🎯 Three-Shot Burst

New Scientist reports that a senior figure in Ukraine’s defence industry confirmed a test near Bakhmut approximately two years ago: ten AI-driven quadcopter drones were sent toward the front lines, activated “Terminator mode” — and killed Russian soldiers with no human involvement at the terminal stage. Confirmed casualties: “a couple of soldiers and one truck.” No recordings exist. Responsibility was inferred from the aftermath. There is currently no international ban on fully autonomous lethal weapons. The UN has called for one. Ukraine’s own government prohibits AI in the final stage of target engagement — though it used it anyway, in a test that apparently worked.

The Promise & Peril of Autonomous Weapons: A Primer

This is not a hypothetical. It happened. The question now is what it means:

New Scientist’s reporting is corroborated by BetaKit, which noted the milestone while covering Russia’s threats against Canada. The ICRC’s SIPRI researchers put the policy problem plainly: IHL compliance depends on the system, how it’s used, and the circumstances — and compliance ultimately rests with states, not companies. Almost no major defence AI company — Anduril, Palantir, Helsing, Shield AI, Anthropic — references IHL on their website or in their recruiting. “Responsible” and “ethical” branding is not the same thing as legal compliance.

The Defense Brief

The New Lords of War

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9 days ago · 12 likes · 1 comment · Louise Boucher

France is at least trying to build it in from the start. Its Arcadia battlefield AI command system — described by Gen. Patrick Justel as “our response to Maven” — was tested at NATO’s Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise (CWIX) in Poland. Built with Mistral AI, Safran.AI, Thales, and Airbus. Highly decentralized, field-deployed server mesh. Open architecture. Built to synthesize information, generate courses of action, and leave decisions to commanders. Britain is moving too — MoD awarded a £227K prototype contract for Project STRONG: a single analytical platform that fuses intelligence, generates courses of action, and supports deployment of effects across cyber, information, and supply-chain domains.

Reality check: US CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper sent a memo to his commanders on May 26 reminding them: “Our commitment to the law of armed conflict is not a constraint on our lethality — it is the source of our legitimacy.” The memo came as Hegseth called rules of engagement “stupid” and Trump threatened Iranian civilian targets on social media. The gap between what CENTCOM is saying internally and what civilian leadership is saying publicly is not small.

Bottom Line: Autonomous lethal AI is operational. The legal frameworks are not. The companies building the systems don’t mention IHL. The governments deploying them are sending contradictory signals. Canada, which is about to spend $68B/yr on defence and is signing drone production deals with Ukraine, has no public position on autonomous lethal systems. That is a policy vacuum that will not stay empty.

🏆Canada can’t build sovereign capability without backing the startups building it:

That’s why DMZ Ventures is launching the $100K Dual-Use and Sovereign Tech Investment Prize at Startupfest, investing in startups driving Canada’s resilience and national security.

Register now.

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

🤝 Deal Corner

🍁 Russia calls Canada a warmonger — and threatens to publish Sentinel’s address — Following the Airlogix + Sentinel R&D drone JV announced at CANSEC, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called Canada a “warmonger” and vowed to publish “the addresses of all Canadian production facilities participating in the drone deal.” Russia’s ambassador said Canada was trying to profit from the conflict. Sentinel CEO Kath Intson: “The Canadian DND and Sentinel deal will proceed as planned.” Defence Minister McGuinty: “We’ve seen this before.” 🍁

• McGuinty to lead defence trade mission pitching Japan on Canadian military tech

• McGuinty urges businesses to ‘take risks’ as Canada builds defence-tech ecosystem

• Are Canadian investors too timid to invest in defence tech?

🍁 Isar Aerospace raises $400M CAD for Spaceport Nova Scotia — German rocket builder Isar Aerospace secured a Series D bringing total funding to ~$1.3B CAD. Maritime Launch Services signed an LoI to pursue orbital launches from Canso, NS — and DND has already signed a $200M sublease for a dedicated pad. Isar’s two-stage Spectrum rocket: 1,000 kg to LEO. Launch window attempt: June 15–21 from Andøya, Norway. If they succeed there, Canada could see its first orbital launch attempt by 2027–28. Mid-to-high inclination orbits from NS are optimal for defence communications and Earth observation. Isar is also cooperating with TKMS on the Canadian Patrol Submarine bid. 🍁

🍁 Geopolitical feature flagging: it’s here — Anthropic abruptly disabled its newest Fable and Mythos models for all foreign nationals — Canada included — following a US government directive. SourceCAN’s Raymond Luk frames this as “geopolitical feature flagging”: access to critical technology switched on or off by nationality. Canada sits in the “foreign national” category alongside Russia and China. The risk isn’t just being cut off — it’s being given a degraded version. Also last week: DND opened its $166M Valcartier research complex (80+ new labs) 🍁

ICEYE raises €1B at €10B valuation — Finnish SAR satellite startup ICEYE — previously valued at €2.5B just six months ago — closes a Series F led by General Atlantic. Revenue: €250M+ in FY25. EBITDA: €100M+. Contracted backlog: €1.5B+. Customers: 7 European nations, NATO, Poland most recently. Used in Ukraine for strike planning. Currently producing 50 satellites/year; targeting 100 by 2028.

SellingtoDefense

Selling to Defense: What Founders Need to Know Before They Build, Pitch or Scale for the Defense Market

Technology is changing fast, and conflict is changing with it. From Ukraine to the Middle East, wars are increasingly being shaped by drones, autonomy, cyber capabilities, and space systems. Gone are the days when the large primes deliver everything the Department of War needs, including years-long contracts and rigid specifications. Dual-use commercial…

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10 days ago · 16 likes · SellingtoDefense

Gardar: Norway’s €80M fund backing Ukrainian builders — Sandwater’s new fund invests in Ukrainian defence tech from seed to Series B — tech that is already operational at the front. Backed by Norwegian billionaires including Johan H. Andresen and Gustav Witzøe. Named after the Old Norse word for Ukraine (Gardariki). The thesis: front-line builders are innovating faster than VCs can fund them. Norway supplies hundreds of millions in equipment and is already co-producing NASAMS missiles with Ukraine.

Hermeus hits Mach 1.21 — and raises $350M — The hypersonic startup hit its first supersonic milestone at White Sands on May 26 — Quarterhorse Mk 2.1, third test sortie, less than 90 days after maiden flight. DIU expanded the contract ceiling to $219M — the largest in DIU history. Series C: $350M (Khosla Ventures), including $150M in debt. Total raised: $500M+. Valuation: $1B+. The Chimera engine transitions from turbojet (Mach 3) to ramjet at Mach 3.5 — the critical unproven step. New CEO: Zach Shore (effective June 1). Production: dropping build times from 6–8 weeks to 48 hours by switching to 304L stainless steel.

DEFCON AI wins $115M Marine Corps logistics software contract — The Red Cell-incubated startup becomes the prime software integrator for Marine Corps Logistics Command and Control modernization — integrating Palantir Maven, Anduril Lattice, and Rune’s frontline sustainment software into a single DevSecOps pipeline. Base year: $20M. Five-year total: $115M. Model could scale across JADC2 ecosystem.

Hadrian: $730M raised, $900M Navy partnership, 30-day operator training — The automated aerospace manufacturing startup just opened a 2.2M sq ft factory in Cherokee, Alabama to produce components for Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines. Total investment in the facility: $2.4B ($900M Navy + $1.5B private). Army contract: $80M ceiling for Red River Army Depot. Valuation: $1.6B. Claim: a non-machinist operator is production-ready in under 30 days.

STARK unveils Cascade + Gambit at ILA Berlin — Germany’s fastest-growing drone company added two new systems at the Berlin Air Show. Cascade: tube-launched loitering munition, 100km range, 4.5kg payload, GPS-denied AI nav, <1 minute setup, 10+ fit on a vehicle. Gambit: man-portable ISR/strike quadcopter, 25km range, 6kg, fiber-optic link option. Also raising ~€300M at €2.5B valuation. Sequoia, 8VC, Thiel Capital, In-Q-Tel, NATO Innovation Fund already in.

Alta Ares (France) raises €50M Series A — Counter-drone AI startup founded 2024. Pixel Lock: onboard computer vision for drone interception — widely deployed in Ukraine. X-Lock (VTOL interceptor, 270 km/h): contracts in Europe, Middle East, Asia; deployed across three active conflict zones simultaneously. Black Bird (turbojet interceptor, 670 km/h): prototype stage. Lead: Air Street Capital.

Related: DoD expanded classified AI work to 8 companies — SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Microsoft, AWS, Oracle, Reflection. Anthropic excluded. | PhysicsX raises $300M Series C — Physics AI for aerospace and defence engineering and manufacturing | Europe’s defence IPO wave accelerating — Rheinmetall, KNDS, and others preparing for capital markets

Related:

• AGF on the Changing Security and Procurement Landscape

• Lockheed Martin is writing seed checks now

• MDA Space, Calian, and Kepler tapped to lay groundwork for Canada’s next-gen satellite system

• Cohere says it is not working with Palantir

• Inside Canada’s $500 Billion Dollar Defence Spending Gamble

• ⚠️ITAR by Default = Self-Sabotage?

• Canadian Defence Spending; Stuck in Old Paradigms?

• When an AI system misjudges a drone flight path and causes damage, who pays?

• James Yurichuk: What does Canadian owned and operated really mean?

• Silicon Valley Re-Enlists: How the Valley Rediscovered the Pentagon:

Defence Finance Monitor - Analysis

Defence-Tech Earn-Outs and the Price of Uncertainty

Defence-technology acquisitions rarely involve assets whose value can be measured cleanly at signing. A target may own relevant technology, early customer traction, sensitive intellectual property or a promising position in future procurement cycles, but its commercial value often depends on events that are external, delayed and regulated: export licences, cyber certification, programme eligibility, government contract awards, funded orders, delivery acceptance and the conversion of technical promise into recognised revenue. For acquirers, this creates a valuation problem that ordinary multiples cannot resolve. For sellers, it creates the opposite problem: how to be paid for future value that is plausible but not yet bankable. Earn-outs, deferred consideration and other contingent price mechanisms have therefore become part of the transaction architecture through which defence-tech uncertainty is priced, allocated and monitored after closing…

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10 days ago · 1 like · Defence Finance Monitor

ROAR brings together the people shaping the future of robotics, autonomy, and public safety innovation in Canada

This year, we are honoured to feature General Wayne Eyre, former Chief of the Defence Staff for the Canadian Armed Forces, as a keynote speaker. With more than 40 years of military leadership experience, General Eyre has led through some of Canada’s most complex domestic and international security challenges, offering a rare perspective on leadership, readiness, and the rapidly evolving role of advanced technology in modern operations.

Join us at ROAR for an inside look at how robotics, drones, autonomous systems, and emerging defence technologies are transforming public safety, industrial operations, and national security. This is where operators, innovators, agencies, and industry leaders come together to see what is next and what is already possible.

Get your tickets: https://www.roarconference.ca/conferences/east

⚔️ Combat Readiness

2029 warning:

• Canadian-backed firm CanBalt plans 500m euro defence park in central Lithuania

• Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, speaking to CBC in Ottawa: “The majority of German society is now convinced that there is once again a threat.” Russia could challenge NATO by 2029 — a view shared among Western allies based on coordinated intelligence. Russia has $1T allocated for defence through 2036, investing 7.5–10% of GDP. It is outpacing NATO in artillery shells, missiles, and drones. The Pentagon is cutting 50% of strategic bombers, one-third of fighters, and restricting submarines designated for NATO. Germany is building the strongest conventional military in Europe — and explicitly preparing to defend without US support.

Why Does It Take Years to Get a Patriot Missile From Factory to Front Line?

• Ukraine struck Russia’s Baltic Fleet at Kronstadt dry dock — a Steregushchiy-class corvette (one of the fleet’s most capable air defence platforms) was hit. Result: Russia’s Baltic Fleet has lost ~one-third of its medium-range air defence capability. Estonia’s military intel: “this will certainly hamper air defence capability in the Kronstadt area for the future.”

• First-ever sea drone rescue operation: a Corsair unmanned surface vessel from Task Force 59 (US Fifth Fleet, Bahrain) rescued two US Army soldiers from a downed AH-64 Apache near Oman — shot down by an Iranian Shahed drone. Corsair specs: 24 ft, 1,000 lb payload, 35+ knots. The crew was recovered at 3:30 AM local, then hoisted into a helicopter. The Navy holds ~50 Corsairs and awarded a $392M contract for autonomous vessels last year.

Related:

Drone wars: Shooting down drones one at a time [VIDEO]… A $200 Drone Can Sink a US Coast Guard Boat. Nobody Is Fixing It… As technology levels the field between stronger and weaker nations, old-fashioned wars of conquest might no longer be possible

• Senators want a new Robotic and Autonomous Systems Combatant Command — four-star general to lead it; special acquisition and T&E authorities; modeled partly on Ukraine’s drone-focused military service. SASC passed the NDAA version 18-9. Hegseth already announced a sub-unified command for autonomous warfare.

• CCA race at Berlin Air Show: Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat flew in from Australia, teamed with Rheinmetall. Helsing’s CA-1KA (kinetic attack) targeting maiden flight early 2027. Airbus showing U760 Ravenstorm full-scale model. General Atomics says its Gambit is already in the US Air Force’s CCA program and “ready today.” Germany on the clock: Pistorius says if they want it by 2029, contract must close “by next year.”

• Foundation Robotics’ Phantom humanoid robot — San Francisco-based, $24M in US military research contracts, two units in Ukrainian military trials. Capabilities: 80kg carry, autonomous navigation, potential frontline weaponization. Battlefield deployment still “some way off.”

• War on the Rocks: wargaming as acquisition reform — the most consequential insight from recent Marine Corps logistics wargames: sensors are attrited earlier than previously assumed, and war reserve materiel is misaligned to actual conflict requirements. “A single monolithic joint wargame is too limited.” Recommendation: distributed service-level games first, then merge into a DoD institutional series.

Canadian bacon:

• Montréal-based defence technology firm Marconi Technologies has been awarded a contract exceeding $10 million to supply made-in-Canada ORION tactical radios to Polish Cyber Command.

• Estonian Industry Minister seeks to strengthen ties in first visit to Canada:

  • “In 2025, [Estonia] committed to having innovation procurements account for at least 2 per cent of the volume of all public procurements and 5 per cent of all procurement costs. By 2035, the country aims to have those numbers increase to 5 and 10 per cent, respectively.”

• If a foreign government can switch off the AI, the cloud, the chips, or the software your military and economy depend on, your physical security is on loan

• GlobalEye NORAD integration faces a hard wall: the Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL) used by F-35s is not shared with foreign companies. Without MADL, Canadian surveillance aircraft using Link 16 would “light up like a tree” to enemy EW. Experts say the likelihood of the US licensing MADL to Sweden is “virtually nonexistent.” A “bridge capability” workaround would take years and cost billions. Canada would need Trump’s explicit sign-off. 🍁

• Canada is falling behind on Arctic strategic power delivery — northern communities still rely on diesel delivered by air and sea. Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSA-funded) is developing nuclear microreactors for Arctic bases; Alberta is funding a $10M prototype; CSMC has a Telesat partnership for remote oversight. Sax wants DND to designate a Canadian Forces base as a demonstration site. 🍁

• North Vector Dynamics CEO Paul Ziadé on the ProtoPod: building hypersonic propulsion + counter-drone systems in Canada. Core message: speed of execution is the sovereign capability. Academia to defence tech in one generation. 🍁

• MaRS on dual-use: the Pentagon has already been investing millions into Canadian health startups for decades. “Canada is playing catch-up right now.” Ottawa’s $241M dual-use fund is on the table. Trevor Grosse: procurement is “so complex and opaque” that only a small community can navigate it. 🍁

• DIB Accelerator Conference: Philadelphia, August 25–26 — DoD senior officials, investors, defence industrial base. “Solutions Proving Ground” for manufacturing, readiness, and operations. International participation welcome.

The Canadian Explorers

BDC StrongNorth's First Cyber Bet | Karl Holmqvist — Explorer Spotlight #2

May 27th, 2026 - Lastwall, a New Brunswick-based cybersecurity company, announced a $16m investment round led by BDC through the StrongNorth Fund as the fund’s first cybersecurity investment…

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8 days ago · 2 likes · Ethan Marcoux

• Ukrainian front: Inside Ukraine’s AI-Enabled Drone Campaign Targeting Russian Logistics Deep Behind The Lines… Ukraine is currently codifying 150 new systems per month

🛡️🌏 Not Those Shades of Gray 🌏🛡️

Red’s Hellscape: Far More Dangerous Than Blue’s

In a bid to deter war over Taiwan, Admiral Paparo has dripped details into public view of his Hellscape plan to turn the waters east of China into a fiery death box for any armada seeking to attack Taiwan. Lethal UUVs (Uncrewed Undersea Vessels), loitering munitions, and one-way USVs (Uncrewed Surface Vessels) would flood the Taiwan Strait. In the Penta…

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2 years ago · 39 likes · 5 comments · Austin Gray

Mapping Canada’s Defence Innovation Landscape

Canada’s defence ecosystem is moving quickly.

Over the past several months, Canada’s defence and security accelerator, Vimy Forge, has had the opportunity to engage with founders, operators, investors, government officials, and industry leaders from across the country. We recently concluded our second residency week with the Black Flight cohort. One observation continues to surface:

There is significant innovation happening in Canada’s defence and dual-use sectors, but there is no comprehensive picture of where that innovation exists.

Read an update on the Vimy Forge Black Flight Cohort, which recently crossed the halfway point of its first program as Canada’s first Defence Accelerator.

As governments make decisions on policy and funding, financial institutions evaluate investment opportunities, and organizations like Vimy Forge design programs to support innovators, everyone is asking similar questions:

• Who is building what?

• Where are those companies located?

• What capabilities are being developed?

• How mature are those technologies? Where are the gaps?

Today, there is no single source of truth that provides those answers.

To help address this challenge, Vimy Forge is launching a national initiative to map Canada’s defence, security, and dual-use innovation landscape.

The objective is simple: build a living picture of Canadian capabilities, aligned to Canada’s Key Sovereign Capabilities and Technology Readiness Levels, creating better visibility across the ecosystem for innovators, industry, government, investors, and end users.

