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Dylan Robertson, Anja Karadeglija

Canada seals deal on EU defence procurement as Munich summit tests transatlantic ties

Canada has officially signed onto the European defence procurement program it announced it would join last summer, as Washington's upending of geopolitics overshadows the world's top security conference. Defence Minister David McGuinty announced Ottawa had signed onto the European Union's 150-billion euro program called Security Action for Europe, or SAFE, Saturday at the Munich Security Conference. The program allows EU...

Kyle Duggan

Carney strategy for defence industry pledges 125,000 jobs, sweeping policy changes

The Liberal government is making sweeping changes to the way it approaches supporting the domestic defence industry, as Canada looks to transition away from over-reliance on the United States for military gear. The government was expected to announce its strategy last week, but Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended his travel due to a mass-shooting in B.C. and pushed the announcement...

Benjamin Lopez Steven

Canada has officially joined the EU's loans-for-weapons program

Defence minister says Canada's the only non-European country to join program. Defence Minister David McGuinty says Canada has now officially joined the European Union’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program, which offers loans to member states to invest in defence capabilities. "The agreement strengthens our collective security, supports the development of key defence capabilities, and gives Canadian industry access to...

Murray Brewster

From umbrella to uncertainty: Europe and Canada's nuclear deterrence anxiety

Normally, it's considered a good thing when the world beats a path to your door. Maybe not so much when we're talking about nuclear deterrence. At the very least, it is an ominous sign of the times.

Benjamin Lopez Steven, Emma Godmere

Head of military's space division warns Russia is considering putting nuclear weapons in orbit

Brig.-Gen. Christopher Horner says access to spaceports is a challenge. The head of Canada's military space division says the country "should absolutely be" concerned about Russia's potential capabilities amid global fears the Kremlin is considering putting nuclear weapons in place to target satellites. "That would be cataclysmic," said Brig.-Gen. Christopher Horner, Commander of 3 Canadian Space Division during an interview...

Murray Brewster

Canada, Denmark deepen defence ties after Greenland annexation threat

Pact enhances collaboration on surveillance and joint operations. Canada and Denmark signed a defence co-operation agreement on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, setting the stage for a deeper partnership after the Trump administration threatened to annex Greenland. The agreement was signed by Defence Minister David McGuinty on Friday. Originally Prime Minister Mark Carney was supposed to be present...

Steven Chase

Canada wants NATO’s new Arctic Sentry protective mission to become permanent, Anand says

Canada would like to see NATO’s new Arctic Sentry mission become permanent as part of a greater focus on the north for the Western alliance, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says. NATO announced Wednesday it has launched this mission to strengthen its presence in the Arctic as part of an agreement to defuse severe tensions within the alliance prompted by...

Pippa Norman

Magellan Aerospace signs deal with TKMS to potentially produce submarine torpedoes

Canadian aerospace company Magellan Aerospace Corp. MALJF has signed an agreement with German submarine maker ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) to produce torpedoes for its vessels if the European company’s bid to build Canada’s next submarine fleet is successful.

Alex Ballingall

Carney government to select private-sector ‘strategic partners’ in new defence industry strategy: source

The federal government plans to choose a number of “key strategic partners” from Canada’s defence sector to get special support and access to contracts under the new military industrial strategy that Prime Minister Mark Carney was scheduled to release on Wednesday, the Star has learned. Carney’s announcement will be postponed after Tuesday’s mass shooting a high school in Tumbler Ridge...

Kyle Duggan

Ottawa 'probably' will announce winner of submarine contract this year: MP

The federal government may name the winner of the heated competition to supply the navy with a fleet of new submarines as soon as this year. Stephen Fuhr, secretary of state for defence procurement, says Ottawa will "probably" announce a winner this year -- and declared the vessels will be in the water by 2032. He made the comments today...

Annie Bergeron-Oliver

Carney set to strengthen security and defence ties in Germany this week

Prime Minister Mark Carney intends to deepen defence ties and attract new business investment when he travels to Germany this week, according to government officials. Carney will depart for the Munich Security Conference on Wednesday, becoming the first Canadian prime minister to attend the conference since Justin Trudeau in 2020. More than 60 heads of state and government leaders are...

