July 14, 2026 – Mirabel, Quebec – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces
As one of Canada’s ten identified sovereign capability priorities under the DIS, uncrewed and autonomous systems are central to ensuring the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) can operate effectively and independently in a rapidly evolving threat environment. Through BOREALIS, the Government of Canada is accelerating innovation, strengthening Canada's defence industrial base, and helping deliver operational capabilities to the CAF.
Today, the Honourable David J. McGuinty, Minister of National Defence, announced the launch of the Uncrewed Systems Defence Innovation Secure Hub (UxS DISH) under the Bureau of Research, Engineering and Advanced Leadership in Innovation and Science (BOREALIS) in Mirabel, Quebec.
An Espace Aéro-led consortium will receive $29.6 million over two years to establish and operate the UxS DISH. The consortium includes 30 organizations from industry, academia, and the not-for-profit sector. Through the hub, participants will collaborate to accelerate the transition of promising Canadian technologies from research and development into field-ready solutions that support Canada's defence and security priorities.
DISHs are secure, mission-oriented hubs established to enable collaboration between government, industry, and academia in support of Canada’s defence and national security priorities. They are intended to address a persistent gap in the defence innovation ecosystem by helping innovators overcome barriers to engaging with defence organizations. DISHs provide trusted environments, infrastructure, and services that support the design, testing, validation, and transition of advanced technologies toward operational use.
Sponsored by the Canadian Joint Forces Command (CJFC), the UxS DISH will provide a secure environment where government, industry, academia, and innovators can collaborate to develop, test, validate and integrate emerging uncrewed and autonomous systems technologies into operational capabilities. CJFC was created to address gaps in how joint capabilities are generated, developed, managed, and sustained to facilitate a centralized approach to improve coherence, accountability, and innovation.
The consortium was selected through a competitive Call for Proposals held from February 18 to April 2, 2026. The UxS DISH builds on the success of the Maritime DISH pilot and represents another important step in the implementation of BOREALIS and Canada's broader effort to strengthen sovereign innovation capabilities through collaboration among government, industry, and academia.
Quotes
“Drones are changing the way modern militaries operate, and Canada must be ready to develop, test and adopt these technologies at speed. This new Defence Innovation Secure Hub will bring government, Canadian industry, academia, the not-for-profit sector, and the Canadian Armed Forces together in a secure environment to turn promising Made in Canada ideas into mission-ready capabilities that support Canada’s defence priorities.”
The Honourable David J. McGuinty, Minister of National Defence
"In a rapidly changing world, Canada must have the capacity to innovate, build and compete at home. The Uncrewed Systems Defence Innovation Secure Hub will help Canadian innovators transform cutting-edge ideas into real-world capabilities that strengthen our security, support our Armed Forces and create good jobs across the country. Through Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy, we are investing in Canadian talent and technology to build sovereign capabilities, drive economic growth and ensure Canada remains a trusted and capable partner on the world stage."
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
“Investing in defence innovation means investing in Canada's future. The new Defence Innovation Secure Hub is one of the many ways that our government is operationalizing Canada’s new Defence Industrial Strategy. These research and innovation hubs will enable us to meet the moment by developing our capabilities in uncrewed and autonomous systems and strengthen Canada’s sovereign defence capabilities.”
The Honourable Stephen Fuhr, Secretary of State (Defence Procurement)
“The future of warfare depends on our ability to connect emerging technologies with the world’s rapidly evolving operational realities. By bringing together the right people, systems, and expertise, we will prepare the Canadian Armed Forces to meet the challenges ahead across all domains.”
Lieutenant-General Darcy Molstad, Commander Canadian Joint Forces Command
“The Defence Innovation Secure Hub will enable Quebec’s aerospace industry to maintain its position as a global leader in uncrewed systems while leveraging its expertise to support the Canadian Armed Forces in addressing critical needs. This is a tremendous recognition of the strength of our ecosystem and the attractiveness of the Espace Aéro innovation zone, which drives continuous innovation through exemplary collaboration among all local stakeholders.”
