Canada pledges CA$900M for drone and aerospace R&D; NRC orders Bombardier Global 6500 as defence testbed

CA$900M commitment directly expands national defence R&D capacity by funding a Drone Innovation Centre and procuring a Bombardier Global 6500 testbed, adding test and experimental flight capability and demonstrator platforms (see earlier Global 6500 procurements: source:4e25261b-bcce-470b-8dfd-a033fe0abf3e).

The package is explicit industrial policy to secure domestic defence supply chains and Arctic sovereignty, aligning Ottawa with EU and Japanese partners and complementing recent Bombardier manufacturing investments (see related Dorval expansion: source:1b8a8124-6342-4da4-95a5-ef30e831a236).

The move sits inside a broader shift of capital and policy toward defence industrialisation in Canada, following the government’s Defence Industrial Strategy and new funding vehicles to scale domestic suppliers (source:e86e066e-725c-4156-8779-cf8315f18ff7; source:681b4ec1-9415-4ccc-b7a3-45c93274c6aa).