Murray Brewster

Canada’s military ombudsman flags decade-long failure to fix reservist compensation system

A decade after the Department of National Defence pledged to fix systemic inequities facing military reservists, a new report from the Canadian Forces ombudsman concludes that little has changed — leaving ill and injured Primary Reserve members navigating a fragmented system marked by delays, confusion and unequal treatment. In the report — titled Marking Time: A Decade of Stalled Progress...

Daniel Leblanc

Canada discreetly puts money down on 14 additional F-35s

Despite an ongoing review, Ottawa made payments related to the acquisition of more U.S.-built fighters jets. Ottawa has started to make payments for key components for 14 additional U.S.-built F-35s, even as the Carney government has been reviewing future fighter-jet purchases in the context of trade tensions with Washington, sources have told CBC News. The money for these 14 aircraft...

Laura Dhillon Kane

Canada’s Race to Rebuild Military Triggers a Defense-Tech Gold Rush

Canada’s Arctic is one of the most exposed places on the planet, where communications routinely fail — satellites fade, cellular networks vanish, hardware freezes. Those problems led Ottawa-based Dominion Dynamics to build AuraNet, a software layer tied to rugged sensors that can push high-definition video, photos and audio through the frontier’s dead zones, allowing military commanders to swiftly assess threats...

Steven Chase

New submarines will require extra gear after delivery to operate under ice, navy head says

The new submarines Canada plans to buy will not arrive with all the necessary equipment to operate under Arctic ice, meaning they will require modifications after delivery, the head of the navy says. Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee said Canada will need to add under-ice gear to the boats after they arrive, such as upward-facing sonar that can detect and map overhead...

Matt Gurney

Eyre is right: our long-term security would be greatly enhanced by a credible, even small, Canadian nuclear force

Retired general Wayne Eyre, Canada’s former chief of the defence staff, says this country’s security and sovereignty would be best protected if we possessed our own nuclear weapons and the delivery systems to fire them at whatever targets we deemed in need of vaporization. He didn’t recommend starting a program at once, but said it would be the only real...

David Pugliese

Canada delays destroying WW2 pistols while Ukraine figures out if it wants them

The Canadian military has destroyed 2,000 Second World War pistols but is still waiting to hear from Ukraine on whether it wants the rest of the guns for its arsenal. The latest update from the Department of National Defence on the fate of the Browning Hi-Power pistols reveals a topsy-turvy strategy for the aging handguns. In October 2022, the Canadian...

Judy Trinh

Inside Hanwha’s pitch to win Canada’s lucrative submarine contract

On a packed bullet train heading towards Seoul, the face of Stephen Fuhr, Canada’s secretary of state for defence procurement, suddenly appeared on monitors in each of the 18 train cars. In a four-minute news story, Fuhr was shown touring Hanwha’s shipyard in Geoje, along with more than 20 Canadian CEOs along for a trade mission. Over two days, the...

David Pugliese

Liberals’ Defence Industrial Strategy expected to be released next week

The Liberal government’s new Defence Industrial Strategy is expected to be released next week, according to industry officials who have been brief about rollout plans for the document. Defence Minister David McGuinty said in late October that the strategy, which will be a critical roadmap on how Canada spends its defence funding domestically, would be released no later than Christmas...

Budget watchdog says NATO 5% pledge to hike deficit by $63B

Prime Minister Mark Carney's pledge to NATO allies that Canada will spend the equivalent of five per cent of GDP on defence will cost the country an extra $33.5 billion a year, the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer says. A PBO report released today says all that extra defence spending will push up the federal budget deficit by $6...

David Baxter

NDP wants Carney to kill U.S. fighter jet contract in favour of Swedish aircraft

The NDP says it wants Prime Minister Mark Carney to cancel contracts for U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets -- including the 16 Canada already has committed to buying. Citing Carney's call for middle powers to work together in his World Economic Forum speech last month, Interim NDP Leader Don Davies says Canada should instead purchase Gripen fighter jets from the Swedish...

Kyle Duggan

Ottawa remains opposed to acquiring nuclear weapons, minister says

Canada has "absolutely no intention" of acquiring nuclear weapons, Defence Minister David McGuinty said Tuesday -- rejecting the suggestion from former chief of the defence staff Wayne Eyre that Ottawa should not rule it out. McGuinty said Canada has signed international treaties explicitly opposed to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. "Canada is a signatory to international treaties which preclude us...