This is not an application to a Vimy Forge cohort or accelerator program. It is a collaborative effort to better understand the landscape and strengthen the connections needed to accelerate Canadian capability.

If your organization is developing technology relevant to defence, security, resilience, critical infrastructure, or sovereign capability, you are invited to participate.

Learn more about the initiative or complete the Expression of Interest to help map Canada’s defence innovation landscape.

🔫 Hot Shots

• AI war: Three ex-DOGE staffers are raising $130M from a16z, Sequoia, and others for a startup that aims to use AI to secure government systems… Senate pushes DOD to create new combatant command for unmanned systems… ASML is the only company capable of manufacturing the machine that creates every advanced AI chip in the world

Grey war:

• US + Five Eyes officially warned that Russia could launch a military challenge to NATO by 2029. Nordic intelligence has documented Moscow stationing up to 115,000 troops along NATO’s Baltic perimeter. Russia’s drone attack on June 2: 656 drones, 73 missiles, 33 Iskander ballistic missiles, Tsirkon cruise missiles. Ukraine shot down 11 of 33 Iskanders.

• DoD released its updated 1260H List of 188 Chinese military companies operating in the United States. List updates ongoing. Additional government actions reserved.

• Pan-domain warfare: joint → combined → multi-domain → all-domain → pan-domain. Canada is already using the terminology. The gap is integration: “Even in Ukraine, seamless integration has proven challenging.” Adversaries are advancing with “greater clarity and coherence.”

• Small Wars Journal on autonomous sabotage: third-party drone warfare enables near-zero political cost intervention. Creates “stalemate without the hurt” — reducing the pain threshold that drives peace negotiations. Deniability is the feature, not the bug.

• Gardar’s thesis on Ukrainian builders: “There are more innovative ideas being developed and used by technologists on the front lines than there are startups productising them.” Norway is building the investor-founder-user triangle. Canada should be doing the same.

• Russia seems to be threatening a *commercial* satellite that provides imaging services to Ukraine

  • The most important thing SpaceX has built is a cost curve. Canada’s path to sovereign launch is no longer theoretical:

a16z

SpaceX & the Sentient Sun

America | Tech | Opinion | Culture | Charts…

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5 days ago · 206 likes · 7 comments · Marc Andreessen and Michael McGuiness

• Odds & ends: Subcontractor Flow-Down Obligations in Defence Supply Chains… It’s hardware’s turn to eat the world… Germany Drops Jet Project With France in Setback for European Defence Sovereignty… Software, not drones, will define the next war… Have you heard about the US Army Open Solicitation?… Pentagon Needs Flexible, Agile Production Facilities

Defense Tech and Acquisition

Launching the Creative Defense Network

If you’ve followed Defense Tech and Acquisition, you know we don’t just analyze the defense acquisition system, we’ve spent our careers trying to transform it. From congressional panels, think tank c…

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11 days ago · 27 likes · 6 comments · Pete Modigliani and Matt MacGregor

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

Today, we’ve been cited in RBC’s defence finance white paper, featured on CIBC Capital Markets’ podcast, quoted by Canadian and international media over a dozen times, and invited to testify before Parliament. We’ve helped deploy $300K into Canadian startups, hosted the country’s first defence tech hackathon, brought over a dozen corporate sponsors into the fold, conducted two national studies that created proprietary defence tech data, and spoken at business forums across the country as a subject matter expert. None of it happens without you — thousands of community members holding us to a 45%+ average weekly open rate. Year two starts now.

🎯 Three-Shot Burst

Defence startup VC funding has already hit $14.6B in 2026 — eclipsing the full-year record of $9.6B set in 2025. Just six years ago, the number was $1.6B.

The shift is structural, not cyclical: Anduril’s $5B Series H alone at a $30.5B valuation anchors the surge, with Mach Industries ($300M at $1.8B), Shield AI ($2B), and Saronic ($1.75B) filling out a roster of newly minted unicorns. Applied Aerospace & Defense just went public on the NYSE at a $3.25B valuation — raising $650M. The exit landscape is maturing.

Doing our part:

DMZ Ventures is launching a $100K Dual-Use & Sovereign Tech Investment Prize, live at Startupfest in Montreal next month. The Icebreaker will be a guest judge.

We’re looking for founders building companies that matter, not just to markets, but for Canada.

Here’s the deal:

• $100K investment from DMZ Ventures

• Direct access to our network of operators, founders, and investors

• Fast-tracked entry into DMZ’s flagship Incubator

No long application. No gatekeeping. Just show up. Pitch. Win.

Register now.

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

🤝 Deal Corner

Canada confirms $2.6B HIMARS purchase — 26 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems from Lockheed Martin, via US Foreign Military Sales. Delivery starts 2029. Range: 300km precision-guided — vs. the Canadian Army's current ~40km howitzers. Designed to incorporate future land-based anti-ship missile capability and protect Arctic coastlines. No Canadian manufacturer exists for the system. CBC confirms DND called this the only option that met operational requirements

Canada's first autonomous combat aircraft — Ottawa-based startup, founded by Eliot Pence (ex-Anduril), has C$21M seed (led by Georgian) + C$50M internally committed + C$500K NRC contract. Building a delta-wing ACP (Autonomous Collaborative Platform) for RCAF's Northern mandate: short/unimproved runway takeoff, Arctic range, heavy weapons load, satellite-linked ground supervision. Moving into a 35,000 sq ft Ottawa facility June 1. Subscale prototype target: 18–24 months

Calian + Cohere: sovereign generative AI for Canadian military ops — The two Ontario firms are partnering to deploy Cohere's North platform (secure enterprise AI) through Calian's defence training and mission support infrastructure. Use cases: mission planning, training assessments, workflow optimization. Extended through Calian VENTURES to give Canadian SMEs access. Cohere emphatically confirmed it is not working with Palantir — "Palantir is not a customer or partner." Context: DND has paid Palantir $46.8M to date

Zighra awarded DND contract for IntentHunter — Ottawa-based Zighra gets Innovative Solutions Canada contract to test IntentHunter: an AI platform that infers drone intent from multi-sensor fusion (RF, EO/IR, radar). Behavioural intent detection — not just signature matching. Designed for counter-UAS operator decision support

Allen Control Systems raises $200M at $2.2B valuation — Austin-based Bullfrog counter-drone AI turret company. Uses standard M240 machine gun + AI computer vision to kill drones. Series B led by Smash Capital. $120M+ in contracts: USSOCOM, Navy, Army, UAE, South Korea. Releasing thousands of units in next 12 months. Up from $170M valuation just a year ago

Mach Industries raises $300M at $1.8B valuation — Series C co-led by Infinite Capital + Ribbit Capital. CEO is a 22-year-old college dropout. Products: Stratos (stratospheric platform), Viper (turbojet one-way attack UAS), Pike (long-range strike drone), Dart (kinetic interceptor), Glide (high-altitude strike). Acquired propulsion firm Exquadrum for $50M. All publicly released products are under contract

Anduril $2B counter-drone sale to Kuwait — State Dept approved ~$1.98B FMS deal days after Iran attacked Kuwait’s airport with missiles and drones (June 3, 1 killed). Systems: Roadrunner-Munition, Anvil-Kinetic, Pulsar EW, Lattice C2, Sentry Towers. Kuwait’s pivot: from Patriot-only to layered low-altitude network

Deterrence + General Dynamics team up on munitions manufacturing — Automated manufacturing startup Deterrence (founded 2023) deploying AI-driven robotics and factory optimization software at GDOTS’s Mesquite, TX facility (155mm artillery projectile bodies). Long-term partnership; evaluating expansion across GDOTS ecosystem

Scotiabank: Canada’s defence scale-up by the numbers — Defence strategy targets: 70% Canadian share of acquisitions, 50% export growth, 85% R&D increase, 240%+ revenue growth. To hit 5% of GDP by 2035, PBO estimates ~$68B/yr above baseline — federal debt rises 6+ percentage points. The harder problem: Canada’s defence supply chain is still only 55% domestically captured. UAS domestic content: 30%

Defence Tech Grows Up: The question for families and investors is not simply whether defence tech matters. It is whether a specific company can move from promise to procurement, from demonstration to production, and from strategic relevance to repeatable revenue.

Vanguard Canada’s data portrait of the industry — $17.3B revenue (+87% since 2014), 70% of exports go to Five Eyes, European sales up 78% since 2022, R&D grants up 309%:

The Canadian Explorers

30 Startups for a Sovereign Canada | Canadian30

Canada is recognizing the need for national sovereignty through hundreds of billions of dollars in generational investments, such as the Defence Industrial Strategy, the Canada Strong Fund, and its new National Artificial Intelligence Strategy. According to The Canadian Shield Institute, Canada's defence spending is projected to increase…

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14 days ago · 2 likes · 1 comment · Ethan Marcoux

a16z

Keeping the Drone Swarm Alive

America | Tech | Opinion | Culture | Charts…

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19 days ago · 156 likes · 6 comments · John Aguillard and Ryan McEntush

Related:

• General Petraeus is warning that $54.6B in autonomous warfare spending — a 24,000% year-over-year increase — won’t produce an effective fighting force without doctrine, training, and force structure. Less than 2% of the autonomous warfare budget is directed toward doctrine and integration. “A drone without doctrinal concepts for employment is not a weapons system — it is an asset on a spreadsheet.” The bottleneck isn’t money or hardware. It’s the institutional machinery that turns both into capability

• Andreessen Horowitz has led an $11M seed round in Westmag by David Hansen, a new drone motor company in the US

• Six companies — AZAK, HavocAI, Leonardo DRS, Allen Control Systems, Picogrid, and Anduril — walked into a demonstration with separate products and walked out days later with a fully integrated autonomous hunter-killer ground vehicle system, presented directly to the Secretary of the Army. Built in under a week. The Hunter: AZAK chassis + Leonardo DRS ACHR radar. The Killer: AZAK chassis + Allen Control Systems Bullfrog counter-drone turret. Picogrid integrated the data flows. Anduril’s Lattice ran command and control. This is what modular open architecture actually looks like in practice — not a slide deck

• KPMG on the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank — Canada hosting HQ, 6 Canadian banks signed on as partners, AAA-rated bonds, World Bank model

• CD Howe: C.D. Howe did this in 1939 — Canada was the 4th-largest allied war materials producer within years; annual defence spending could approach $150B within a decade

• BetaKit on public procurement as a growth lever — Buy Canadian policy currently reserves only 25% of contracts over $25M; US Buy American threshold is $10,000

• CGAI on unlocking the minor capital portfolio — double the allocation to $1B/yr, raise threshold to $99M, ring-fence SME access

• CIGI: Canada at economic war — 360-degree threat environment, every form of national power is a potential weapon

• Canada as a global defence finance center

ROAR brings together the people shaping the future of robotics, autonomy, and public safety innovation in Canada

This year, we are honoured to feature General Wayne Eyre, former Chief of the Defence Staff for the Canadian Armed Forces, as a keynote speaker. With more than 40 years of military leadership experience, General Eyre has led through some of Canada’s most complex domestic and international security challenges, offering a rare perspective on leadership, readiness, and the rapidly evolving role of advanced technology in modern operations.

Join us at ROAR for an inside look at how robotics, drones, autonomous systems, and emerging defence technologies are transforming public safety, industrial operations, and national security. This is where operators, innovators, agencies, and industry leaders come together to see what is next and what is already possible.

Get your tickets: https://www.roarconference.ca/conferences/east

⚔️ Combat Readiness

• Ukraine’s Droid TW 12.7 robot held a contested intersection for 45 days — 12.7mm M2 Browning, operated from 10km, serviced every 2 days. Zero casualties. Zelenskyy wants 50,000 UGVs minimum. Russia already fields 32 distinct ground robotics systems

• China published HG-STR — a “kill them all” swarm algorithm: autonomous targeting across a jammed, vision-blocked battlefield. Fixed-wing drones. 100% coverage rate in ideal conditions. Designed to hunt and eliminate every enemy target with no human command

• Modern warfare aspires to be pan‑domain. What does that mean for western militaries?

• Helsing officially launches Area 9 research division + RX-1 robot dog — Europe’s answer to Boston Dynamics. Led by Helsing Chief Scientist Antoine Bordes. Partnered with ETH Zurich and INRIA Paris. “Until now, robotics research in Europe meant depending on platforms built elsewhere.”

• Thales RapidDestroyer RF directed energy weapon swept 80 drones in trials. Four-panel effector. Longer-range engagement

• Lockheed blasted a Shahed-style drone using a JAGM from a Grizzly containerized launcher at Yuma Proving Ground — first time. Managed by AI-driven Sanctum platform + Fortem R40 radar. Integration completed in under 45 days. Grizzly fits in a standard 10-foot shipping container

• Anduril set to win sole-source Marine Corps ACV counter-drone contract — Pulsar-L EW platform (25 lbs, Yeti-cooler size) for Amphibious Combat Vehicles. “Unusual and compelling urgency.” Already holds a $642M, 10-year Marine Corps cUAS program of record

• Estonia rolls out drone detection network across 25+ cities. Meanwhile Canada has no national UAS detection architecture

Related:

• Canadian bacon: Canada in discussions to join $1.6-billion NATO Innovation Fund… DND’s Strategic Partnership Framework is live: time-limited MOUs, 5-year reviews, sovereignty-first requirements (substantive decision-making authority in Canada, IP in Canada, audit rights). Selection: DIA + ISED + DND at Deputy Minister level. Approval: Secretary of State (Defence Procurement). UAS currently has only 30% Canadian content — the lowest of any sovereign capability area

• Assured access to space underpins navigation, communications, and surveillance for the Canadian Armed Forces and our allies

• Defence Advisory Forum structure: co-chaired by Secretary of State (Defence Procurement), Minister of National Defence, and Minister of Industry. Meets twice yearly. First meeting: September 2026. Industry members serve on rotation. Does not address specific procurement

• Open IDEaS challenges this week — AI sensor fusion (up to $6.75M, deadline July 14) | Urban AI situational awareness (up to $6.75M, deadline July 14) | True North Precision: laser ranging on small drones ($2.1M, deadline June 10) | Sentinel Shield counter-UAS wide-area detection (up to $1M + $20M follow-on, deadline June 25) | ISED satellite cybersecurity ($2M, deadline July 2)

The Defense Brief

Europe's Hypersonic Moment - with Philipp Kerth, Co-founder of Hypersonica

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18 days ago · 5 likes · 1 comment · Louise Boucher

• Iran roundup: A $35,000 Shahed drone costs 220x less than the Patriot interceptor used to kill it. Gulf states burned through over 1,000 Patriots in the first 10 days while Patriot production runs at ~600 per year. The US won’t replenish Tomahawks until late 2030. The lesson isn’t just about restocking — it’s about rethinking what “layered defence” actually means. Fences, helicopters, and gun systems do most of the work. Prestige platforms handle the rest

  • New era of air and missile defence: four structural failures exposed — magazine exhaustion, limited penetrations still had strategic effect, insufficient coalition integration, cost asymmetry. Fix: fire-control-level integration + disaggregated survivable architectures + affordable magazine depth + offensive action as the centre of defence. Fixed systems are targets. Mobility is a survival requirement

  • NYT interactive on Iran war drone cost asymmetry: Shahed-136 = $35,000. APKWS II intercept = $65,000. Coyote = $253,000. SM-2 = $4.2M. PAC-3 MSE = $8M per two-shot salvo. Directed energy laser = $3/shot. DoD allocated $1B in FY25 to research directed energy

• Elbit America + Anduril team up on SIGMA mobile tactical cannon for Army self-propelled howitzer modernization — 155mm, 52-caliber, fully automated, on an Oshkosh 10×10. Anduril integrating Lattice. Built in the US with 300+ suppliers

Mapping Canada’s Defence Innovation Landscape

Canada’s defence ecosystem is moving quickly.

Over the past several months, Canada’s defence and security accelerator, Vimy Forge, has had the opportunity to engage with founders, operators, investors, government officials, and industry leaders from across the country. We recently concluded our second residency week with the Black Flight cohort. One observation continues to surface:

There is significant innovation happening in Canada’s defence and dual-use sectors, but there is no comprehensive picture of where that innovation exists.

Read an update on the Vimy Forge Black Flight Cohort, which recently crossed the halfway point of its first program as Canada’s first Defence Accelerator.

As governments make decisions on policy and funding, financial institutions evaluate investment opportunities, and organizations like Vimy Forge design programs to support innovators, everyone is asking similar questions:

• Who is building what?

• Where are those companies located?

• What capabilities are being developed?

• How mature are those technologies? Where are the gaps?

Today, there is no single source of truth that provides those answers.

To help address this challenge, Vimy Forge is launching a national initiative to map Canada’s defence, security, and dual-use innovation landscape.

The objective is simple: build a living picture of Canadian capabilities, aligned to Canada’s Key Sovereign Capabilities and Technology Readiness Levels, creating better visibility across the ecosystem for innovators, industry, government, investors, and end users.

This is not an application to a Vimy Forge cohort or accelerator program. It is a collaborative effort to better understand the landscape and strengthen the connections needed to accelerate Canadian capability.

If your organization is developing technology relevant to defence, security, resilience, critical infrastructure, or sovereign capability, you are invited to participate.

Learn more about the initiative or complete the Expression of Interest to help map Canada’s defence innovation landscape.

🔫 Hot Shots

• AI war: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and Microsoft AI CEOs all signed a letter calling on Congress to mandate DNA synthesis screening — the AI biosecurity threat is real: AI lowers the knowledge barrier to engineering pathogens. A 2017 precedent: Canadian researchers recreated horsepox for $100,000 in mail-ordered DNA. Gene synthesis is now cheaper… Anthropic Urges Global Pause in AI Development, Flags ‘Self-Improvement’ Risk

• Why does AI in War matter?