Mélanie Lussier, President, Aéro Montréal et Espace Aéro
“The arrival of this Defence Innovation Secure Hub (DISH) at Espace Aéro is excellent news for Quebec. We have everything we need to become a key player in defence and security: world-class companies, outstanding researchers, and highly skilled workers whose expertise and know-how are recognized around the world. This project will help us drive innovation, develop the technologies of tomorrow here at home, and create even more opportunities for our businesses, our workers, and our regions.”
Bernard Drainville, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy and Minister responsible for the Maritime Strategy
Quick facts
Canada is committed to strengthening its defence industrial base to ensure the Canadian Armed Forces have timely access to the equipment and capabilities they need.
The Government of Canada is modernizing how it delivers defence and national security innovation through the creation of the Bureau of Research, Engineering and Advanced Leadership in Innovation and Science (BOREALIS).
Defence Innovation Secure Hubs (DISHs) provide secure environments where trusted partners can collaborate, conduct research, test technologies and address defence and security challenges.
Uncrewed systems are identified as one of Canada's sovereign capability priorities under the Defence Industrial Strategy.
The UxS DISH supports collaboration among government, industry, academia, and innovators to strengthen Canada's defence innovation ecosystem.
Funding will support the security upgrades, infrastructure, and collaborative activities required to enable sensitive defence research and innovation at the UxS DISH.
The UxS DISH is designed to support the maturation, testing, validation, and integration of emerging technologies into operational capabilities for the CAF.
The UxS DISH's work plan will focus on:
Uncrewed systems and counter-uncrewed systems;
Automation and human-machine teaming;
Operations in contested environments; and
Sensor integration.
Joint capabilities are military functions and resources that span multiple domains, such as land, sea, air, cyber, and space, and are used collectively by different branches of the armed forces
CJFC brings together people, systems, and expertise from across the CAF to develop and integrate joint capabilities that support operations across all domains.
Accelerating defence innovation through BOREALIS
The Bureau of Research, Engineering and Advanced Leadership in Innovation and Science (BOREALIS) serves as Canada’s innovation accelerator. Aligned with Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy and federal budget commitments, BOREALIS is accelerating innovation, strengthening Canada’s defence industrial base, and helping deliver operational capabilities to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).
BOREALIS brings together government, industry, academia, the CAF, and Canada's security community to accelerate the transition of promising Canadian innovations into operational capabilities. It supports research, development, testing, validation, and adoption of technologies that strengthen Canada's defence, security, and economic interests while advancing sovereign industrial capacity.
As part of this effort, BOREALIS is establishing a network of Defence Innovation Secure Hubs (DISHs), a new model to accelerate defence innovation. They provide secure environments where trusted partners can collaborate to develop, test, validate, and integrate emerging technologies into operational capabilities. By connecting operational users directly with researchers, innovators, and industry partners, DISHs help bridge the gap between innovation and operational advantage while strengthening Canada's defence innovation ecosystem.
DISHs are intended to support the maturation of technologies across Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 4 to 9, helping promising innovations move more efficiently from research and development into operational use. The model is designed to strengthen made-in-Canada solutions, resilient supply chains, and sovereign capabilities identified through Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy. These hubs will focus on critical areas of defence research and development essential to a resilient Canadian innovation industry, including quantum technologies, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, autonomous systems, Arctic research, space, and ocean technology.
Uncrewed Systems Defence Innovation Secure Hub
Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy identifies uncrewed systems as one of the country's priority sovereign capability areas and highlights the importance of strengthening Canada's ability to develop, test and field advanced defence technologies.
The Uncrewed Systems Defence Innovation Secure Hub (UxS DISH) is sponsored by the Canadian Joint Forces Command (CJFC) and focuses on advancing uncrewed and autonomous systems capabilities for defence and security applications. Following a competitive Call for Proposals, an Espace Aéro-led consortium was selected to establish the hub. The consortium will receive $29.6 million over two years to establish the UxS DISH.