Lloyd Axworthy, Allan Rock

Why are Canadian arms fuelling foreign conflicts?

Canadians take pride in our country’s role as a principled voice for international law, arms control and responsible multilateralism. In 2019, when Canada acceded to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), there was strong public support for our government’s pledge that Canadian arms exports would never contribute to human-rights abuses.

Steven Chase

Canada should keep options open on acquiring nuclear weapons, former top soldier says

Canada’s former top soldier says this country should keep its options open on the question of acquiring nuclear weapons. Retired general Wayne Eyre, who stepped down as chief of the defence staff in 2024, was speaking at a forum on Canada’s military readiness. He was asked by a moderator whether Canada in this age of geopolitical turmoil should develop a...

Christopher Nardi

Stephen Harper says he ‘didn't anticipate’ the U.S. being the biggest threat to Canadian Arctic

Canada’s Arctic would eventually come from the U.S., he said Monday afternoon. Speaking on a panel at the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in Ottawa, the former Conservative leader said he knew during his decade as prime minister that it would be important to reinforce Canada’s sovereignty in the North due to growing threats.

Daniel Leblanc

Canadian military goes to U.S. for F-35 ceremony despite renewed trade tensions

Air Force commander to sign key component for first Canadian fighter in Texas. The Canadian Armed Forces will participate in a ceremony in Texas on Monday to celebrate the imminent arrival of their first F-35 — as Ottawa has still yet to announce how many U.S.-made fighter jets it will ultimately buy. The event comes as the future of the...

Murray Brewster

The Golden Dome is where Canada's F-35 debate and Trump's Greenland threat meet

It's not much of a stretch to say that in terms of Canada-U.S. relations, we are — metaphorically speaking — at the point where we'd prefer to shoot the messenger, rather than listen to the message. In the view of some experts, the political and economic discourse is so distorted, so angry, so mashed up that important points of strategic...

Kyle Duggan

TKMS signs agreement with Seaspan on submarine sustainment

German submarine manufacturer TKMS has signed an agreement to team up with Seaspan Shipyards to support and maintain potential future patrol submarines supplied to Canada over the long term. The pact is conditional on TKMS winning a federal government contract to supply the Royal Canadian Navy with a fleet of new submarines.

Murray Brewster

Should the Canadian Coast Guard be armed? The jury is still out, but the navy says no

The commander of the navy says there's no reason — in circumstances outside of war — to arm Canada's fleet of coast guard ships. And Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee tells CBC News that in the event of a conflict, there are potential ways the civilian vessels can be quickly given the equipment they need to defend themselves.

John Ivison

Sources say Ottawa considering Swedish jets over F-35s for half of fleet

The petulance displayed by the U.S. ambassador to Canada is exactly what you might expect from Pete Hoekstra if he had just been informed that Canada intends to spend half the money earmarked for new F-35 fighter jets on the rival Swedish Gripen. Hoekstra apparently skipped the class on diplomacy being about saying the nastiest thing in the nicest way...

Simon Tuck

A new 'golden age' of Canadian diplomacy? Don't count on it, foreign policy analysts say

Surrounded by global elites and influencers, Mark Carney stepped on the global stage and crystallized what many had been thinking: it’s time to accept that the world order of the last 80 years has dramatically and permanently changed. It’s a “rupture,” Carney told the World Economic Forum audience at Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 20, “not a transition.” The “rules-based international...

Kyle Duggan

South Korean sub maker Hanwha signs agreement with Algoma Steel

South Korean submarine maker Hanwha Oceans says it has signed a series of partnership agreements with Canadian companies, including Sault Ste. Marie's tariff-battered Algoma Steel. Hanwha says it signed a memorandum of understanding with Algoma that pledges $275 million in financial support to stand up a new structural steel beam mill in Canada. The pact also declares Hanwha's intention to...

David Common

NORAD pact would change if Canada pulls back from F-35 order, warns Trump envoy to Ottawa

Diplomat says U.S. fighter jets would enter Canadian airspace more often to address threats. U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy to Ottawa is warning of consequences to the continental defence pact if Canada does not move forward with the purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets. "NORAD would have to be altered," U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra told CBC News in...