• Trump signed an AI security executive order — stops short of mandatory safety tests. Instead: voluntary 30-day government review window before public model release. Creates an AI vulnerability clearinghouse. Delayed two weeks over innovation-stifling concerns

• DoD expanded classified AI work to 8 companies: SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Reflection, Microsoft, AWS, Oracle. Anthropic excluded — blacklisted as a “supply chain risk” after contract dispute over ethical constraints on AI in warfare

• Grey war: Five Eyes (FBI, MI5, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) issued an unprecedented joint warning on Chinese LinkedIn spying — targeting government and military personnel with access to classified info via professional networking sites… New cyber force would cost up to $11 billion to start, commission says

• Electronic warfare does not arrive politely after the operation begins

• A Ukrainian naval drone lost control under Russian EW and self-detonated in Romania’s Constanța port — a NATO member state. Three other Ukrainian drones blew up the same day. Russia’s EW is now routinely redirecting weapons into allied territory… Ukrainian drones are now autonomously intercepting Shaheds

• War on the Rocks: the Pentagon’s AI edge is being distilled away — adversaries don’t need to hack US systems; they harvest frontier model outputs through APIs. The “Arena” leaderboard gap between US and Chinese models has narrowed from 17% in 2023 to 2.7%. Stanford researchers distilled Meta’s Llama for $600 vs. $82,000. Anthropic accused DeepSeek and Moonshot AI of generating millions of fraudulent API calls to extract Claude’s capabilities

• Small Wars Journal on covert drone warfare: third-party state intervention via drone allows combat participation with near-zero political cost and high deniability. Creates “stalemate without the hurt” — reducing the pain threshold that drives peace negotiations

• China’s new sailless mystery submarine spotted at JN Shipyard in Shanghai satellite imagery (June 1). ~120m long, X-form rudders, no traditional sail. Possible pumpjet propulsion. Faster, quieter, potentially seabed-focused. A second similar boat may have launched at Huludao — the nuclear-only shipyard. China has launched 15–20 submarines in 5 years across at least 8 new classes

• Odds & ends: VanTech Journal: “Buy Canadian” in defence software is hollow without teeth — a vendor can satisfy one of three requirements (auditability, data residency, Canadian-controlled IP) and still win a contract. Azure holds ~4x the federal cloud volume of AWS. The F-35 review is still open because the data-control question turned out to be real

• Canadian Shield Institute: data residency ≠ data sovereignty — CLOUD Act and FISA allow US agencies to compel data from US-headquartered cloud providers regardless of where servers are. Microsoft’s own lawyer confirmed before French lawmakers that European-held data could be transmitted to US authorities

• CBC: Canada’s cloud market is “broken” — Amazon, Google, Microsoft control ~85% of Canadian cloud market. Switching costs are prohibitive. Domestic “sovereign” providers are “maplewashed dependencies” without interoperability rules

• Xona Space Systems ($170M Series C) targeting Canadian Arctic with LEO Pulsar PNT network — signals 100x stronger than GPS, jam-resistant, cryptographically secure. DRDC funding: $850K. NRC + ISED partnership to distribute Canada’s UTC standard through the network. North of Edmonton: GPS coverage degrades

• DIANA’s Challenges for 2027 have launched!

• Ghost Bat sales poised to take off

• Introducing the UK’s 13 defence unicorns

• Anduril engineers introduce a pre-execution reliability layer that verifies and repairs agent decision before any execution occurs

• The CAF wants UGVs

• Japan’s Hidden Arsenal: The Sub-Component Revolution Nobody Is Talking About

• Government as customer and capital source: Silicon Valley itself was built on this defence relationship

• Pure-play space companies are carving out a growing share of the commercial space industry

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

Silicon Valley Defense Group (SVDG) released its annual NatSec100, an annual pulse check on the overall health of the emerging defence technology ecosystem in the US.

The top 100 received $4.3B in US federal obligations in FY25 (+22% YoY); $16B lifetime (+36%). 38 new entrants made this year’s list.

Tectonic reports that SVDG teamed up with J.P. Morgan this year, with a big focus not only on helping Silicon Valley connect with defence, but also on helping institutional capital better understand how to deploy later-stage capital into these defence tech companies.

Pete Modigliani at Defense Tech and Acquisition writes that this year’s report captured six shifts in the defence tech landscape:

1. Washington Rewired the Rules. Executive orders, the Acquisition Transformation Strategy, DRPMs, OSC, EDU, Reconciliation, and the Innovation Adoption Kit.

2. The Battlefield Imperative. Lessons from Ukraine and Iran resulted in increase in AI and autonomy experimentation to central DoW modernization priority and reshaped capital flows, procurement priorities, and operational doctrine.

3. Production as the Bottleneck. Drones, counter-drone systems, munitions, advanced manufacturing, and shipbuilding are all facing the same constraint: production capacity has not kept pace with demand signals or private investment.

4. The Capital Stack is Being Rebuilt. OSC, EDU, equity stakes, DPA-backed financing, leasing arrangements, and large IDIQs represent a new theory of how public and private capital should work together in national security.

5. The Primes Are Adapting. Corporate venture capital funds are expanding significantly. Prime CapEx investment is up roughly 35% for 2026. Compensation ceiling tensions, subcontracting relationships, and M&A activity are all shifting.

6. The Exit Landscape is Maturing. Approximately 20 companies have graduated from the NatSec100 through acquisition or public offering since 2023. These exits represent the clearest evidence yet that defence tech is producing real liquidity events and that the asset class is becoming durable.

Related:

• US defence startups at 1.3% of Pentagon obligations (up from 0.6%), still stuck moving from production to programming of record

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

🤝 Deal Corner

Canadian drones will head to Ukrainian battlefield under production deal

Drones made in Canada could be headed for the battlefield in Ukraine, thanks to a new corporate partnership between Canadian and Ukrainian drone makers.

National Defence says the drones will be made by the Ukrainian company Airlogix and Canadian drone maker Sentinel R&D, which is based out of Hamilton, Ont.

Also last week: Defence tech founders are frustrated with Canada’s approach to “dual-use” [N.B. This Toronto Tech Week event was co-hosted by The Icebreaker]

• Eliot Pence: Canada’s defence buying timelines are “irrelevant” for modern warfare

• Defence companies call on government, investors for more support

• Why Canada’s defence tech needs to rewrite the operating model

• At CANSEC, the PM announced a series of new supports, including new ITB rules, and a defence concierge service that will be available to SMEs

  • Ottawa is also designating domestic defence champions — a Strategic Partnership Framework that lets the government bypass traditional procurement

  • Ottawa has pledged to boost military spending. Canada’s defence companies want to know what it will buy — and when

Related:

• Lastwall raises $16 million to defend critical infrastructure in cyberspace

• Canada + Poland lock in drone deal via EU SAFE funds

• PitchBook analysts identify PE and VC winners and losers across industrials amid Iran war

  • Defence tech VC hits record quarter as combat, procurement, and AI signals converge

  • BCI public comps for the month include defence (thanks Christian Grunt!)

• Q&A: Erin O’Toole says Canada needs to play catch-up on defence innovation

• Canadian defence supply chain: There are 2,880 organizations holding Controlled Goods Program registration in Canada, and 2,458 of them have no observed prime contract

• This Founder Left Washington To Defend Canada’s Arctic

• How Aurmada threads the needle of fashion and defence tech

• SpaceX wins $4.16 billion US Space Force contract for threat-detection satellites

  • The largest IPO in history

• The Growing Canadian Defence Tech Bubble is Real, and It’s Going to Hurt

• Telesat and Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation announce strategic collaboration agreement to ensure Canada’s sovereign energy future

• Defence start-ups face a financing wall

• The US ports and bases that would actually keep a mass of autonomous systems in the fight are treated as background infrastructure:

Gray Matters

How I Spend My Time as a NatSec Venture Capitalist

No two days are ever alike in venture capital (VC), and no two venture capitalists spend their time in the same way. Each successful VC has their own unique strategy to see, pick, win, and support the best early stage technology companies. VC feedback cycles are long – it can take 5-10 years to know if an early stage investment is successful. As such, I…

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21 days ago · 21 likes · Maggie Gray

Accelerating Canada’s Quantum Capabilities for Defence Will Unlock Broader Economic Opportunities

Special Guest POV by Gordon Harling, President and CEO, CMC Microsystems

The Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) underscores how critical Canada’s quantum industry is to national defence readiness, sovereign capability, cyber resilience, and allied interoperability.

After decades of early investment and visionary research, Canada has established itself as a global leader in quantum technologies. Quantum follows semiconductors as critical infrastructure across many applications beyond defence including vaccine discovery, materials research, and crop management.

Canada’s quantum strategy, as it relates to defence, is about more than just owning quantum computers; it is about retaining critical IP, manufacturing expertise, and research and development capability in Canada as quantum technology heads toward commercial viability. The government’s focus on bolstering sovereignty includes making Canada less dependent on foreign firms for sensitive technologies like quantum.

Recent defence spending and broader government investments are being used to accelerate innovation ecosystems, scale domestic quantum companies, speed commercialization, and support adoption of quantum technologies by the Canadian Armed Forces – and industry at large.

Canada punches above its weight in quantum technologies, whether it’s computing, sensors, or communications. All have been identified as key dual-use capabilities that can contribute to national defence ambitions and map directly onto current Canadian military requirements, and all three have been identified by Canada’s National Quantum Strategy (NQS) as key priorities.

The FABrIC program, managed by CMC Microsystems, is building domestic capacity in advanced technologies such as compound semiconductors, photonics, integrated sensors, and superconductors which are all critical for the fabrication of domestic quantum computers. FABrIC enables the creation of custom components from Canadian factories in support of many advanced technologies, including quantum. FABrIC also provides high-quality training for the designers of the future who will create trusted electronic components, components for secure communications, and advanced sensors.

Canada’s quantum industry is critical to helping the country defend its networks, field advanced military systems, and preserve technological sovereignty in a world where quantum advantage may shape both conflict and competitiveness.

Article continues here. [French translation available].

⚔️ Combat Readiness

Airbus picks Mistral AI as its sovereign defence AI partner

Airbus signed a full partnership agreement with Mistral AI, the Paris-based large language model company, to deploy AI across its commercial aircraft, helicopter, defence, and space divisions. The deal gives Airbus the ability to run models on-premises.

The Defense Post writes that on-premises AI deployment means running model inference on hardware physically inside a secure facility, air-gapped from external networks. The challenge beyond security is compute: large language models require substantial GPU infrastructure to run at useful latency. Mistral’s models are generally smaller and more efficient than US frontier models, making them better suited for on-prem deployment in resource-constrained environments.

The Defense Brief

The Factory Floor Nobody Imagined

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24 days ago · 21 likes · 3 comments · Louise Boucher

Related:

• Christian Leuprecht described current investments as barely getting Canada “out of the starting blocks” on a 100-metre run to sovereign defence. Canada still hasn’t finalized a comprehensive list of military needs, and may not be buying the best kit

• Why Swindon is emerging as a centre for Britain’s drone industry

• This Sam Altman- And Peter Thiel-Backed Aviation Company Achieves Supersonic Flight

• Canadian bacon: Once overlooked, Davie now occupies a critical nexus between three allies that have pledged to shore up their icebreaking capabilities… Canada picks Swedish early-warning aircraft tech over U.S. bidders - was it a good idea… After the GlobalEye program, the Carney government is eyeing Gripen fighter jets… Ontario Unveils Framework for Defence Industrial Strategy

  • Canadian Victoria Cross — independent military honours review board for Afghan cases established

• Thought leadership: It’s time to rethink Canada’s space agency through a national security and innovation lens… Non-Arctic State Policies and Strategies Alignments with Canada… A Third Option for Canadian defence SMEs after the Permanent Joint Board on Defence Pause… Sovereign capabilities are not built on spending alone. They are built on the architecture that enables partnerships… Canada calls for NATO strategy to secure Arctic as northern flank of military alliance

  • Easier to start, harder to win — the dangerous delusion of modern war

• Drone wars: Seven Companies Advance to the US Navy’s MUSV Prototype Phase… Drone on drone intercept [VIDEO]… AUKUS to develop unmanned undersea vehicles, delivery set for 2027… President Trump says that the new ballroom will have a “Drone Port”

  Uncommon Leadership

  The Drone War Is Moving at the Speed of Conversation. The Pentagon Isn’t.

  By Pete Newell…

  Read more

  22 days ago · 2 likes · 1 comment · BMNT

• Iran roundup: The US won’t replenish its Tomahawk inventory until late 2030 — 1,000+ were fired in the Iran war; fewer than 200 are produced per year… The next hot defence category is cheaper and smarter missiles — a list of startups building them… DoD reverted to spreadsheets and phone calls during Operation Epic Fury to track munitions… During the Iran war, the US relied on Canada’s embassy in Abu Dhabi to distribute passports to ~1,000 Americans after US embassies closed

• Arctic shelf: Polar regions are critical to space access: China leased antennas in Kiruna, Sweden (not being renewed) and is building its 6th Antarctic station

• From the Ukrainian front: Ukraine is turning the tables, using AI drones to strike vital convoys supplying Russian troops… US Military Is Built for the Wrong Century… Russian EW capabilities… How China is secretly arming Russia’s drone arsenal

🔫 Hot Shots

• AI war: A Helsing wargame found that 12,000 HX-2 AI-enabled strike drones could collapse a Russian three-front Baltic invasion (targeting Lithuania) within days — Russia would lose 1/3 of attacking troops in 10 days. The HX-2 runs at 60–80% accuracy in Ukraine. Semi-autonomous swarms: 1 pilot to 10+ drones… Anthropic’s Claude has been integrated into Palantir’s Maven Smart System and was used in US strikes on Iran… McKinsey survey: 600+ AI efforts across DoD. Most leaders are not yet seeing scaled impact… A Quiet Navy Shipbuilding Move Just Put Palantir’s Software Deeper Into the Yard

• Grey war: China now controls 50.7% of global shipbuilding output — up from 35.9% nine years ago, backed by ~$132B in state support. The US holds 0.1%. A projected 200,000–250,000 worker shortfall over the next decade. The maintenance backlog is now 26 years deep… UK GCHQ Director Anne Keast-Butler: “China is now a science and tech superpower… the ground beneath our feet is shifting.” The West is “running out of time” to maintain its technological edge… Chinese forces used electronic warfare to drive off Dutch frigate HNLMS De Ruyter near the Paracel Islands during the Pacific Archer mission… MIGS Institute: Beijing’s United Front Work Department is conducting foreign interference across all G7 nations. Canada is explicitly named… Finland - ‘Cellular also impacted by interference’… What is a forward-deployed engineer?

• Odds & ends: The Swedish deal, the defence bank and the West’s awakening from its long dream… Germany is pledging 4 Type 212-CD submarines by 2036, with both Germany and Norway each yielding one vessel from existing orders to prioritize Canada… Algoma Steel would supply material for the possible manufacturing of land defence vehicles in Canada… Convergence Design Services (Arnprior) and 13 Canadian partners built an all-Canadian electric military vehicle — autonomous and manned variants — in 4 months for a seven-figure prototype cost… Fulfilling The Promise of Canada: Charting a National Strategy for an Unstable World… AERALIS: Innovation, Hype, or the Reality of Defence Procurement?

  • Canada is the only G7 country without a geodetic station… Warfighting and War Winning in Space… Blue Origin’s New Glenn failure is a reminder of how unforgiving spaceflight remains

    • The AI supply crunch is here

    • There is no country that can fully design and manufacture a chip independently

    • How the AI age is replaying history’s oldest power game — and why the dollar is still the answer:

    Currency of Power

    The Pax Without Peace

    Pax means peace. The Roman Senate coined the phrase, the historians burnished it, and every hegemon since has borrowed the concept. Yet if you survey the world in 2026 — trade wars, export controls, chip embargoes, rare earth weaponisation, drone-contested borders, stablecoin legislation passed in the shadow of geopolitical anxiety — peace is the last word that comes to mind. Even the …

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    19 days ago · 3 likes · Marieke Flament and Nicolas Colin

Mind of Things

PhDs who can fight

I had the pleasure of spending the last several days with Australian mates. Over that time, Admiral Bradley embodied Bill Donovan’s saying, “We want PhDs that can win bar fights.” This was the hallmark of what the OSS looked for, at least sometimes. The OSS recruited hard, smart men. They also recruited Julia Child. What does this tell us about the educ…

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25 days ago · 11 likes · Justin Mc

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

Thanks to CIBC for hosting The Icebreaker at its Defence and Resiliency Summit last week in Toronto.

🎯 Three-Shot Burst

Ukraine’s edge is not just better drones. It’s a frontline innovation loop where soldiers report failures directly, engineers patch fast, and products either survive combat conditions or get exposed immediately.

In Ukraine, soldiers can flag failures straight to manufacturers, frontline labs can prototype fixes fast, and bad tech gets exposed immediately under real battlefield conditions. That is why “tested in Ukraine” only means something when a system has survived multiple rotations, operator feedback, and Russian electronic warfare — not a staged demo and a photo.

Reality check: Most Western firms still optimize for procurement cycles, not adaptation cycles. The best partners keep engineers near the fight, ship updates quickly, and build around end-user feedback; the rest are still designing for Western buyers while treating Ukraine like a side market.

Canadian drone maker Sentinel to build drones for Ukraine through joint venture.

Bottom Line: The real partnership model is not Western primes leading and Ukraine subcontracting. It is Ukraine owning the fast iteration loop, while Western partners bring certification, capital, and production scale — because the lesson from this war is clear: speed, affordability, and feedback density now matter as much as technical sophistication.

Related:

• BetaKit Most Ambitious names Canada’s national security innovators to watch

  • “We have no idea if there are Russian subs sitting on the ocean seabed under the ice.”

• Canadian defence companies call on government, investors for more support

• Defence Industrial Strategy will succeed or fail in the procurement office: Detailed technical requirements written in 2024 will be outdated on arrival, obsolete by 2025 and a liability by 2026

  • Five steps SMB’s need to take to get into Canadian defence fast!

    • Do I need CMMC, or CPCSC, or both – and what is the difference anyway?

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Security Compass helps you maintain end-to-end security traceability across your control framework: requirement → implementation → test/verification → evidence. Give assessors what they need faster, with less ambiguity.

🤝 Deal Corner

Shield AI Tapped for LUCAS Autonomy

Tectonic reports that autonomy giant Shield AI has been been tapped by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering (OUSW R&E) to build its Hivemind autonomy software onto LUCAS—the Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System.

Hivemind will play AI pilot for the Shahed-like attack drone, “enabling groups of drones to coordinate, maneuver, and adapt together to changing conditions in real time, based on warfighter input.”

The company has raised about $3.15B in funding—most recently, a $2B Series G at a $12.7B valuation.