The UxS DISH will support the development, testing, validation, and integration of technologies that enhance surveillance, force protection, logistics, targeting, command and control, and autonomous operations across maritime, land, air, and joint environments. These capabilities will help the CAF operate more effectively in increasingly complex and technology-enabled operating environments.
The hub is also intended to strengthen made-in-Canada solutions and resilient sovereign supply chains while supporting the development of technologies that can transition more rapidly into operational use.
The UxS DISH will focus on the following priority areas:
Uncrewed systems and counter-uncrewed systems;
Automation and human-machine teaming;
Operations in contested environments; and,
Sensor integration.
Activities undertaken through the hub are also intended to support advanced sensing and situational awareness, spectrum operations and electronic warfare, persistence in contested and Arctic environments, trusted autonomy, interoperability across platforms and domains, multi-UxS command and control, and coordinated autonomous effects.
Strengthening these capabilities will enable the CAF to achieve greater operational integration across all domains, rapidly address evolving threats, and enhance interoperability with allies.
As the CAF's lead integrator for joint capabilities, CJFC helps identify capability gaps and operational priorities that can benefit from innovation. CJFC supports readiness in the CAF by bringing together people, systems, and expertise from across the CAF to build and manage the joint capabilities needed to protect Canada and support our allies.
Its sponsorship of the UxS DISH will help ensure innovation activities remain aligned with current and future operational requirements while supporting the delivery of capabilities across all domains.
National UxS Capability Acceleration Hub (NEXUS)
The selected consortium's proposal establishes the National UxS Capability Acceleration Hub (NEXUS), a national hub dedicated to advancing sovereign uncrewed and autonomous systems capabilities. The hub will operate primarily from the YMX Innovation Centre in Mirabel, Quebec, providing secure collaboration spaces and specialized testing infrastructure, including access to regulated airspace for advanced experimentation and demonstrations.
NEXUS is intended to support the development, testing and validation of technologies that can transition more quickly from research and development into operational use. By bringing together expertise from across Canada, the hub will advance capabilities that address emerging defence and security challenges.
The UxS DISH is structured around five operational use cases that address key Canadian defence priorities:
Counter-Uncrewed Systems and Counter-Robotics and Autonomous Systems
Sensor Integration and Continental Defence
General-Purpose Uncrewed Systems
Crewed-Uncrewed Teaming
Contested Logistics and Autonomous Resupply
Selected Consortium
The UxS DISH consortium is led by Aéro Montréal through Espace Aéro and includes partners from Canada's aerospace, defence, and innovation sectors. Key participants include:
Ministère de l'Économie, de l'Innovation et de l'Énergie (MEIE)
Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Québec (CRIAQ)
Aéroports de Montréal
CAE
ARA Robotics
Balko Technologies
Beonyx Robotics
C3RiOs
CS Group Canada
Centre de Technologies Avancées BRP - UdeS
DARIT Technologies
Laflamme Aero
Marconi Technologies
Octasic Inc.
Defence innovation ecosystem
The UxS DISH builds on the Maritime DISH pilot announced in November 2025 and forms part of Canada's growing network of Defence Innovation Secure Hubs. Together, these hubs support collaboration among government, industry, academia and operational users to accelerate the development, testing and validation of emerging technologies. The DISHs support Canada’s sovereign defence industrial base by ensuring that defence capabilities are developed within Canada, from conception to manufacturing.
The UxS DISH further builds on previous defence innovation investments in uncrewed and counter-uncrewed systems, strengthening pathways for promising technologies to progress from research and development into operational capability.
It complements broader defence innovation efforts, including:
The National Research Council’s Drone Innovation Hub which operates across sites in Ottawa and the Mirabel area to advance research, testing, and commercialization of uncrewed and counter-drone systems for Canada's defence and security sectors.
