For those who can’t access the article, here’s one of the last paragraph of the article, which summarizes it well:
“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.”
VelvetFurryJustice on
Drones and mass ballistic missile system. The Israeli/Iran war showed the vulnerability of the modern military systems. 28 million per THAAD Launch that couldn’t stop a dozen Soviet Era convenientional ballistics. Several naval fleets and 7 countries militaries had to intervene to protect Israel and wasted years of weapon production to replace expensive systems in a battle with lower tier military.
A swarm of dumb missles with minimum tech covered for the quality equipment. If you had a system that had a dozen empty missile shells that functionally look and behave like a the quality system prior to the target zone, you can force the enemy to deplete their defense stores.
The current military doctrine is based on selling weapons systems for the benefit of shareholders and relies on conflict happening elsewhere so the Imperial core can remain unaffected by anything but crippling austerity. We are so unbelievably out of touch with the potential of real war instead of the decades of killing the poor civilians of markets we wish to acquire.
russilwvong on
> **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.
To play devil’s advocate:
The big challenge with defense manufacturing is always economies of scale. This is a common problem in Europe: the desire for national champions leads to a fragmented industry, with each manufacturer unable to achieve reasonable economies of scale.
If we build up Canadian defense manufacturers, we want to make sure that their products are competitive in world markets (“export discipline”).
Most of Canada’s current arms exports are ground vehicles, like the LAVs manufactured in London. Artillery shells are in heavy demand due to the war in Ukraine; Canada can supply explosives, like artillery propellant.
For drones intended for short-lifetime battlefield use (basically like ammunition), it sounds like a more promising approach would be to simply **buy Ukrainian drones**. Ukrainian manufacturers could be making a lot more drones, if they had the orders.
> Western countries concentrated on exquisite wares [like the American Switchblade] that worked well in limited battles against lesser opponents. The Ukrainian-Russian battlefield is different: total, balanced, and highly democratised. The cheap FPV drones that were pioneered by Ukraine in 2023, then copied by Russia, now destroy high-value targets in a way that previously required the most cutting-edge weapons. Russia’s main innovation has meanwhile been to adopt a “spam” strategy, massing drones to overwhelm defences.
3 Comments
For those who can’t access the article, here’s one of the last paragraph of the article, which summarizes it well:
“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.”
Drones and mass ballistic missile system. The Israeli/Iran war showed the vulnerability of the modern military systems. 28 million per THAAD Launch that couldn’t stop a dozen Soviet Era convenientional ballistics. Several naval fleets and 7 countries militaries had to intervene to protect Israel and wasted years of weapon production to replace expensive systems in a battle with lower tier military.
A swarm of dumb missles with minimum tech covered for the quality equipment. If you had a system that had a dozen empty missile shells that functionally look and behave like a the quality system prior to the target zone, you can force the enemy to deplete their defense stores.
The current military doctrine is based on selling weapons systems for the benefit of shareholders and relies on conflict happening elsewhere so the Imperial core can remain unaffected by anything but crippling austerity. We are so unbelievably out of touch with the potential of real war instead of the decades of killing the poor civilians of markets we wish to acquire.
> **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.
To play devil’s advocate:
The big challenge with defense manufacturing is always economies of scale. This is a common problem in Europe: the desire for national champions leads to a fragmented industry, with each manufacturer unable to achieve reasonable economies of scale.
If we build up Canadian defense manufacturers, we want to make sure that their products are competitive in world markets (“export discipline”).
Most of Canada’s current arms exports are ground vehicles, like the LAVs manufactured in London. Artillery shells are in heavy demand due to the war in Ukraine; Canada can supply explosives, like artillery propellant.
For drones intended for short-lifetime battlefield use (basically like ammunition), it sounds like a more promising approach would be to simply **buy Ukrainian drones**. Ukrainian manufacturers could be making a lot more drones, if they had the orders.
The Economist: https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/10/23/western-drones-are-underwhelming-on-the-ukrainian-battlefield
> Western countries concentrated on exquisite wares [like the American Switchblade] that worked well in limited battles against lesser opponents. The Ukrainian-Russian battlefield is different: total, balanced, and highly democratised. The cheap FPV drones that were pioneered by Ukraine in 2023, then copied by Russia, now destroy high-value targets in a way that previously required the most cutting-edge weapons. Russia’s main innovation has meanwhile been to adopt a “spam” strategy, massing drones to overwhelm defences.