Related:

• Ottawa spending $5M on defence testing at Ontario Tech University

• Earlybird and AVP Reportedly Raising €500M Defence Fund

• The $50 Million Rocket Deal Fueled by Trump’s Hypersonic Dreams

  • Mach Industries Snaps Up Rocket Motor-Maker Exquadrum

• Is HawkEye 360 the road map for defence tech and tough tech start ups?

• Helsing, on the cusp of a $1.2B raise, forms space JV with OHB to build AI-based targeting systems

• Manufacturing Startup Amca Closes $300M Series B

• Canadians want defence dollars spent on Canadian-owned firms, not U.S. companies or their subsidiaries

• Historic Marconi name returns as Canadian investors launch defence tech firm

• How defence spending will shrink global imbalances and weaken US

• NAV CANADA sells foundational Aireon stake in US$166M sale to Iridium

• $21M provincial investment takes U of A defence innovation to the next level

• Japan to support growth of dual-use tech startups with early payments

• “Demand for Ukrainian defence technologies is systemic and growing in both the US and Europe” — Oleksandr Soroka, Network VC

• PE deal count in aerospace & defence more than doubles in Q1 2026 as defence budgets and geopolitics drive record activity

The Venturist

The 60+ Companies Shaping Europe’s Security: Defence Database

Dear friends…

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a month ago · 14 likes · 3 comments · Roko Karanusic

• Venture capital opportunities in Canada’s defence sector

  • Canada’s defence build-up and the new M&A playbook

• Anduril Unveils Voyager 1 for Mobile Compute and Comms

• Harvard has a defence-tech incubator. Pete Hegseth should visit it

• Perennial Autonomy Scores $500M JIATF 401 IDIQ

• SBQuantum announces two new contracts (totaling $3 million CAD), to deliver arrays of its quantum sensors alongside its magnetic intelligence platform

• Strike drones startup Stark targeting blockbuster new funding round, sources say

• Three ex-Bundeswehr officers are building Europe’s land prime

• TKMS and Isar Aerospace have agreed on a landmark industrial cooperation project to build an independent Canadian space capability… Reaction Dynamics and Hanwha Ocean sign MOU to explore strategic investment in Reaction Dynamics as part of Hanwha Ocean’s broader commitment to supporting high-potential Canadian companies through a dedicated venture capital fund

• Canada’s Future in Space: How We Got Here, and Where We’re Headed

• Ondas Inc. Q1: $50.1M revenue. +1,000% YoY. EBITDA profitability at the product-company level — six months ahead of plan

• Edge Computing Company Armada Raises $230M at $2B Valuation

• A wave of maritime startups bet that the future of naval power looks nothing like the past

• JPMorganChase Expands Security and Resiliency Initiative Across Europe

• European deep tech has a recurring failure mode

• CDR’s Top 100 Defence Companies list

• Interested in becoming part of NATO DIANA’s 2027 cohort of innovators?

• Updated list of Europe-domiciled VC funds investing in defence, security and resilience

• Sitreps Salary Explorer and asked veterans to share their private sector comp anonymously

📢 Dual-Use & Defence 101 Day | June 15, 2026

The defence and dual-use sector is one of the most consequential and fastest-growing spaces in Canada, and one of the hardest to break into without the right context.

Sandbox Centre, in partnership with PerceptX, Invest Barrie, and supported by Simcoe County, is hosting a Dual-Use & Defence 101 Day, a free, full-day event in Barrie, Ontario designed for companies and individuals who want to understand how the sector actually works.

We are bringing together a rare group: senior leaders with deep defence experience, alongside individuals who are actively working in the defence space today.

Speakers include Troy Crosby (Former ADM Materiel, National Defence), Andre Filion (Former ADM Defence and Marine Procurement, PSPC), Darcy Byrtus (Former President, BMT Fleet Technology), Mike Petric (Managing Director, PerceptX), Darian Harris (Founder and CEO, Fuse Ventures), Albert Behr (President and CEO, Behr and Associates), Frank Taylor (Canadian Special Operations Forces JTF2 Operator), and Adam Varey (Ballistics Expert, Former Military Police).

Partners and speakers are flying in from Singapore, the United States, and from across the province. Additional speakers and panelists to be announced.

As part of the day, 10 companies will be selected for dedicated one-on-one sessions with our defence practitioners, a focused conversation to help you understand where your organization might fit within the defence market.

This is a curated event with limited capacity.

Submit a request to join our Dual-Use and Defence 101 Day and learn about the additional opportunities we will be offering throughout the year, including our upcoming demo days and future defence programming.

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

⚔️ Combat Readiness

The United States is Betting Big on Affordable Missiles

Four American companies have been selected to potentially deliver over 10,000 mini cruise missiles between 2027 and 2029 under the Low-Cost Containerized Missile program. These are Anduril’s SLB-500M, CoAspire’s GHOST, and as yet unconfirmed systems from Leidos and Zone 5 Technologies. Production contracts will be awarded following an evaluation and assessment phase scheduled to begin in June 2026.

Jordan Yashari

The Solid Rocket Motor Problem

Russia builds Shahed drones for roughly $30,000 each and launches them at Ukrainian cities in waves. The interceptors America and its allies fire to shoot them down cost ten to twenty times that, take more than a year to manufacture, and run on a supply chain so consolidated that a single chemical from a single company sits at the bottom of the whole th…

Read more

a month ago · 4 likes · Investing in Organized Chaos

Related:

• BlitzBox Packs 100 Weaponized Drones Into An Unassuming Container

• The Pentagon wants more missiles. The supply chain has… two engine makers

  • Why 3D Printing Is Becoming The Pentagon’s Most Vital Asset

• IAI’s new Diamond naval offering envisions flexible drones, missiles for small vessels

• The US Navy Needs Precise Mass and Here Is How to Get There

  • How a former Navy officer’s will to serve is shaping the future of hardware development

• Germany chooses EU analytics company over US-based Palantir

  • NATO commander: Europe has no alternative to Palantir’s warfare tech

  • L3Harris-Palantir combo nets night vision production gains

  • Someone just open-sourced Palantir

  • Palantir fights Pentagon over key intelligence contract

• This GPS-guided mortar system is meant to automate the call for fire

• Drones could mean the end of sprawling bases seen during Iraq and Afghanistan Wars

• Europe’s secret Plan B to replace NATO

• Inside Israel’s High-Tech Campaign to Kill or Capture Every Oct. 7 Attacker

• Canadian bacon: Pentagon gave Canada classified paper detailing defence priorities… Pentagon doubles down on Canada rebuke with demand for NATO spending road map, F-35 decision… The Pentagon has posted notice that Canada has purchased a number of HIMARS systems for $1.1 billion. DND has said it plans to buy long-range missile capability. But it won’t confirm this purchase… Investing in the Canadian Armed Forces is an insurance policy… Ottawa nominates chief of defence staff for key NATO role… Will Canada get to 3.5%?… ‘Keeping an eye on Canada’: U.S. DEA plans to open new offices north of the border… Canada releases updated sanctions guidance for the aerospace and defence sectors… Canada’s Snowbirds jets grounded until 2030s as replacement aircraft identified… Canada’s $1-trillion defence commitment: whose future are we defending?… Adapt or Adopt? Canada, Sweden, and Whole-of-Society Defence… Military asks personnel in capital region to return field gear, citing ‘critical equipment shortages’

  • With its pause on the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, the U.S. is attempting to constrain Canada

  • Project Athena is a veteran-built web map where soldiers who served in Afghanistan can upload their photos, pin them to the exact location they were taken, and become part of a living record of the war

Debating Canadian Defence

Putting the PJBD on hiatus

The Permanent Joint Board on Defense (PJBD) has apparently been suspended by the United States. Elbridge Colby, the American Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, announced the decision on X. Created in 1940, the PJBD was the first institution of continental defence cooperation set up by the United States and Canada. Since then, the PJBD has become far…

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a month ago · 50 likes · 18 comments · Philippe Lagassé

• Thought leadership: Canadian advanced manufacturing builds world-class IP – then gives it away… Transforming the Canadian Army for High-Intensity Warfare at the Divisional Level: A Digital and Structural Blueprint for Continuous Modernization… Procurement is no longer just an administrative function, it’s a crucial strategic capability… Reliable short-term capability will deliver long-term defence strength… Drones in the African Battlespaces… Alex MacDonald urges rapid Canadian pivot to lunar surface robotics… Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy: Structural Shift or Just Another Spending Surge?… Time to Bring Back the U.S. Maritime Service to Support America’s Maritime Revival and a Wartime Economy… Canadian armored vehicles defending Ukraine: key facts about the Roshel Senator MRAP

  • 2025 State of the Canadian Space Sector Report

  • State of Canada’s Defence Industry Report

  • 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗼𝗳𝗳𝘀 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺

• Drone wars: 48 companies have been invited to compete in the Phase 2 Drone Dominance Qualifier at Camp Grayling, MI, testing approximately 78 unique drones across Long Range Strike and Tactical Assault in Close Quarters mission areas — including Canada’s Volatus Aerospace… Hyfix raises $15 million to build a U.S. alternative to DJI’s drone dominance… US soldiers learn to identify drones by sound

  • CAF seeking innovative solutions for cost-effective range finding and targeting capabilities to be used on small drones… U.S. firm builds a 360-degree rotating turret to kill drone swarms… U.S. Army evaluates secretive Disruptor kamikaze drone… Vietnamese army showing off armed USV made out of commercially available technologies [VIDEO]… Crashed mothership drone that is carrying 2 FPV drones [VIDEO]

  • Ukraine reached interceptor drone production of roughly 1,500 units a day in January, per its defence ministry. Output in the first four months of 2026 already exceeded the whole of 2025

Noahpinion

All non-drone militaries are obsolete

Drone warfare has been a fascination of mine for a very long time. When I read Daphne du Maurier’s “The Birds” as a kid, I imagined what would happen if the attacking swarms were mechanical birds, controlled with AI. When I read about Japanese kamikazes in WW2, I reasoned that someday we’d have drones do the same. In 2013, I wrote…

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a month ago · 715 likes · 151 comments · Noah Smith and Latent.Space

• Iran roundup: Rewriting The Air Defence Equation: The Lessons Of Epic Fury… Sweeping the strait: the companies gearing up to clear the Gulf of mines… Missiles Aren’t Strategy: Lessons From Iran for a Pacific Air War

• Arctic shelf: Economic statecraft harmonization via the Arctic?… DND and ISED launch $5.5M in challenges for Arctic optical comms and quantum repeaters… The New Cold War: Capital, Conflict, and the Race for the Arctic… Canadian troops are steeling to fight Russia. Will Ottawa back them?… Canadian Coast Guard getting $816M to boost Arctic security, secure southern waters

• From the Ukrainian front: New Ukrainian tactic: launch a Hornet from a balloon at 8 km, drop it 42 km downrange with 95% battery intact… A Ukrainian FP2 UAV is reportedly launching rockets toward targets in Crimea [VIDEO]… Drones are transforming warfare, but you won’t find a Ukrainian commander who wouldn’t ask for more artillery or more ammunition… How China quietly helps Russia in Ukraine… Russian sapphire giant that armed missiles now faces collapse… Small FPV drones, weighing only a few kilograms, are now striking Russian supply depots… China can produce four billion FPV drones per year. Ukraine, a country that has been at war for three years and is building faster than anyone in the West, manages four million

🔫 Hot Shots

• AI war: Booz Allen’s mission software and cyber capabilities now run on Anduril Industries’ Menace compute and communications systems and are integrated with Anduril’s Lattice software… AI is moving ahead but Defence and Intelligence systems are still catching up… Lyzr AI raises from In-Q-Tel… Frontier AI deployments in the US military… AI eats the world, and moves the needle more than drones in warfare

• Grey war: Quantum Systems and Helsing Europe’s Defence Paradox - Why Fragmentation, Not Funding, Is Holding Back Scale and Innovation… Regulatory Friendly Fire: How ITAR Undermines the Alliance It Was Built to Protect… From Innovation to Weaponisation: How China Exploits the Australian and New Zealand Open Scientific Systems… Xi Has $1.2 Trillion Rare Earths Leverage Ahead of Trump Visit… Treat critical minerals as a national security asset… Patents are “Chinese instruction manuals”

Canadian Cyber in Context

Microsoft and American Hyperscalers Refuse to Accept Reality About Canadian Digital Sovereignty

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a month ago · 9 likes · 1 comment · Alexander Rudolph

• Odds & ends: Poland has spent fifty billion dollars on American weapons. Last week the Pentagon scrapped plans to deploy 4,200 troops to Poland… Cogs of War seeking defence finance writers… South Korea’s Hanwha showcases submarine as Ottawa mulls multibillion-dollar contract… Beyond Capability: The Strategic Calculus Behind Canada’s Submarine Procurement … You can’t surge a sub workforce overnight… CAF seeking innovative research and development (R&D) solutions to provide a secure and resilient information eco-system by leveraging optical links via a transportable Optical Ground Station (OGS) capable of establishing communication with low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites; multi-modal AI for advanced situational decisions; virtual and physical training system for semi-autonomous teleoperated manipulators; drone surge… SpaceX has produced 1300+ founders that raised over $5.2B in total funding… Operational Reform Must Accompany ITB Modernization… Canadian SMEs: How to fully benefit from the Industrial and Technological Benefits Policy… BridgeLine was built for that intersection: translating military experience into civilian capability so institutions can better identify, absorb, and deploy high-value talent

  • SpaceX IPO: “...and (ii) the Company’s completion of non-Earth-based data centers capable of delivering 100 terawatts of compute per year”.

Defense Tech and Acquisition

Special Forces Advance Tech and Ops

Welcome to the latest edition of Defense Tech and Acquisition…

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a month ago · 15 likes · 10 comments · Pete Modigliani and Matt MacGregor

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

Thanks to CIBC Capital Markets for hosting The Icebreaker on its podcast, discussing opportunities available to tech entrepreneurs in the defence sector. Thanks also to Dentons and the TSX for featuring The Icebreaker at its Defence Capital Forum last week.

🎯 Three-Shot Burst

VC fund Tech Horizons has become the first European investor in North Vector Dynamics (NVD), a Canadian defence technology company developing advanced autonomous air defence systems, precision-guided missiles and hypersonics.

NVD’s counter-UAS solution, the development of which has been financed in part by the Canadian government, is designed to provide an effective and cost-efficient response to mass-deployed drones and loitering munitions. The technology is also built for compatibility with NATO command-and-control systems.

“North Vector Dynamics stood out to us because of the depth of its founding team. Scientists who have spent years operating at the frontier of hard engineering, from nuclear reactors to hypersonic technologies.

We see NVD as a strong potential partner for Europe: the technologies they are developing alongside the Canadian government are directly relevant to European security and to the wider alliance. Cost-effective, layered air defence against Shahed-class threats and hypersonic weapons remains an unsolved problem, and we are proud to be joining NVD as they help solve it.” — Matej Luhový, Partner at Tech Horizons

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Security Compass helps you maintain end-to-end security traceability across your control framework: requirement → implementation → test/verification → evidence. Give assessors what they need faster, with less ambiguity.

🤝 Deal Corner

Anduril’s $5 billion raise turns defence AI into venture’s new prize

Anduril has raised $5 billion at a $61 billion valuation, giving Palmer Luckey’s defence technology company one of the most striking private-market price tags in the AI economy. The Series H round, led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, roughly doubles the company’s value from its last major raise near $30.5 billion in June 2025.

Operation Epic Fury made the cost-exchange problem impossible to ignore. The math of expensive interceptors against cheap drones doesn’t hold at scale. Expect mounting pressure on primes and procurement to field software-defined systems tied to cheaper hardware and shorter production cycles.

The United States Department of War has reached new framework agreements with a slate of disruptive new entrants to aggressively expand the United States military’s lethal cruise missile and hypersonic missile strike capabilities:

“Once Castelion achieves testing and validation, the Department will award a multi-year contract for a minimum of 500 Blackbeard missiles annually.”

Related:

• Zelenskyy says Ukraine has a ‘drone deal’ with Canada in the works

• RBC advising Ontario on $500-million ‘resilience bond’ to fund defence projects

• Dominion Dynamics included in Black Flag’s Top 100 for 2026

• Moment Energy raises $40M to meet ‘infinite demand for power’ with EV batteries

• How a former Air Force weapons officer turned the U.S. military’s space playbook into $1.03 billion in private capital, and what could unmake the trade

• 30 European dual-use startups that raised $10M+ (last 12 months)

  • 🔥 Defence tech is the fastest growing sector in Europe (+150% YoY)

• BVVC is hunting tier-one defence investor talent

• Canada’s Future Drone Innovators and Founders Take Flight at Area X.O

  • CAF seeking innovative solutions for cost-effective range finding and targeting capabilities to be used on small drones. The goal is to increase battlefield awareness and support indirect fire missions through aerial surveillance, intelligence and reconnaissance

• A five-year-old Munich AI-defence startup is closing a $1.2B round at an $18B valuation, led by Dragoneer and co-led by Lightspeed

• NordSpace unveils Chronos, its own imaging payload developed in-house for edge-AI real-time intelligence in low earth orbit (LEO), initially trained for wildfire and arctic monitoring, and to practice wide-field-of-view space domain awareness

• German drone maker Quantum Systems is acquiring the Estonian intelligence management platform scaleup, SensusQ

• Photonic raises $200-million, becoming latest Canadian quantum developer to reach multibillion-dollar valuation

• Germany’s pushback against Palantir is becoming much bigger than a single procurement disagreement

• CMC Microsystems picks 11 winners for $10.7-million edge computing challenge

Mind of Things

How (I hope) They Designed Deal Team Six

When I was younger, I had a commander who said, “doctrine is for those who can’t.” This is a pithy way of saying that he expected people to problem-solve and defend rationales for why we should do something, not just fall back on “because the book said so.” In some ways, this seems anathema to…

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a month ago · 4 likes · Justin Mc

📢 Dual-Use & Defence 101 Day | June 15, 2026

The defence and dual-use sector is one of the most consequential and fastest-growing spaces in Canada, and one of the hardest to break into without the right context.

Sandbox Centre, in partnership with PerceptX, Invest Barrie, and supported by Simcoe County, is hosting a Dual-Use & Defence 101 Day, a free, full-day event in Barrie, Ontario designed for companies and individuals who want to understand how the sector actually works.