The MINERVA initiative’s “True north precision: Low cost drones with laser ranging” challenge which sought innovative solutions for cost-effective range finding and targeting capabilities to be used on small drones in order to increase battlefield awareness.
The Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program’s “Sentinel shield: Wide-area detection for early warning against uncrewed aerial systems” which sought solutions capable of persistent and timely wide-area detection, recognition, identification, and tracking of small drones. This challenge the Procurement and Operationalization of Innovation and New Technology (POINT) pilot is intended to help the Defence Team more efficiently advance successful IDEaS funded innovations from research prototype to potential operational use. POINT introduces a new path that enables an optional acquisition opportunity under the same competitive procurement process for IDEaS contract-based challenges.
It also complements other initiatives delivered through BOREALIS, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), Department of National Defence's Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) program, Innovative Solutions Canada, and other innovation partners. Together, these initiatives help strengthen Canada's defence innovation ecosystem and create pathways for promising technologies to progress toward operational use.
In order to improve defence procurement, the Defence Investment Agency is developing procurement strategies earlier in parallel with CAF requirements, reducing misalignment and rework and using risk-based authorities rather than rigid monetary thresholds to speed up contracting. When passed by Parliament as part of Bill C-31, the enhanced procurement authorities found in the updated Defence Production Act and the new Defence Investment Agency Act, together with additional measures designed to support research and development, can be used to further advance innovations created in the DISH context and get these innovations quickly into the hands of the CAF and national security partners.
Noah Note: I am inpressed that the DND took my job from me here by covering a lot of the hostory and other initatives lol. Very impressive. BOREALIS is definitely the one thing exalted in last years Defence reforms that has been relegated to the side for many. It isn't that things aren't being done, just that they're being done quietly and with little fanfare.
The DISH network is another that has sat quiet, despite the Maritime DISH getting lots of love from Industry partners and having some good wins ujder their belt. It has been fairly silent on the Federal front, nothing wrong with that. Lots of great programs just sit and peosuce results to little grandeur and spectacle. Such is the life of these sort of initiatives. For all the small wins that go unnoticed until something massove happens, if it does.
NEXUS now joins a growing network of drone hubs scattered about the country, well, mostly Mirabel. Not mentioned here is Volatus new Drone Integration and Testing Hub, nor Alberta’s attempt to turn the Foremost Testing Range into a proper hub nor the growing AlteX DroneHUB.
There are several, we could go on but it is interesting to see the amount of private, provincial, and federal drone operations being undertaken for research and testing, while at the same time Minerva moves at a grandual pace. I dont like to dig on Minerva like a passtime, there is progress made, but innovation, R&D, and Testing works when there is an outcome, and for many UAS developers that just isn't there right now.
There is gradual, glacial movement when it comes to widespread UAS adoption. Funny enough for the Army procurement side, I think UGV right now are moving at a much better, more significant pace with several tenders out for various sized, configurations, and a MUGV Standing Offer sitting ready to go.
For UAS a lot of that aint there yet. We're still working off challenges and contests, not buikding rosters and creating a national suppliers framework that can be utilized. We aint building a common supply chain, developing at the pace of adversity. In a realm where innovation goes in days, we're exevuting over years still, and that doesn't do it. Especially at the lower end, the quadcopters, fpv. The basic of the basic, where there should be movement is still hoping to have thinga done, but the timelines need more.
Bill C31 gets mentioned. Maybe thats the magical catalyst to get moving, I don't think it is. I don't think this is a DIA problem, weve proven we can work without bill C31 and achieve results. There are a few things I feel you meed to take leaps of faith on. This is absolutely one of them.
Too much time “collaborating and exchanging ideas “ and too little building of actual equipment that the CAF can use when called upon to do so. I have a hard time believing that there aren’t Canadian firms that already have the capacity to manufacture drones. Start building and you can work on iterative improvements as you go.