warfare, give us the chance to benefit from Ukrainian innovation.
These three factors must be brought together through government investment and private sector participation to catalyze the growth of a large Canadian military drone industry. As Ukraine’s brave and innovative defence of its existence demonstrates, a powerful drone industry can be built at scale in a short amount of time.
If Canada demonstrates the capability to flood the Arctic with drones and takes a leadership role in adapting drones to the challenges of cold weather, that would serve as a deterrent to potential aggressors. Further, drone bases are less resource-intensive than full-fledged air force bases. While we should still build more of the latter, the former can be scaled up much faster.
This is compatible with an expanded Arctic training period, as drone operations in the Arctic should be part of preparing for potential conflict in the region. The government has taken a good first step, and now is the time to supplement this step by turning Canada into a leader in drone warfare in defence of our sovereignty.
Spencer Fernando
Image – YouTube
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