We are bringing together a rare group: senior leaders with deep defence experience, alongside individuals who are actively working in the defence space today.

Speakers include Troy Crosby (Former ADM Materiel, National Defence), Andre Filion (Former ADM Defence and Marine Procurement, PSPC), Darcy Byrtus (Former President, BMT Fleet Technology), Mike Petric (Managing Director, PerceptX), Darian Harris (Founder and CEO, Fuse Ventures), Albert Behr (President and CEO, Behr and Associates), Frank Taylor (Canadian Special Operations Forces JTF2 Operator), and Adam Varey (Ballistics Expert, Former Military Police).

Partners and speakers are flying in from Singapore, the United States, and from across the province. Additional speakers and panelists to be announced.

As part of the day, 10 companies will be selected for dedicated one-on-one sessions with our defence practitioners, a focused conversation to help you understand where your organization might fit within the defence market.

This is a curated event with limited capacity.

Submit a request to join our Dual-Use and Defence 101 Day and learn about the additional opportunities we will be offering throughout the year, including our upcoming demo days and future defence programming.

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

⚔️ Combat Readiness

This Arkansas Town Is Humming With the Sound of Missile Making

When the Pentagon put out an urgent call for rocket launchers and ammunition to send to Ukraine and replenish supplies at home in 2022, an answer came from an unlikely place: this remote southern pine-belt town, population around 10,000.

The town faced a basic challenge: where to find enough workers to meet a surge in demand for weapons?

Related:

• The future of America’s military industrial complex

• Anduril UK Selected to Build Autonomous Wingmen for Apaches

• Enter the Killer Robots: The Ukrainian Forging the Future of Warfare

• Pentagon strikes agreements with defence firms on containerized missiles

• The US Army has awarded Anduril a contract to deliver the Battle Management solution for missile defence in the region

• Introducing “𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫” - a modular robotic unit built around a centralized control hub, integrating multiple lethal unmanned platforms into a single operational system

• Canadian bacon: NATO wants to build a state-of-the-art satellite ground station in Canada… Angus Topshee, outspoken head of Canada’s navy, promoted to vice chief of defence staff… Export Development Canada is hiring a Global Trade Director, Defence & Security… Pentagon walks away from Canada-U.S. defence board… Harjit Sajjan reports for duty

Tank Talks with Matt Cohen

Inside Canada’s Most Ambitious Space Infrastructure Company with Mina Mitry of Kepler Communications

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Mina Mitry, CEO and Co-Founder of Kepler Communications, one of the world’s most ambitious space infrastructure companies. With a journey that spans from winning $75,000 in university pitch competitions to building the world’s first commercial optical data relay network, Mina’s experience off…

Listen now

a month ago · 1 like · Ripple Ventures

• Thought leadership: “We need to stop buying THINGS—by way of rigid requirements, contracts, and timelines—and instead start figuring out how to develop and deliver CAPABILITIES—by way of continuous evolution, experimentation, failure acceptance, and relational contracting.”

  • Potential reforms to Canada’s ITB Policy

  • The Iran War May Be the Best Argument Against Buying US Weapons

  • Dear Canada, Don’t Buy a Submarine… buy a seat at the table

  • The Soldier’s Handbook on the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) – Applicable to Land Warfare

  • On Ottawa’s semiconductor strategy

  • Sovereignty-Enabling Exemptions in the DIAA?

  • Thousands of small manufacturers underpin the U.S. defence industrial base. With limited succession planning, critical industrial capabilities will soon deteriorate — or disappear altogether

  • Navigating Canada’s Crowded Defence Industrial Frontier

  • The seven distinct archetypes of Canada’s defence industrial base

• Drone wars: Ground zero: NATO’s drone war comes down to earth in Latvia… Telekom and Rheinmetall are developing a nationwide counter-drone defence network for German cities… Modeling the Lethality of Small Attack Drones and Loitering Munitions

• Iran roundup: “In less than 40 days of major combat operations, USCENTCOM forces systematically dismantled what Iran spent four decades and tens of billions of dollars building”… UAE Building Massive ‘Cope Cages’ To Protect Energy Facilities From Iranian Drone Attacks

• Arctic shelf: The Other Border Problem: How Russia and China’s Lawfare Threaten the Arctic… How Canada plans to defend the Arctic, according to a reporter who travelled with military Rangers

• From the Ukrainian front: Ukraine no longer needs the US?… The great Starlink sting: how Ukrainian hackers are duping Russian troops… At Crystal Arrow war games in Latvia, Canada and NATO allies test out tactics from Ukraine… Palantir’s role in Ukraine… In Latvia, military robots roll across a new communication challenge: woodlands… Ukrainian drone pilots turn a military exercise in Sweden into a critical warning for NATO… In the night of 13-14 May, Russians destroyed the Kyiv office of the Ukrainian defence tech company Skyeton

🔫 Hot Shots

• AI war: SpaceX, Google, and Anthropic are racing to put compute infrastructure in orbit… Do you actually own SpaceX shares?

• Grey war: Electronic warfare is still massively underestimated across Europe… Zighra takes a different path… How Bill C-22 Went Off the Rails… Bill C-22 Surveils Ordinary Canadians While Leaving Cartel Networks Untouched… I Ran the N.S.A. This Is How to Defeat China’s Hacker Army

• Odds & ends: Ottawa asks defence industry for options on replacements for aging tank fleet… Canada eyes Turkey as a fellow mid-power ally in weapons development… The US shipbuilding crisis… UBC Sauder Launches New Scale Up Program during Web Summit Vancouver to Accelerate Canadian Defence and Dual-Use Innovation… Booz Allen Ventures on how to build in defence tech… Sourcing suppliers and manufacturing partners in Taiwan

Joanna

The Autonomous Machine in Rock Creek Park

A 197-year-old gristmill illuminates the architecture of autonomy, the elemental core we still rely on today, and perspective about how to scale Drone Dominance…

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a month ago · 3 likes · Joanna

Defense Tech and Acquisition

Low Cost Munitions, Higher Quantity Ships

In the latest edition of Defense Tech and Acquisition we cover…

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a month ago · 19 likes · 2 comments · Pete Modigliani and Matt MacGregor

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

Thanks to RBC Thought Leadership for quoting The Icebreaker’s research in its recent executive briefing on how to advance defence finance in Canada. Reach out to thomas.ashcroft@rbc.com to request a copy.

🎯 Three-Shot Burst

Murray Brewster reports the federal government will give the newly created Defence Investment Agency (DIA) broad powers to ditch the routine process for the procurement of military equipment, and new authority that will extend into other areas of the economy.

Debating Canadian Defence

Analyzing the Defence Investment Agency Act

The Defence Investment Agency Act has been tabled, tucked into Division 16 of the government’s recent ways and means motion. This Act provides a statutory framework for the Defence Investment Agency (DIA) and makes significant changes to the Defence Production Act…

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a month ago · 32 likes · 13 comments · Philippe Lagassé

Ottawa keeps announcing funding for defence tech and Canadian innovation — but the way government actually buys technology still rewards paperwork over performance, according to defence tech entrepreneurs and at least one Senator. The current “waterfall” procurement model asks vendors to respond to massive, highly specific RFPs, which big incumbents can handle and startups often can’t. The result: Canadian innovators get screened out before they can prove their tech works.

Why it matters: This is not just bureaucratic friction. It is industrial policy working backwards. If Canadian startups cannot win early reference customers at home, they go abroad for revenue, credibility, capital, and eventually scale. That means Canada funds innovation, then watches the IP and commercial upside migrate elsewhere.

A better way: Move from giant upfront RFPs to agile procurement: small trials, rapid pilots, measurable performance gates, and the ability to stop funding what does not work. Instead of asking companies to write novels, ask them to solve the problem — then test the results.

Bottom line: Canada does not have an innovation problem. It has a buyer problem. Until procurement rewards demonstrated performance over compliance theatre, Ottawa will keep paying to create startups that other countries scale. The DIA appears to be a promising step in the right direction.

Related:

• Why Canada and Ukraine Must Team Up on Defence Innovation [N.B. The Icebreaker is quoted in Ukraine’s largest English language newspaper]

  • “We have also begun preparations for the Drone Deal with Canada”, says President Zelenskyy:

• Europe’s defence startups face even bigger hurdles than America’s

  • European defence procurement practices must evolve to embrace innovative startups and small firms, in order to meet modern battlefield needs

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FABrIC’s Quantum Computing Sandbox is stimulating the development of industrially relevant applications of quantum in areas of strategic importance, and driving adoption by end-use sectors.

🤝 Deal Corner

First Canada, then the world: nation’s rocket builders see a bigger opening in space

Canadian rocket builders want Canada to stop hitching rides to space at the discretion of foreign providers, and the federal government has put a significant sum towards changing that:

• The Age Of Space Maneuver Warfare Is Imminent

• SpaceX didn’t become a trillion-dollar company by building rockets

• As one of the earliest investors in startups building satellites and rockets, IQT helped launch the private space industry

Related:

• Canada has to build new industries while solidifying the old ones

• Drone start-up Helsing set for $18bn valuation as investors pile into defence

• Europe races to build the low-cost weapons of future

  • Start-ups complain they are helping British military modernise on the cheap… If Britain is nimble and responsive to this global crisis, there are reasons to be cheerful… CSG: Why the Largest Military IPO in European History Is Combusting

• Ontario firm’s extended-range hydrogen drone prototype lands RCMP contract

• Why you don’t need a PhD to invest in deep tech

• Darkhive Secures $30M in Series B Funding

• 🛡️ Who supplies the chips for Canada’s defence systems?

• Top 10 Armored Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (AUUV) Companies – Market Share Analysis

• DIA seeking industry input to support the Department of National Defence’s Worldwide Satellite Communications – Protected Military Satellite Communications Tactical (WSC PMT) project

• Swedish TNT Startup SWEBAL Raises €30M

• Q-CTRL Showcases Quantum Navigation System at Singapore Airshow

• Denmark has billions in defence offsets. It doesn’t know where to spend it

• Anello Photonics Raises $25M to Scale

• Heaviside Emerges from Stealth with $28M Series A

• M&A lawyers on how regulatory changes driven by geopolitical instability are affecting deals

• T Rowe Price release its investment thesis for Hadrian

• If you’re a Canadian start-up in a sensitive sector — AI, quantum, advanced robotics, biotech, space tech — and you’re raising from a US venture capital fund, amendments to the Investment Canada Act are about to change your deal timeline in a way that almost no one is talking about

📢 Dual-Use & Defence 101 Day | June 15, 2026

The defence and dual-use sector is one of the most consequential and fastest-growing spaces in Canada, and one of the hardest to break into without the right context.

Sandbox Centre, in partnership with PerceptX, Invest Barrie, and supported by Simcoe County, is hosting a Dual-Use & Defence 101 Day, a free, full-day event in Barrie, Ontario designed for companies and individuals who want to understand how the sector actually works.

We are bringing together a rare group: senior leaders with deep defence experience, alongside individuals who are actively working in the defence space today.

Speakers include Troy Crosby (Former ADM Materiel, National Defence), Andre Filion (Former ADM Defence and Marine Procurement, PSPC), Darcy Byrtus (Former President, BMT Fleet Technology), Mike Petric (Managing Director, PerceptX), Darian Harris (Founder and CEO, Fuse Ventures), Albert Behr (President and CEO, Behr and Associates), Frank Taylor (Canadian Special Operations Forces JTF2 Operator), and Adam Varey (Ballistics Expert, Former Military Police).

Partners and speakers are flying in from Singapore, the United States, and from across the province. Additional speakers and panelists to be announced.

As part of the day, 10 companies will be selected for dedicated one-on-one sessions with our defence practitioners, a focused conversation to help you understand where your organization might fit within the defence market.

This is a curated event with limited capacity.

Submit a request to join our Dual-Use and Defence 101 Day and learn about the additional opportunities we will be offering throughout the year, including our upcoming demo days and future defence programming.

ADVERTISEMENT

Security Compass helps you maintain end-to-end security traceability across your control framework: requirement → implementation → test/verification → evidence. Give assessors what they need faster, with less ambiguity.

2026 Red Team Hackathon Series continues in Ottawa May 30, 2026

A national defence-tech innovation challenge for Canada’s brightest entrepreneurs, startups, and future leaders.

The 2026 Red Team Defence Tech Hackathon Series continues in Ottawa at Bayview Yards. This national series brings together entrepreneurial teams and early-stage startups from across Canada to compete for $200,000 in total prize money, potential grants, and exclusive internship opportunities — all while solving critical dual-use challenges that matter to Canada’s defence and security ecosystem.

Modern Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) operations increasingly rely on drones, ground robots, maritime vessels, sensors, and networked platforms operating in complex and contested environments. As system density increases, cognitive load on operators rises — creating operational friction, delays, and potential mission risk.

The Ottawa Event

• May 30, 2026 Bayview Yards, Ottawa, ON

• Ten selected teams will compete for a $20,000 prize pool and the opportunity to advance to the Grand Final in Ottawa November 21.

Verified Canadian Supply Chain: Cryptographic Provenance for Buy Canadian Procurement

The Challenge: With the rollout of Canada’s Buy Canadian Policy, verifying whether products are truly Canadian has become increasingly complex. Global supply chains involve multiple tiers of suppliers, making it difficult to confirm origin claims like Product of Canada or Made in Canada. Today, these claims rely heavily on self-reporting, which is difficult to validate and vulnerable to misrepresentation.

What’s at Stake: Teams will design and prototype a system that creates a trusted, tamper-evident record of product origin. Using cryptographic attestations from verified suppliers, the system should track materials, labour, and production across the entire supply chain—ensuring transparency and integrity from source to final product. The Canadian drone sector will serve as the primary use case.

Register here.

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

⚔️ Combat Readiness

The drone war comes home: Canada scrambles to shield military bases in legal grey zone

The Canadian military has quietly started deploying counter-drone systems around its major ports and air bases as it grapples with both the technology and the legalities of shooting down uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), CBC News has learned.

Related:

• Cheap Missiles, Not Drones, Will Win the Next Air War

  • Missile startups are ‘the new wave’ in European defence

• Inside Anduril: Meet the quiet engineer-CEO building America’s $31 billion weapons startup

• Alex Karp on why America’s decisive advantage is technology

• In-Q-Tel pivots strategy for “forward-deployed” warfare and espionage

  • Solving contested logistics is critical, urgent, and non-negotiable.

• Data to decision making: TerraSense Analytics

• Sapper Labs: if it’s not sovereign, it’s not secure

  • Fusion on paper or in practice? Making the cloud work for ISR and NATO

  • Shaping the understanding and implementation of the UK’s landmark integrated targeting initiative

• Canadian bacon: Canada breaks ground on national monument to Afghanistan Mission… Why Canada is seeing its biggest military recruitment surge in 30 years… The CAF recruitment system is failing everyone… Ottawa plans to spin off federal semiconductor facility into “commercial entity”… The Next Challenge in Defence Procurement Reform: Catching up to the Future… ResolveHD is featured in Amii (Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute) Spring 2026 AI Startups Pitchbook, alongside 35 other promising AI startups in Amii’s network

  • Procurement readiness: Achieving CPCSC Level 1 Readiness… Canadian and U.S. defence contractors are facing a new compliance reality: CMMC in the United States and CPCSC in Canada… CPCSC enforcement starts in July… Level 1 is harmonized with US rules

• Thought leadership: Aligning Canada’s Policy Architecture with the Defence Industrial Strategy… Buy Canadian must mean building Canadian capability… How the Pentagon Should Define Affordable Mass… Canada’s universities: Safeguarding our democracy and sovereignty… BCG on US Navy targets vs. projected output… The New Lessons of the Battle of the Atlantic

• Drone wars: Airlogix COO: we plan 10x growth in Ukraine, six joint ventures and four new products by year-end… Drone Swarms Packed Into Unassuming Containers Sought By DARPA… The tiny network reshaping defence tech… Ornadyne (YC P26) is building autonomous bird-like drones for military reconnaissance. Drones that look, fly, and sound like real birds… The Rise of Drone Interceptors During the War in Ukraine… Firestorm’s $82 Million Bet: How A San Diego Startup Is Reimagining Where Drones Come From… Firestorm Snags $30M APFIT Contract… Japan’s ultra-cheap cardboard drone swarms… A new man-portable drone interceptor in Ukraine [VIDEO]… Adversarial Use of Humanoid Robotics - a snippet from the Global Drone Threat Report 2026… American Innovation: a German design, copied by Israel, mass-produced by Iran, used and improved by Russia and then handed off by Ukraine?

  • When a drone ‘goes dark’

  • Europe’s Counter-UAS market is at an inflection point

• Arctic shelf: Dominion Dynamics tests technology during Operation ‘Nanook’… On patrol in the Arctic… TKMS pitches undersea research centre focused on Arctic… Arctic ports and the shipping boom they aren’t ready for… Ottawa to pull plug on Arctic naval facility… The U.S. Army’s ‘Big Experiment’ in the Arctic Cold… Canadian Rangers quietly, confidently assert Arctic sovereignty

• From the Ukrainian front: Fibre-optic drones become significantly more expensive on Brave1 Market: manufacturers explain why… Ukraine’s rapid rise as an anti-drone powerhouse

The Defense Brief

Notes from Kyiv: One Year Later

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a month ago · 9 likes · Louise Boucher

🔫 Hot Shots

• AI war: How AI is transforming warfare and the US military… Five Eyes spook shops warn rapid rollouts of agentic AI are too risky… Labour market impacts of China shock vs. AI shock… Notes from inside China’s AI labs… Joe Lonsdale on the AI arms race… Will AI robots on the frontline mark the end of human soldiers?… Stop Selling Software. Start Selling Outcomes: Inside the AI Services Shift… US government, allies publish guidance on how to safely deploy AI agents… How International Law and Big Tech are Eroding the State

• Grey war: ‘We are not at war, but we’re not at peace either,’ warns German cyber chief… FCC pushes ban on security updates for foreign-made routers, drones to 2029… A DOD contractor’s API flaw exposed military course data and service member records… Banned drones and routers in the US will still get critical updates until 2029… A major Chinese antenna manufacturer is supplying Russia with critical anti-jamming satellite antennas for its Geran (Shahed) kamikaze drones

• Odds & ends: Congrats to BOREALIS’ Mark D. Robbins for joining the Royal Canadian Air Force Reserves… Why a World Leading AI Investor is Moving into Power… Peter Thiel backs $1bn ocean data centre start-up powered by waves… US military looks underground to protect wounded troops as drones force changes to wartime medicine… Turning Defence Demand Into Growth

  • Defence capital is taking over mining… Where are the exits in mining tech going to come from?

