I don't know if we are likely to get any details for some time about what and how many UAS units are sent to Ukraine, but I would be very interested to know order of magnitude figures. If I have understood the one-third to Ukraine comment in the Noah Note, am I correct that this implicitly means that CAF procurement will determine donated unit count?
Considering the rate at which drones are used in Ukraine - they are functionally a munition at this point - and the rate at which Ukraine is manufacturing them domestically, I worry that the number Canada buys in the coming months and years will result in Ukraine getting an inconsequential number of units with no military relevancy.
When details for previous Canadian drone donations have come out, notwithstanding the technical sophistication of the units, the numbers are paltry (e.g. the 800 SkyRanger R70 ISR drones made by Teledyne FLIR announced in Feb 2024).
Interesting to note Beonyx reported a small sale to the CAF in July 2026 - ten (10) 'B1' units to support CASEVAC (Casualty Evacuation) and MEDEVAC (Medical Evacuation) operations for the Canadian military.
I like the concept of concentrating on Canadian sourced defense equipment, but not relying solely on domestic production for our needs. We should have a robust procurement system that uses allied equipment for up to, say 50%, of our needs with rest coming from Canada. We risk the problem that the US has now in going it alone. I had a Ukrainian uncle in Saskatchewan who had 5 or 6 sections of land that he farmed. He said that they were scattered over a large distance because of land quality and if a storm came through he would not lose his entire crop like he might if the sections were all contiguous. Lets remember that farmer when we make decisions on defense and the economy.
Hey Noah, you mentioned Canada awarded initial drone contracts worth up to $50 million for the CAF, besides the Volatus Aerospace tactical ISR UAS systems (100 initial, up to 5,000 total with a procurement envelope of C$25 million), what's the other $25 million going towards?
Not to mention that the initial 100 systems (assuming the maximum price of $5,000 per drone) only accounts for $500,000... Do you have an estimate on the actual spending amount on drone contracts vs. the "worth up to $50M" in contracts?
Where are you getting this information about Volatus tactical ISR system being purchased. That sounds like the Low-Cost UAS RFP that only closed a few days ago, and I can't imagine any contracts have been awarded yet (even more surprising if there's even a single compliant bid).
I don't know if we are likely to get any details for some time about what and how many UAS units are sent to Ukraine, but I would be very interested to know order of magnitude figures. If I have understood the one-third to Ukraine comment in the Noah Note, am I correct that this implicitly means that CAF procurement will determine donated unit count?
Considering the rate at which drones are used in Ukraine - they are functionally a munition at this point - and the rate at which Ukraine is manufacturing them domestically, I worry that the number Canada buys in the coming months and years will result in Ukraine getting an inconsequential number of units with no military relevancy.
When details for previous Canadian drone donations have come out, notwithstanding the technical sophistication of the units, the numbers are paltry (e.g. the 800 SkyRanger R70 ISR drones made by Teledyne FLIR announced in Feb 2024).
Interesting to note Beonyx reported a small sale to the CAF in July 2026 - ten (10) 'B1' units to support CASEVAC (Casualty Evacuation) and MEDEVAC (Medical Evacuation) operations for the Canadian military.
I like the concept of concentrating on Canadian sourced defense equipment, but not relying solely on domestic production for our needs. We should have a robust procurement system that uses allied equipment for up to, say 50%, of our needs with rest coming from Canada. We risk the problem that the US has now in going it alone. I had a Ukrainian uncle in Saskatchewan who had 5 or 6 sections of land that he farmed. He said that they were scattered over a large distance because of land quality and if a storm came through he would not lose his entire crop like he might if the sections were all contiguous. Lets remember that farmer when we make decisions on defense and the economy.
Hey Noah, you mentioned Canada awarded initial drone contracts worth up to $50 million for the CAF, besides the Volatus Aerospace tactical ISR UAS systems (100 initial, up to 5,000 total with a procurement envelope of C$25 million), what's the other $25 million going towards?
Not to mention that the initial 100 systems (assuming the maximum price of $5,000 per drone) only accounts for $500,000... Do you have an estimate on the actual spending amount on drone contracts vs. the "worth up to $50M" in contracts?
Where are you getting this information about Volatus tactical ISR system being purchased. That sounds like the Low-Cost UAS RFP that only closed a few days ago, and I can't imagine any contracts have been awarded yet (even more surprising if there's even a single compliant bid).