Robert Fife, Gavin John

Military models Canadian response to hypothetical American invasion

Armed Forces envision insurgency tactics like those used by Afghan mujahedeen, sources say. But officials and experts stress a U.S. operation is unlikely, and the scenarios are conceptual. The Canadian Armed Forces have modelled a hypothetical U.S. military invasion of Canada and the country’s potential response, which includes tactics similar to those employed against Russia and later U.S.-led forces in...

Annie Bergeron-Oliver, Daniel Otis, Elianna Lev, Hunter Crowther

Carney to accept Trump’s offer to join ‘Board of Peace’ in rebuild of Gaza

Prime Minister Mark Carney will accept an invitation from Donald Trump to join the U.S. president’s “Board of Peace,” a U.S.-led effort in planning the future reconstruction of Gaza, CTV News has learned. Speaking on background before departing China on Friday, a senior Canadian government official told reporters the request came earlier in the day. Carney will accept, but has...

Yvonne Lau

Trudeau's former defence minister launches tech startup that could bolster Arctic sovereignty

Prime Minister Mark Carney wants to upgrade Canada’s defence and military capabilities by accelerating investment in the country’s defence industrial base, something former defence minister Harjit Sajjan says his new startup can help achieve. On Thursday, Sajjan and Hunter Scharfe announced the launch of Vancouver-based defence technology company Juno Industries Inc., which is developing autonomous systems software for military and...

Murray Brewster

Denmark sets a military tripwire. It's a message to Trump more than Russia or China

In military deterrence lingo, what we're witnessing in Greenland is sometimes referred to as the "glass plate" or the "tripwire." It's a metaphor for breaking the glass — or crossing the threshold — between peace and war. Denmark announced Wednesday that it is bolstering its troop, naval and air presence in the Arctic island in conjunction with NATO allies.

Chris Brown

Denmark puts more troops into Greenland, raising the stakes for Trump

Copenhagen sends a message as U.S. president keeps rattling sabre. Denmark delivered two significant messages to U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday. The first came during a high-stakes diplomatic meeting in Washington, where top Danish and Greenlandic diplomats told Trump’s emissaries that under no circumstances will they permit the U.S. to acquire, control or otherwise take over the huge, ice-encrusted...

Denmark and allies boost Greenland military footprint as Trump ramps up pressure

Denmark and allied countries said Wednesday they will increase their military presence in Greenland as part of expanded exercises, amid intensifying pressure from Washington over the Arctic island’s sovereignty. “Security in the Arctic is of crucial importance to the Kingdom and our Arctic allies, and it is therefore important that we, in close cooperation with allies, further strengthen our ability...

Daniel Leblanc

Saab wants Canada to buy 72 Gripens and 6 GlobalEyes to fulfil promise of 12,600 jobs

Swedish firm looking to manufacture aircraft for Canadian and international markets. The Canadian Armed Forces would need to buy 72 Gripen fighter jets and six GlobalEye surveillance aircraft for Swedish manufacturer Saab to deliver on its pledge of creating 12,600 jobs in Canada, CBC News has learned.

Pippa Norman

German submarine maker partners with AI firm Cohere in bid to build next Canadian fleet

German submarine builder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems is partnering with Canadian AI company Cohere to bring its technology aboard Canada’s next fleet of submarines, should TKMS win the multibillion-dollar contract. The agreement is part of TKMS’s promise to integrate Canadian companies into its supply chain for the project, bringing the industrial benefits to the country that Ottawa is asking for...

John Ivison

Canada can help Trump secure the Arctic without seizing Greenland

Canada is offering to contribute military assets to a multilateral force being proposed by Germany and Britain to boost NATO’s presence in Greenland, government sources said. One official said that Prime Minister Mark Carney raised with allies the issue of reinforcing the Arctic, including Greenland, when he was in Europe last week. “We welcome the German and British plan and...

Murray Brewster

Russia and China co-operating more often and more closely in the Arctic, says NORAD commander

There's been a subtle but significant shift in what NORAD has been seeing over the last year when it comes to mostly Russian — but also Chinese — activity in the Arctic, says the top commander of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD). U.S. Gen. Gregory Guillot tells CBC News that air and sea incursions into the zones just...