First Breakfast

Building the WAR MACHINE

We often default to a particular version of World War II. It’s the one everyone knows: D-Day, carrier battles in the Pacific, armored divisions pushing across Europe. It’s a story about tactics and decisive moments. The Band of Brothers war, you could call it…

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a month ago · 35 likes · Greg Little, Shyam Sankar, Madeline Hart, and Blake Seitz

• The Pentagon: Can the Pentagon Embrace Commercial Acquisition?… Applications for the second cohort of the American Tech Fellowship for Veterans (ATF-V) are live now… What if the defence acquisition problem had nothing to do with the regulations at all, and everything to do with the training of the people executing them?… A new Executive Order on fixed-price contracting

Defense Tech and Acquisition

Speed Wins in Space Acquisition

Welcome to the latest edition of Defense Tech and Acquisition…

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a month ago · 19 likes · 3 comments · Matt MacGregor and Pete Modigliani

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

🎯 Three-Shot Burst

Special guest POV by 🍁 Jozsef Hamari, Co-Founder at TerraSense Analytics

Last week, two dozen industry reps spent the day at CFB Petawawa with the 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (2 RCHA). We watched live as drones enabled artillery fires on a modern battlefield. Far more importantly, we learned exactly where they fail to live up to their potential.

Waiting for the buses that morning, the mood among colleagues was a mix of excitement and deep skepticism. But everyone agreed: this level of transparency is completely new to Canadian defence procurement. By the end of the day, even the skeptics were sold. This is how procurement must happen moving forward.

In the defence sector, it’s dangerously easy to get trapped in the sterile world of procurement paperwork. You read the requirements, check the boxes, and deliver a product. But RFPs don’t win fights.

At TerraSense, I’ve always taken immense pride in how far we’re willing to go to find out what the actual uniformed end-users need, not just what the contract demands. The philosophy is simple: probe deep into the operator’s pain points. Obsessively ask the real people who live and work with real problems in the mud and cold, not just the requirements scorecard.

When an RFP drops, our first move is to find out who really needs this product. What their real capability gap is.

Sometimes this gets us into a little bit of trouble and earns us a scolding from an overly cautious bureaucrat who knows that saying ‘no’ has never lost anyone their job. But I believe this is fundamental to building a product that will deliver maximum, decisive impact.

Importantly, this boots-on-the-ground obsession serves both our warfighters and our partners in industry. Because our technology is custom-moulded to the operational realities of the Canadian Armed Forces, we make integration and interoperability incredibly seamless. We de-risk the AI component so primes can deliver comprehensive, winning solutions without the usual friction.

What MINERVA and the Canadian Army are doing here is important. It’s one of the first signs that Canada really meant all the talk of ‘partnership’ in the new Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS). When you show us the real gaps, we can forge real capabilities. And this is how we’re building an enduring company that truly backs the operators who defend us.

Related:

• Parliamentary testimony from new Defence Investment Agency (DIA) head Doug Guzman

  • DIS roadshow goes cross-country

  • ADM of the DIA on a new era of materiel management

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Dominion Dynamics is expanding our team and we’re looking for ambitious Canadians who want to build sovereign technology for the future of national defence.

🤝 Deal Corner

The defence tech gold rush is testing the limits of venture capital

The Logic reports that a gold rush mentality is forming around defence tech in Canada due to promises of billions in additional federal spending:

“Amid the excitement, however, investors and entrepreneurs warn that defence tech — with its long timelines and massive capital needs — isn’t a natural fit for the traditional VC playbook.”

US data from Pitchbook validates this challenge: Government capital is now structural. Office of Strategic Capital, In-Q-Tel, and Defense Innovation Unit are acting as co-investors and validators, not just background support.

In parallel, former defence minister Harjit Sajjan’s new startup is laying the groundwork for public listing. Juno Industries has secured $12 million in commitments to list on TSXV in reverse takeover deal.

Last week, Canada was chosen as host country of the new multinational defence bank:

Related:

• ONE9’s Founder and Managing Director, Glenn Cowan, spent 10 days in Europe, including a few days with the Canadian-led NATO Multinational Brigade Latvia

• OMERS, other Canadian VC backers sitting on massive Xanadu stock returns – but they can’t sell yet

• ‘America’s seed fund’ is being revamped for modern warfare

• 24 European defence startups that raised $5M+ in the past year

• US Allies Are Becoming All-Star Weapons Sellers

• Defence Space Startup True Anomaly Raises $650 Million

  • Canada at ‘mercy of others’ while it can’t launch payloads into space: former NASA chief economist

• L3Harris closes $1bn DoW investment in missile solutions business

• Skyfire AI Closes $11M Seed Round

• Firestorm Labs raises $82M to take drone factories into the field

• Scout AI Raises $100M to Build Robo-Warfare’s Brain

• Defence primes are no longer the only gateway into joint ventures

• 15 hardware startups to watch in 2026, according to VCs

• NordSpace announces new rocket manufacturing milestone

• Texas’ hard tech cowboy ranch

• Y Combinator publishes request for counter-drone swarms

• Germany’s military shuns Palantir for now, cyber chief tells Handelsblatt

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Security Compass helps you maintain end-to-end security traceability across your control framework: requirement → implementation → test/verification → evidence. Give assessors what they need faster, with less ambiguity.

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

⚔️ Combat Readiness

The Canadian company tasked with purifying water on the moon

As NASA moves towards establishing a permanent presence on the moon, a Canadian company is hoping to solve one of the biggest challenges for astronauts in deep space – accessing drinkable water.

The challenge aimed to identify innovative companies that could develop technologies “to purify moon water for human deep-space missions.”

The Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSMC) was recently awarded $400,000 in grant funding after it won the Aqualunar Challenge, led by the Canadian Space Agency in partnership with Impact Canada.

Related:

• Dominion Dynamics’ CEO — the man turning Canada’s defence procurement upside down — on how the company is taking a different approach to developing defence technology for the warfighter [VIDEO], and on having a frontier mindset

  • New cabinet position coming for defence procurement, new funding for Ukraine announced

• DHS Demanded Google Surrender Data on Canadian’s Activity, Location Over Anti-ICE Posts

• Ottawa commits millions to study micro nuclear reactors for Northern defence facilities

• Carney’s Canada: A New Defence and Security Posture, Yet to be Tested

• China’s Massive Stealth Flying Wings Spotted Together At Secretive Test Base

• A.I. Bots Told Scientists How to Make Biological Weapons

• Iran roundup:

Gray Matters

How Startups, AI, and Drones Shaped the Iran War: Lessons from Operation Epic Fury

Defense tech startups have raised more than $200B since 2020, with a record $49.1B raised in 2025 alone. In February 2026, the U.S. launched Operation Epic Fury, its first major military operation since the defense tech funding boom. The military technology landscape has massively shifted since the last major military conflicts involving the U.S. during…

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2 months ago · 14 likes · 7 comments · Maggie Gray

• Canadian bacon: Pentagon procurement post reveals Canada quietly locked into HIMARS deal… You Have No Idea How Much You Still Use BlackBerry… U.S. secures contract with Lockheed Martin to sell artillery rocket systems to Canada, other allies… Contest nearly over to provide Canadians submarines… “Canada fears entanglement with the USA, while Australia fears abandonment”… Feds roll out new cybersecurity certification for defence procurement… F-35 vs Gripen-E: Canadians say mission more important than jobs or defence cooperation when choosing the best jet fighter solution

“Twice in my adult life, I have watched the Government of Canada procure at speed. The first was in Afghanistan and the second was during the pandemic. In both cases, Canadians were dying. Each time the crisis passed, procurement reverted to its status quo paradigm. Why?” — Ret. VAdm Ron Lloyd

• Thought leadership: Canada didn’t just “evolve” into a service-based economy. We systematically dismantled our status as a global peer to become a branch plant for the United States… CSIS Public Report 2025… A look at Canada’s plan to boost the military with skills training… Kepler’s CEO on Canada’s space ambitions… Arctic Strategies and KPMG Canada collaborate to advance

  major Arctic initiatives… Defence spending must include health spending too

• Drone wars: A primer on the burgeoning CUAS industry… A part-by-part breakdown of a typical first-person-view drone shows the strength of China’s stranglehold… Man-portable interceptors are here [VIDEO]… Japan Is Building Cardboard Suicide Drones… Swarmer and HIMERA Partner to Integrate Resilient Communications into Advanced Autonomous Systems

Alex Dolan

Firestorm vs. Purple Rhombus

Firestorm and Purple Rhombus. Distributed UAS production versus centralized UAS production. Two AFWERKX awards. Two production philosophies. The same broad timeline…

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2 months ago · 1 like · Alex Dolan

• Arctic shelf: Amazon, SpaceX, and Telesat are all converging on the same part of the sky. After fifty years as a broadband desert, the Arctic is now the center of a multi-billion dollar buildout… A reporter embeds with the Canadian Rangers in Yukon… How Rangers crossed this dangerous Arctic expanse by snowmobile… Finns accepting applications for Arctic Warrior Experiment

• From the Ukrainian front: Ukraine to allow drone sales abroad, with caveats… A compilation of drone interception footage [VIDEO]… Ukraine’s killer robots show how war is changing… Russia entered the war with a fleet of roughly 2,000 unmanned aerial vehicles, in 2024 they used 1.5 million, and now we are talking about several millions… An open-source database of drone warfare in Ukraine… Ukraine’s Drone-Hunting An-28 Turboprop Is Now Launching Interceptor Drones

Missile Matters — with Fabian Hoffmann

Can Ukraine Jam Russian Ballistic Missiles? Evaluating Soft-Kill Options for Ballistic Missile Defense

Picture: Mil.ru via Wikimedia Commons…

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2 months ago · 79 likes · 10 comments · Fabian Hoffmann

🔫 Hot Shots

• Grey war: Finland reporting aviation, maritime, and cellular impacts from GNSS interference… Uncovering Global Telecom Exploitation by Covert Surveillance Actors… Amazon agreed to acquire Globalstar for $11.57 billion

• Odds & ends: Denmark to procure state-of-the-art Canadian assault rifle before Canada does… In 1956, Canadair’s chief designer, Frederick Phillips, proposed a radically new airplane design… $1.3M award funds space technology innovation research at York… Financing Defence Readiness kicks off today in Ottawa… The U.S. and Taiwan Plan to Turn the Strait Into a Drone Hellscape to Stop China… NATO looking at Canadian aircraft for its new airborne warning fleet… US Navy chief wants big lasers on warships ASAP

  • Canada’s top general says military won’t renew program to prevent avalanches on Trans-Canada Highway

    • AVSS collaborates with the Government of Canada through Innovative Solutions Canada to perform avalanche control work with drones [VIDEO]

Paul Wells

The Q&A: "The human may not be able to make decisions at the speed modern war requires"

Mood-swinging on the Russia-Ukraine war has lately swung toward unaccustomed optimism among supporters of Ukraine in its long defence against Russian attack. In March Ukraine said it took back more territory than Russia gained, for the first time in three years. Of course in a chaotic conflict with sky-high stakes, much could change. But Australian defence analyst Mick Ryan, a retired major-general, has…

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2 months ago · 90 likes · 19 comments · Paul Wells and Olena Kryzhanivska

• The Pentagon: The Assistant Secretary of War for Mission Capabilities (ASW(MC)), in the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering (OUSW(R&E)), is hosting a Technical Exchange Meeting (TEM) with industry… How to sell as a US defence startup… Half of ‘long shot’ Polymarket bets on military action are successful… Australia’s Speartooth submarine drone enters U.S. service… Aligning the U.S. and Canadian Defence Industrial Bases

ChinaTalk

WarTalk: Still Out of Ammo

Two weeks into the US-Iran ceasefire, CENTCOM is requesting Dark Eagle hypersonics, the 82nd Airborne is flowing into theater, and the wargames keep telling us the same thing — there’s no military solution to the Strait of Hormuz…

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2 months ago · 58 likes · 1 comment · Jordan Schneider

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

🎯 Three-Shot Burst

Ukraine is proving that drones are not “poor man’s airpower” — they are the foundation of a new way of war. Cheap, precise, mass-produced unmanned systems are replacing parts of the old precision-strike model built around scarce, expensive platforms. The result is affordable precise mass: millions of drones, mid-range strike systems, long-range one-way attack UAVs, and robotic platforms that can surveil, strike, and adapt faster than legacy militaries can procure.

What It Means: The bigger disruption is doctrinal. Air superiority no longer guarantees freedom of movement, because the air domain has split into layers: jets may control the high sky while low-altitude drones still make the ground battlefield nearly transparent. Large formations are punished, manoeuvre is harder, and the winning unit is increasingly small, dispersed, networked, and plugged into fast sensor-to-shooter loops like Ukraine’s Delta system. The drone is often just the last mile; the real weapon is the network.

Hamilton, Ontario’s Sentinel R&D in talks to make drones in Canada for Ukraine through joint venture, sources say

Bottom Line: The scariest lesson for NATO is not technical — it is organizational. Ukraine’s advantage comes from rapid iteration between frontline units, engineers, volunteers, and manufacturers, with changes happening in days or weeks. Western militaries still rely on slow procurement, restricted repair, exquisite platforms, and expensive interceptors. If they do not adapt, they risk preparing for a war whose basic assumptions have already expired.

Related:

• Startups say Ottawa’s defence-spending boom hasn’t reached them yet

• Pentagon Seeks $75 Billion for Drones in Record Budget Ask

• Defence Industry Thought Leaders see Domestic-made Canadian Drones as Next Frontier

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Dominion Dynamics is expanding our team and we’re looking for ambitious Canadians who want to build sovereign technology for the future of national defence.

🤝 Deal Corner

For startups, working with the US Department of War (DoW) can feel like stepping into a fortress of bureaucracy

Selling to the DoW isn’t as simple as pitching a product and securing a contract. The military operates on a rigid, multi-year budgeting system — PPBE: Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution — that dictates what gets funded, how, and when. Unlike the fast pace of technology startups, DoW funding moves slowly through layers of approval:

a16z

DoW Contracting for Startups 101

America | Tech | Opinion | Culture | Charts…

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2 months ago · 54 likes · 1 comment · Ryan McEntush, Leila Hay, and Alex Oliver

• In Canada: Why firms and the government are co-conspirators in procurement complexity

  • Defence procurement 101 in Canada

  • Cybersecurity has become a prerequisite for participation in Canada’s defence supply chain

• Public defence comps from BCI: At 13.4x, autonomy now trades above every defence category and most growth software

• What do recent PE exits tell us about defence startup valuations?:

Related:

• A history of DARPA: Washington Rewrites the Rules of Funding Technological Innovation

  • The Pentagon’s ‘Last Supper’ is still costing billions

  • To defeat foreign foes, Palantir’s chief technology officer urges us to confront the naysayers entrenched within the Pentagon

• Cohere to acquire Germany’s Aleph Alpha in sovereign AI play

• Nomi Capital Closes $50M Defence Tech Fund I

• The upstarts shaking up the defence industry

• Private-Sector Sleuthing Becomes Big Business for US Tech Startup

• CPPIB’s John Graham says pension fund ‘open for business’ to invest in defence sector

• Toronto-based INKAS touts French-Canadian armoured vehicle in response to Ottawa’s call for diversification in defence

• Saildrone Unveils Spectre, Built with Lockheed Martin

• As Canada rebuilds its military, Waterloo region moves to front lines

• Castelion Awarded $105M U.S. Navy Contract to Field Blackbeard on the F/A-18 Super Hornet in 2027

• Inside the UK’s Munitions Bet

• Ten Canadian defence founders choose a hero from history

• This is the defence sector’s fastest grower — and a $20 billion trade most investors are missing

• Skydio Raises $110M at $4.4B Valuation

• The economics underpinning Shield AI

• Norrsken Evolve backs Bubble Robotics’ $5M raise to deploy an autonomous workforce at sea

• UK MoD meets with defence VCs

• $85 billion of exit value generated in Aerospace & Defence M&A across Europe and Israel since 2022

• The AI in defence tech market map

• Which European Defence Companies Are Most Exposed to SAFE Eligibility Constraints and Foreign-Control Screening Risk?

• Capital markets brief: Spotlight on orbital warfare & Space Force acquisition reform

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Security Compass helps you maintain end-to-end security traceability across your control framework: requirement → implementation → test/verification → evidence. Give assessors what they need faster, with less ambiguity.

2026 Red Team Hackathon Series continues in Ottawa May 30, 2026

A national defence-tech innovation challenge for Canada’s brightest entrepreneurs, startups, and future leaders.

The 2026 Red Team Defence Tech Hackathon Series continues in Ottawa at Bayview Yards. This national series brings together entrepreneurial teams and early-stage startups from across Canada to compete for $200,000 in total prize money, potential grants, and exclusive internship opportunities — all while solving critical dual-use challenges that matter to Canada’s defence and security ecosystem.

Modern Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) operations increasingly rely on drones, ground robots, maritime vessels, sensors, and networked platforms operating in complex and contested environments. As system density increases, cognitive load on operators rises — creating operational friction, delays, and potential mission risk.

The Ottawa Event

• May 30, 2026 Bayview Yards, Ottawa, ON

• Ten selected teams will compete for a $20,000 prize pool and the opportunity to advance to the Grand Final in Ottawa November 21.

Verified Canadian Supply Chain: Cryptographic Provenance for Buy Canadian Procurement

The Challenge: With the rollout of Canada’s Buy Canadian Policy, verifying whether products are truly Canadian has become increasingly complex. Global supply chains involve multiple tiers of suppliers, making it difficult to confirm origin claims like Product of Canada or Made in Canada. Today, these claims rely heavily on self-reporting, which is difficult to validate and vulnerable to misrepresentation.

What’s at Stake: Teams will design and prototype a system that creates a trusted, tamper-evident record of product origin. Using cryptographic attestations from verified suppliers, the system should track materials, labour, and production across the entire supply chain—ensuring transparency and integrity from source to final product. The Canadian drone sector will serve as the primary use case.

Register here.

⚔️ Combat Readiness

Ottawa opens regulatory doors to space launches in Canada

The federal government has introduced legislation to enable Canadian satellite builders and launch providers to go where they have never gone before – at least, not from their home turf. The Royal Canadian Air Force also named its first Space Major-General.

Canadian entrepreneurs are working to make it happen:

• NASA and Russia are struggling, so Bachar Elzein founded Reaction Dynamics to launch rockets from Canada

• NordSpace Corp. has been awarded approx. $250,000 in funding under the Department of National Defence (DND) IDEaS program to advance its Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellite constellation technology for resilient non-terrestrial networks (NTN)

• Everything you need to know about the ‘spaceport’ in Nova Scotia

However, not everyone is impressed with recent developments:

• NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) is calling innovators to help shape the future of Arctic operations through Innovation Continuum 2026 and Task Force X Arctic

  • NATO DIANA’s Rapid Adoption Service enables first R&D contract between Allies and industry

    • NATO DIANA Decision Superiority for NATO Warfighters Challenge is now open

• Northrop Grumman swaps autonomy software mid-flight

• Iran roundup: Indian tanker falls for IRGC crypto scam… The Iran war burned through America’s L-RASM, JASSM-ER, and Tomahawk stockpiles — weapons designed for a Pacific fight against the PLA Navy… Newly Deciphered Sabotage Malware May Have Targeted Iran’s Nuclear Program—and Predates Stuxnet

• Canadian bacon: Dominion Dynamics introduces modular intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) tower, as its CEO joins PM’s Canada/US advisory group… Inside Sapper Labs, the veteran-led Ottawa firm wiring Canada’s defence intelligence… Canada Rethinks Global Telecom Networks Amid Rising US Tensions… DND seeking AI-driven solutions that fuse heterogeneous multi-domain data streams to provide real-time, explainable, and policy-aware situational awareness for operational decision-making… The luxury parka company that wants to wire soldiers’ clothing… Kraken Robotics is changing mine countermeasures

• Thought leadership: The “America Is Out of Missiles” Story Collapses Under Scrutiny… European Defence Should Rely on European Technology… America’s new defence-tech industry should be a model for Europe… Building a Canadian Dual-Use Industrial Commons… Canada is entering a defence spending supercycle… How Military Demand Is Reshaping The Future of Critical Minerals… A new baseline for Canada’s Arctic

• Drone wars: Rise of the ‘wolf pack’: China’s canine robots evolve to think as one for urban combat… Drones Tested for Avalanche Control in Canadian Rockies

• Arctic shelf: On patrol with Canadian forces securing the Arctic as global threats grow… Ship traffic is growing in the High Arctic, but very unevenly… $1B Arctic fund now accepting proposals… Square dances and cell signal dead zones: Rangers confront Canada’s Arctic reality

• From the Ukrainian front: Ukrainian soldiers deploy ground robot to evacuate senior citizen… Inside Ukraine’s robot war revolution… Japan Just Put a Weapon in Ukraine’s War, and It Cost $2,500… Why Do Many Western Defence Tech Firms Struggle in Ukraine?… Footage of a French Mistral SAM shooting down a Russian Cruise Missile [VIDEO]… Russia Is Building Tomorrow’s War Machine… In a first, Ukraine’s drone force launches interceptor drone from USV to destroy Shahed… Ukraine intel exposes Russia’s Krasnopol ammo that syncs with drones… Putin’s High-Tech Russian Submarines Goad NATO Deep Below the Atlantic

The Defense Brief

The First Robotized War

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2 months ago · 7 likes · 2 comments · Louise Boucher

• The F-35 Is a Masterpiece Built for the Wrong War

• Warfare in a Box: Executive Outcomes and the making of the modern mercenary

🔫 Hot Shots

• Grey war: Toronto police seize ‘SMS blasters,’ a cybercrime weapon never before seen in Canada… A team at Stanford and Arc Institute fed a language model a DNA sequence and asked it to write a new virus… CISA lacks access to Anthropic’s Mythos… Huawei spinoff Honor wants to sell smartphones in Canada

Chris's Substack

Backdoors Are Not Secrets

There is a moment in WarGames that still captures something essential about cyber, long before the term entered military doctrine. Matthew Broderick’s character visits a technology company and asks how its engineers broke into a system. One engineer casually suggests looking for a backdoor. Another snaps, “Hey, you’re giving away all our best secrets.” …

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2 months ago · 3 likes

• Odds & ends: Victoria Cross fight reignited as MPs back independent honours review… FBI ‘spooked’ by sophisticated theft of agricultural drones in New Jersey… SpaceX rideshare is full up until 2029… Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Roads University agree to new post-secondary education pathway… Lithuania’s playbook for surviving economic warfare, and what Canada can learn… How Portugal shaped Canada’s new submarines and fine-tuned Arctic defence… TKMS and Havguard AS signed a teaming agreement… Why is Canada’s submarine project such a big deal for South Korea?… McKinsey Partner’s Secret Drone Bet: How Conflicts of Interest Are Redefining Elite Consulting Careers… Ursa Major — Printing a way out of the SRM bottleneck

Canadian Cyber in Context

Canadian Program for Cyber Security Certification (CPCSC): Evaluation Findings Explained

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2 months ago · 4 likes · Alexander Rudolph

• The Pentagon: A visual of US military spending as a percentage of GDP over time [hint — line goes down not up]… Pentagon pulls the plug on one of the military’s most troubled space programs… The White House announced that grid infrastructure is essential to national defence

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

🎯 Three-Shot Burst

Canada’s defence-tech scene is having a “why not us?” moment. As Ottawa prepares to pour billions into military modernization, a wave of Canadian drone companies is racing to prove the country can build its own next-gen systems across air, land, and sea.

“Everybody knows drones are the new warfare. Rifles used to be the first line of resistance. They’re now the last line.” — Glen Lynch, Volatus Aerospace Corp.

What’s Next: The bet is simple: drones are cheaper, faster to build, and far more expendable than legacy military hardware — which makes them increasingly central to modern warfare. Companies like Volatus, Sentinel, Kraken, Open Ocean, and INKAS see a rare opening to turn Canada’s engineering talent into sovereign capability.

“Drones are the splashy cousin… and the ground robot is the workhorse.” — Philip Reece, InDro Robotics

Bottom Line: RBC says Canadian defence spending could generate $100 billion for Canadian companies and transform Canada from a defence equipment importer into a contributor to allied military capabilities.

It all hinges on whether government procurement can finally move at startup speed. If Ottawa follows through, this could be the start of a real domestic defence-industrial base. If not, Canadian innovators may keep doing what they’ve always done — selling abroad first.

Related:

• How Iran’s Cheap, Low-Tech Drones Have Cost the U.S.

• Drone wars: The strategic convergence between Ukraine and Iran

• Killer robots are coming: Ukraine is using unmanned ground vehicles armed with bombs, guns or rockets to carry out attacks and keep its soldiers out of harm’s way

• ‘Robots don’t bleed’: Ukraine sends machines into the battlefield in place of human soldiers

• DND seeking to advance methods to assess, calibrate, and maintain trust in real-time when humans work with autonomous systems

ChinaTalk

How Ukraine Scaled to Millions of Drones

Ukrainian drone manufacturing. How has the country been able to scale from thousands to millions of drones over the past four years? What dependencies does its industrial base still have on China? And what lessons does its rapid scaling offer for the US…

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2 months ago · 45 likes · 4 comments · Jordan Schneider, Chris Miller, and Phoebe Chow

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Dominion Dynamics is expanding our team and we’re looking for ambitious Canadians who want to build sovereign technology for the future of national defence.

🤝 Deal Corner

Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation takes one small step to support life on the Moon

The Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSMC) has won grant funding for two projects that could one day help humans live and operate on the Moon.

The Kitchener-Waterloo-based space and defence tech company has been awarded $1.2 million in federal funding to build manufacturing capacity for its nuclear microreactor, which is intended to power facilities both in the Arctic and on the Moon. The award follows CSMC winning the $400,000 top prize of the Canadian Space Agency’s Aqualunar Challenge last week for its lunar water purification technology.

Related:

• Converting Canada’s quantum leadership into operational advantage

• Landing Zones Canada Secures First Investment from BDC’s New StrongNorth Defence Fund

• U.S. defence company looking to raise up to $100-million to build Ontario arms factory

• SBQuantum nabs $4 million USD, new CEO as it preps for US expansion

• Norwegian Startup Stendr Secures $5.4M to Combat Drone Threats

• Kepler to lead testing of European Space Agency’s high-speed data network

  • Canada formalizes subscriptions to four new European Space Agency programs

  • ESA’s €18.6 Million Bet on Kepler Communications Reveals How Europe Plans to Build the Backbone of Space-Based Internet

• Tungsten Collaborative receives National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) funding for drone development

• Lockheed Martin bumps up VC investment fund to $1bn

  • Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works launches UK Technology Roadmaps initiative alongside MTC partnership expansion

• Ulysses Raises $46M Seed + Series A

• Finland’s Kelluu Raises €15M NIF-led Series A

• Aevex CEO Drops Bombshell on $320M IPO Surge: Why Defence Drones Are the Next Trillion-Dollar Bet

• The European Defence Fund (EDF) 2025 results are in

  • EU pumps over $1 billion into defence R&D, centered around Ukraine war lessons

• Wars Impose Lasting Economic Costs, While More Defence Spending Means Hard Choices

• US NatSec Innovation Report Card

• Space Race: The Canadarm launched 25 years ago this week

  • NATO Defence Giant Licenced To Serve Satellites for China’s Military

  • Telesat’s Rebuild Gets Boost From Canada’s Defence War Chest… Amazon to Buy Satellite Company Globalstar for $11.6 Billion

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

⚔️ Combat Readiness

Dominion Dynamics awaits military procurement reform after successful Arctic deployment of sensor tech

After meeting with the Prime Minister and embedding in the Arctic with the Canadian Rangers, defence tech company Dominion Dynamics is reconsidering its next steps as it waits for federal procurement processes to catch up.

• Meet the neo-primes: Anduril, Palantir and SpaceX are changing how America wages war

  • Federal report: Evaluation of Capability Acquisition Modernization

  • Audit warns military procurement faces ‘persistent’ hurdles

The Defense Brief

How the new primes actually won — and what it means for everyone else

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2 months ago · 8 likes · Louise Boucher

Gray Matters

🎙️ Ep 22 - Armada: Building American Edge AI Dominance

In the latest episode of the Mission Matters Podcast, Akhil and I sat down with Dan Wright and Pradeep Nair, co-founders of Armada, which is building distributed AI infrastructure for the world’s most demanding environments…

Listen now

2 months ago · Maggie Gray and Akhil Iyer

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Security Compass helps you maintain end-to-end security traceability across your control framework: requirement → implementation → test/verification → evidence. Give assessors what they need faster, with less ambiguity.

• Iran roundup: How did the US run out of missiles in Iran?

• BAE Systems trials low-cost counter drone solution for Eurofighter Typhoon

• Canadian bacon: A new Ontario defence association… New Canadian trade association seeks to represent domestic defence industry… Canadian military beats recruitment target after 1,400 permanent residents sign up… BBE and Det’on Cho Logistics Launch Arctic Defence Logistics Platform to Strengthen Canada’s Northern Readiness… Built in Canada, Armed for the World: Roshel’s Bet on Sovereign Defence… Civil defence and Canada’s critical infrastructure

• One app to check all UAS geographic zones across Europe

• Sweden is allocating SEK 30 billion of its expanded defence borrowing to transport infrastructure

• Boeing commits $36 Million CAD to Aerospace Manufacturing R&D in Winnipeg

• Anthropic’s AI model sparks rush from industry, government to batten down defence hatches

• Thought leadership: The Pentagon Has The Fast Lanes Now. Defense Catalyst Is Training the Drivers… How Emerging Technologies Are Redefining Modern Defence… Canadian Dynamism: From Survival to Triumph… NAV CANADA Study Projects Drones Will Reshape Canada’s Low-Level Airspace, Economy and Daily Life (Status check on drone licenses across Canada)​… How Hyperspectral Data Is Changing Maritime Domain Awareness… Crafting a Canada-Made Critical Minerals Strategy

• Drone wars: Are water drones in for an investment bonanza as defence budgets spike?… Building “Swarming” Software for Drones… Rheinmetall wins €300mn drone order from German armed forces… Estonia to halt $587M Infantry Fighting Vehicle buy in favor of drones, air defence… The West is preparing for cheap drone attacks, but many businesses and civilians can only watch, not stop them… Germany Orders “Thousands” of Auterion-Airlogix UAVs… Gambit Awarded OTA by U.S. Army GVSC to Advance Integrated C-UAS Simulation and Coordinated Autonomy… The Gulf’s counter-drone problem is that operators have been forced to burn $4M to $7M PAC-3 interceptors on $30K Shaheds because nothing cheaper existed at volume:

• Arctic shelf: We deployed AuraNet in the High Arctic. Here’s what we learned working with Rangers for eight weeks… Canada, Nordic countries can work together to defend the Arctic, Finnish President says… How the US military is preparing for the future of arctic warfare… We’re spending $35B on Arctic defence. Why are we doing that?… Canadian Coast Guard tests Arctic surveillance drone as air force delivery stalls… Ottawa wants LNG to be shipped from Port of Churchill by 2030… I Went to Greenland and Saw a Warning for Canada

True North Strategic Review

So, What The Hell Is An Arctic Mobile Base?

Usually, I wouldn't write about a project this early in its development…

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2 months ago · 26 likes · 15 comments · Noah

• From the Ukrainian front: Ukraine unveils universal ground control station for fiber-optic drones to eliminate the “zoo” of systems… Visiting a drone factory in Ukraine… The Ukrainians are claiming to have intercepted a Shahed with an interceptor drone from a surface platform… Ukraine’s Future Vision and Current Capabilities for Waging AI-Enabled Autonomous Warfare

🔫 Hot Shots

• Grey war: Here’s how cyber heavyweights in the US and UK are dealing with Claude Mythos… Canada urgently needs a civilian defence strategy — before the next crisis forces one… The Finns have suggestions for Canada… Push to secure Canadian IP in defence procurement needs a ‘clear plan’ of execution… UK to help Belgium build electronic warfare centre… Why Did China Buy Up the World’s Ports?

  • Canadian Program for Cyber Security Certification (CPCSC) has released its level 1 self-assessment tool and scoping guide. CPCSC will eventually become the cyber security standards for Canada’s defence supply chain and will start to be required as part of certain defence contracts

• Odds & ends: Comprehensive list of European defence funds… How to get your robot on an airplane… The Alaska Highway was constructed in just eight months after the attack on Pearl Harbour. Soldiers, not civilians, built it. Today it continues to serve as a transformative piece of linear infrastructure that supports significant elements of the economies of BC, Yukon, and Alaska… NorthStar Earth & Space Announces Plans to Become Publicly Traded via Merger with Viking Acquisition Corp… UVic to get more than $5M for aerospace, AI projects… 10 defence tech startups on a hiring spree… What Ukraine Has Taught Us: The Critical Role of Textiles and Equipment in Modern War… The Largest SME Opportunity in Canadian Defence History — And Why Most Founders Will Miss It

Decouple

Arctic Baseload: Russia's Floating Nuclear Power Plant Dominance

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2 months ago · 42 likes · 2 comments · Chris Keefer

• The Pentagon: America’s Fourth Coast Could Help Close the Shipbuilding Gap With China… A Private Equity Billionaire Mounts His Biggest Takeover Yet: the Pentagon… The three valleys: why American defence tech cannot scale at the speed of strategic competition… $7.2B to the Missile Defense Agency — 41% of the $17.5B Golden Dome for America Fund in the FY27 request

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

🎯 Three-Shot Burst

The Royal Canadian Navy will shortly be launching a new approach to building naval warfare capability, designed to strengthen how the Navy works with industry from the earliest stages of capability development. They’ve asked The Icebreaker for some help reaching out to homegrown startups:

How It Works: The RCN’s new industry engagement model starts with operational problems, not predefined solutions. Through an upcoming pilot from Director of Naval Requirements 4: Warfare Systems, the RCN wants companies to begin thinking early about priority warfare challenges and potential concepts shaped with end-user realities in mind:

“Rather than defining detailed requirements upfront, the Navy will articulate the operational problems we need to solve and work with industry to explore, shape, and mature potential solutions through direct engagement with end users. The intent is to improve alignment, reduce misinterpretation of operational need, and ensure that emerging capabilities are grounded in how the Fleet actually operates.

Our intent is to deliberately shape a solution space in a way that respects the principles of transparent and fair procurement. This approach is designed to deliver the capabilities the Royal Canadian Navy needs to succeed on operations, while enabling industry to develop solutions that are competitive for Canada and in global markets.”

What’s Next: No submissions are being requested yet, but industry should treat this as an early signal to start exploring where it can contribute. The Navy says fuller guidance on participation will follow once final approvals are complete.

Bottom Line: The RCN is signaling a notable shift in how it wants to work with defence industry: less prescription, more problem-solving. A forthcoming capability development pilot from the Navy’s warfare systems requirements team will ask companies to orient around operational problem statements instead of waiting for highly specified requirements.

The slide deck from Cdr Phillip C. Durand is a bit too big to share, but reply here, and we are authorized to send you a copy directly!

Related:

• IDEaS gets a contract vehicle: The POINT pilot is being tested on select IDEaS contract-based challenges to help streamline the acquisition of innovations that have successfully completed IDEaS funding

• As drones upend tank warfare, Canada’s army races to rethink its armour

• FUBAR: How Canadian Defence Procurement Can’t Shoot Straight

• Canada seeking observer role in sixth generation fighter jet project

  • Dominion Dynamics, which recently met with the PM, presented its approach to building collaborative combat aircraft in Canada to a government delegation of over 30 stakeholders from DND, ISED, NRC, DRDC

  • Canada killed its own fighter jet industry twice

SAGE

Why Business is Reluctant to Rally Around the Flag. It’s not 1988

Dale Eisler is a former Assistant Deputy Minister and Consul General in the U.S. He is currently a Senior Policy Fellow at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy…

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2 months ago · 17 likes · 3 comments · Dale Eisler

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Dominion Dynamics is expanding our team and we’re looking for ambitious Canadians who want to build sovereign technology for the future of national defence.

🤝 Deal Corner

PM announces Canada First defence policy

“The days when we sent 70 cents of every dollar in military spending to the United States are over forever. This is not an act of hostility, but an act of self-respect. We cannot claim to be a sovereign nation if every bolt in our aircraft and every line of code in our radar systems is built and controlled in the U.S.

As of today, the ‘Canada First’ defence policy is no longer a slogan - it is an unbreakable mandate.” — PM Mark Carney

Related:

• Hermeus Hits $1B Valuation, Raises $350M and Moves HQ from Atlanta to Los Angeles

• Space analytics firm HawkEye’s revenue jumped 74% in 2025, US IPO filing shows

Industrial Base Alpha

The Valuation Trap

BLUF: Defense tech founders are raising at valuations calibrated for IPOs in a market where the realistic exit is an M&A transaction at a fraction of that price. The gap between entry valuation and likely exit multiple is widening, and almost no one in the room is saying so out loud. Venture capitalists competing for limited talent are bidding prices up…

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2 months ago · 13 likes · 5 comments · Matthew Bernard

• Why Astranis, Red 6, Merlin, and Slingshot are among Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026

• The comprehensive list of specialist European defence funds

• RBC plans to invest up to $1 billion through new Canadian growth fund

  • A new global defence bank will help Canada’s startups more than its military

  • RBC and Treble Victor Group on deploying veteran talent

  • Defence, infrastructure, and a $3.5 billion organization you’re probably not watching

• CCC is pleased to announce that it was awarded a new 5-year contract with the United States Department of Defense (U.S. DoD) for maintenance services by StandardAero at its facility in Winnipeg

• KONGSBERG Vanguard LP awarded federal contract to design the Canadian Coast Guard’s future Mid-Shore Multi-Mission vessels

• Pentagon’s Little-known DAWG Fetches $54.6B In Spending Plan

• Algoma forms joint venture with armoured vehicle company Roshel

• Bravo Dynamics, developer of a mesh communications system, has raised investment from Freedom Fund VC

• Trae Stephens: Silicon Valley and Washington Must Build Together

  • Defence’s Silicon Valley pivot: Ukraine, Iran wars challenge the legacy playbook

  • Trump praises Palantir as stock has worst week in over a year and Iran conflict drags on

Pirate Wires

How the Military Is Using Palantir to Fight Wars

The first substantial profile on how Palantir and the Pentagon are actually using AI in warfare, with a closer look at Palantir’s unique approach to problem-solving, which unlocked targeting software the military has wanted since Vietnam…

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2 months ago · 87 likes · 12 comments · Blake Dodge

• Space Race: Canada’s spotty support for innovation is grounding its space ambitions

  • Canada’s space industry faces its moment of truth

  • When the Moon Met Canada

  • Why NASA footage rarely shows satellites [VISUAL]

  • Canada has joined the ranks of the world’s most adventurous lunar explorers

  • T-28 days until the Canadian Space Launch Conference in Ottawa on May 5th

  • SpaceX bankers bend over backwards to bag IPO role

  • MDA Space announces “MDA MIDNIGHT” space control platform for the defence market

  • Your spacecraft is flying through debris right now that no public catalog will ever show you… Over 13,000 active payloads are now in lower LEO

  • Space Force taps 14 firms for $1.8 billion GEO surveillance program

  • A worst-case solar storm could knock out satellites, GPS and power grids, report warns

  • Monarch Quantum Raises US$55 Million for Quantum Photonics Hardware

• Saab dangles sovereign data centre in Montreal to undercut F-35 fighter contract

• Ottawa gives South Korean, German submarine builders opportunity to revise bids

  • TKMS and Finkl Steel – Sorel Sign Teaming Agreement to Explore Cooperation on Strategic Materials for the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project

• While most people see UAVs and drones as a VC story, PE is increasingly investing in this space

  • Drones are about to unlock an entirely new operating layer for the physical economy

• UK Signs Drone Interceptor Deal With Cambridge Aerospace

• Defence executives worry Trump’s proposed military splurge could backfire

• B Riley Securities Q1 2026 Aerospace and Defence report

• Italian government poised to replace Leonardo’s CEO who oversaw order surge

Steve Blank

Nowhere is Safe

Drones in Ukraine and in the War with Iran have made the surface of the earth a contested space. The U.S. has discovered that 1) air superiority and missile defense systems (THAAD, Patriot batteries) designed to counter tens or hundreds of aircraft and missiles is insufficient against asymmetric attacks of thousands of drones. And that 2) undefended hig…

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2 months ago · 32 likes · 3 comments · Steve Blank

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

⚔️ Combat Readiness

Epic Fury Already Stress Testing More Agile Army Acquisition System, US General Says

“As I look back on the past 30 days in Operation Epic Fury, we had some immediate requests from the field in the first week,” Phillips said. “Those immediate requests in the field returned on a requirements document with the [Army Future Capabilities Directorate] and [Army Transformation and Training Command] in about 48 hours, who turned on a contract in about 72 hours. And I can say that we’ve had soldiers out training and testing the capabilities they’re going to deploy with in real time in the past 10 days. So we’ve got industry fully engaged.”

• New US Navy Budget Wants $3B for New Tomahawks, $4.3B for SM-6s

  • The biggest constraint in missile production isn’t funding

• Mutually Automated Destruction: The Escalating Global A.I. Arms Race

• How This Precision Weapon Reengineered Modern War

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When you transform defence you set off a dual-use chain reaction that might just spark a monumental economic transformation. Could this be Canada’s Mars-shot?

• Iran roundup: Iran is trying to turn off America’s water… The top secret CIA tool ‘Ghost Murmur’ used to save US airman downed in Iran by detecting his heartbeat… Operation Epic Fury U.S. Aircraft Losses Visualized… Iran’s Asymmetric Counterair Campaign: Attacking the U.S. Air Force’s Nests and Eggs… America’s Underwater Drone Strategy Is Reshaping Naval Warfare in the Strait of Hormuz

• China Seizes An Island While The World Is Watching Iran

• US Air Force taps AIM for autonomous air base construction

• U.S. Navy Destroyer Equipped With New Launcher For Unknown Weapons

• I Went to China to See Its Progress on A.I. We Can’t Beat It

• Decentralize or Defeat: How Institutional Ego Slows U.S. Military Intelligence

• Canadian bacon: Most Canadians prefer a NATO without the US, to a NATO that bows to Trump’s demands… A fixation on Trump and American politics is blinding Canada and its allies to the challenges that will define the next quarter century… NORAD commander says F-35-type aircraft not needed to defend North America… The U.S. isn’t happy about Canada’s quest for digital sovereignty… Building Whole-of-Society Resilience Against Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference in Canada… Beyond Regions: Why Canada and South Korea Need a New Security Narrative

• Thought leadership: Is CANDU a solution to the reprocessed Uranium problem?… The Pentagon is calling for rapid industrial modernization, but the largest defence primes returned over $20B to shareholders in 2024-2025 while investing just 2-3% of revenue back into physical assets. The real burden of building America’s defence capacity falls on small and mid-size suppliers… NATO Sec Gen 2025 Annual Report

• Drone wars: Estonia cancel a €500M combat vehicle procurement and redirect those funds toward air defence, drones, and unmanned systems… U.S. Develops Acoustic-Guided System to Intercept FPV Drones… Recent viral reports are highlighting a new Chinese system dubbed the “Baby Shahed”… He built Ukraine’s first bomber drone flying 3km in May 2022. Now it reaches 65km… How America’s Shahed-136 Kamikaze Drone Clone Suddenly Became An “Indispensable” Weapon Of War… China still controls 70–90% of Europe’s critical drone component supply chains with propulsion and raw materials most exposed at 90%+ in the 5th year of the war:

Defense Tech and Acquisition

Drones, Dollars, and Disruption

Welcome to the latest edition of Defense Tech and Acquisition…

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2 months ago · 18 likes · 1 comment · Matt MacGregor and Pete Modigliani

• Arctic shelf: Arctic Fever: Canada’s Ambitions in the North… Training above the 80th parallel [PHOTOS]… Defence experts warn Canada lags far behind in efforts to secure the Arctic… Rangers end ‘majestic’ snowmobile trek through Canada’s North in Churchill… Arctic advantage: China’s new tech boosts sub detection capabilities near Alaskan waters

• From the Ukrainian front: Drone warfare in Ukraine: munitions, cameras, and fiber optics… New battlefield footage appears to show a North Korean Type-75 107 mm MLRS mounted on the Russian NRTK “Courier” ground robotic platform [VIDEO]… Footage of a Russian drone dodging interceptor drones while being shot at from the ground with machine guns [VIDEO]

Missile Matters — with Fabian Hoffmann

Ukraine's Deep-Strike Drone Campaign Against Russian Oil Infrastructure

Picture: Ukrainian Armed Forces, 14th UAV Regt…

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2 months ago · 106 likes · 8 comments · Fabian Hoffmann

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Security Compass aligns engineering outputs to SA&A security expectations with structured evidence and change-aware monitoring. Make reassessments simpler by showing what’s implemented, what changed, and what’s validated.

🔫 Hot Shots

• Grey war: The Beginning of the End of Cybersecurity… Russia is not just sabotaging cables and pipelines. It is normalizing underwater warfare as a permanent feature of European security… CIA director quietly elevated agency’s cyber espionage division… A hacker has allegedly breached one of China’s supercomputers and is attempting to sell a trove of stolen data… CIA employees will get AI ‘coworkers’—and eventually run teams of AI agents, deputy says

• Odds & ends: Europe’s New Defence Core… Aerospace, Defence Parts Maker Arxis Seeks $1.06 Billion in IPO… Xona Space Systems debuts satellite manufacturing facility in Burlingame… Japan and Australia eye joint missile and drone production amid U.S. stockpile concerns… Europe is winning the AI and drone science race. It’s losing the deployment war… France to increase defence spending by $42 billion, mulls new tank effort… Drones could change avalanche control in Canada. Here’s how… Gulf Allies Turn Away From U.S. for Fresh Ammo

• The Pentagon: For acquisition reform to succeed, the Pentagon needs civilian agency budget flexibilities

  • Defence budgets are rising but most suppliers still will not benefit

  • Just over two months ago, the United States Department of War launched the “Patent Holiday” pilot program. This initiative offers industry partners a two-year, no-fee license to evaluate and commercialize a curated list of patented technologies from the Department

• How Canadian military members violated intelligence-gathering rules during COVID-19

• Power and Dominance: The carrier-SSN balance in modern warfare is a necessity

• Canada’s defence investment: Can we action a strategy for sovereign strength and the future of industry?

  • How defence spending could help Canada beyond the military

Second Tour

The Arsenal of the Midwest

My father spent twenty-eight years on the line at Pontiac Assembly. He came home most nights smelling of paint and metal in a neighborhood where nearly every other father did the same. The street ran on General Motors time. Shift changes set the rhythm. First, second, or third shifts. What I understood growing up, without anyone having to explain it, wa…

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3 months ago · 5 likes · Nick Ondovcsik

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

Save the Date: Along with CSMC, RBCx, and Torys LLP, we will be hosting a breakfast event on May 26 during Toronto Tech Week. Details to come.

🎯 Three-Shot Burst

This week, the CAF is hosting Outlooks in Ottawa — an opportunity to hear directly from Canada’s top military leadership as they discuss their goals for tomorrow’s Army, Air Force, and Navy. Unfortunately, you must be a CADSI member to participate.

The goal is the right one — get government, the CAF, and industry aligned on future requirements. But that only works if the right companies are actually in the room.

Tsk, Tsk: Limiting this to one industry group’s members effectively shuts out many Canadian-owned, Canadian-controlled companies — especially newer and smaller firms.

At a moment when Canada says it wants more domestic capability, more Canadian content, and more new entrants in defence, it makes little sense to gate access through a single industry association. That is not how you build a broader defence industrial base. It is not how you surface the best new suppliers. And it is not consistent with the logic of the Defence Industrial Strategy.

Moving On: In spite of this gatekeeping, contacts in the CAF have quietly consulted with The Icebreaker given our national defence census work, so we’ve gotten a sneak peek at early versions of what will be shared. Participants should expect genuinely progressive pilots from really thoughtful CAF leaders, that will address problem articulation and end user access, and be scoped at very low TRLs.

Bottom Line: CAF leaders are doing their best within the parameters they have to work with — but the parameters still represent a broken architecture. Do not expect the fundamental procurement architecture, IP, or anything pertaining to attritable mass doctrine, to be addressed here. These efforts still likely feed into multi-year procurement funnels.

Related:

• Canada Buys is now able to track your CPCSC and CMMC certification level

• Ottawa Hands Billions to Firms Calling Themselves Canadian. Most Aren’t

• Canada’s biggest banks get into defence after years of avoiding military financing

• Canada’s $150-billion challenge: How to build a homegrown defence sector and fast

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Dominion Dynamics is expanding our team and we’re looking for ambitious Canadians who want to build sovereign technology for the future of national defence.

🤝 Deal Corner

AI boat maker Saronic smashes $9 billion valuation

Led by Kleiner Perkins, robot shipbuilder Saronic raised nearly $2 billion to expand production and develop new vessels as the Navy seeks refined options for medium unmanned surface vessels.

Related:

• Defence gave back gains in BCI’s monthly public comps

  • $6.8 billion: That's the size of Ukraine's defence technology market in 2025

• Palmer Luckey-Backed Nuclear Startup Valar Lands $2 Billion Valuation

• Darkhive Secures $49.7M APFIT Contract

• Overmatch Raises $250M to Expand Defence Tech Investments

• Lockheed Martin Canada invests $3.6 million into Lemay.ai

• With Ottawa’s defence push, Calgary’s ATCO eyes more deals after investing in Arctic venture

• Brit Box: The UK’s SME Action Plan for defence will not be published until after the delayed Defence Investment Plan is finalized… These drones can take on Putin but can’t beat British bureaucrats… UK defence tech alliance targets 20 spinouts a year

• Larus awarded $8.3 million IDEaS Test Drive contract by the Department of National Defence to advance the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) in tactical planning and decision intelligence

• PacifiCan invests $13.8 million to advance defence innovation in AI and aerospace in British Columbia

• Navy, Hadrian launch partnership, open facility to build submarine parts

• Dominion Dynamics presented its approach to building collaborative combat aircraft in Canada to a government delegation of over 30 stakeholders from DND, ISED, NRC, DRDC

• The Calgary firm with a wildly different plan for the AI infrastructure boom

• U of A researcher on battery-free sensor to track vital signs in extreme cold

• Inturai to fast-track combat defence and infrastructure technologies with veteran-owned defence technology company VEXSL

• Westinghouse is Canada’s choice for proven and ready now nuclear energy… the Americans think it belongs to them

• From Lockheed to European start-ups, arms makers jostle for Iran war orders

• 15 defence startups to watch in 2026, according to VCs

Emerging Defense

Emerging Defense March Recap

Summary…

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2 months ago · Scripps Wilkinson

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

⚔️ Combat Readiness

Ex-CIA director David Petraeus says U.S. needs to learn “whole new concept of warfare” from Ukraine

“In some Western countries right now, they think that innovativeness is giving 50 drones to an armored battalion,” he said. “No. What we should do is scrap the armored battalions and replace them with a drone battalion.”

• The war Rheinmetall thinks it’s fighting is not the one Ukraine is winning

  • Autonomous swarms are the future of drone warfare

  • Iran is ending the dream of remote-controlled war

• Integrated Air & Missile Defence (IAMD) in Canada

• America’s ‘Featherweight’ Missile Is Unlike Anything China Has. It Could Rewrite the Hypersonic Arms Race

• Anduril’s EagleEye helmet enables soldiers to see through objects by using real-time drone and sensor data

• Acoustic Drone-Sensing Startup RADD Emerges from Stealth

• New business models in defence tech:

Gray Matters

Beyond SaaS: New Business Models in Defense Tech

Traditional venture-backed business models – SaaS, marketplaces, consumer platforms – are built for large, competitive markets with many buyers. Defense is the opposite: one customer, constrained budgets, and procurement systems that don’t neatly reward off-the-shelf products…

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3 months ago · 25 likes · Maggie Gray

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Security Compass aligns engineering outputs to SA&A security expectations with structured evidence and change-aware monitoring. Make reassessments simpler by showing what’s implemented, what changed, and what’s validated.

• Iran roundup: The US Burned 14 Years of Missiles in 30 Days… Shutting Hormuz is a template for China in Taiwan… A former C.I.A. officer says that he recruited scientists as part of the United States’ effort to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program… Israel targets Iran’s leaders with lethal expertise using new AI platform… Europe imports 80% of the hydrocarbons it consumes and that oil and gas keeps getting more expensive as they unplug from Russian gas and become hostages of America’s War on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz… Iran Is Piercing Israel’s Ballistic Missile Defences With High Altitude Cluster Warhead Releases

• Clearpath Robotics’ Ryan Gariepy on killer robots and Canada’s defence strategy

• The cutting-edge robots that can hunt some of Iran’s most notorious weapons

• Scaling Golden Dome’s Model For Multi-Vendor Developed Solutions

• Seagliders and the Future of Maritime Defence

• The U.S. Military Risks Letting Contractors Define How It Sees the Battlefield

• Airbus seeks to expand defence footprint in Canada

• Canadian bacon: Canada’s Arctic Energy Security: Infrastructure Vulnerabilities and NATO Resilience Requirements… Cole Rosentreter on why your flight is delayed and how Canadian tech can fix it… Canada could help in the Strait of Hormuz, but must we?… Five big moves Mark Carney must make to secure Canada’s place in the world… Everything You Should Know About CAF Cyber Command… Defending distant, unsurveyed Arctic ‘more complicated,’ top naval commander says… A Steep Climb: Financing Canada’s NATO Commitment while Maintaining Fiscal Discipline… How Canada Can Get the Most Out of Its Defence Spending Surge… To meet next NATO spending target, Canada needs a credible fiscal plan, think-tank says… Diego Garcia was the warning shot Canada cannot afford to ignore

• Thought leadership: Across the CAF, NATO, and the wider Five Eyes community, one truth is becoming unavoidable: we’re no longer dealing with isolated security crises… Robert Dimitrieff on the layers of the industrial sovereignty system… Innovation Policy in Canada: A Practitioner’s Perspective… People Must Be at the Core of Canada’s New Defence Ecosystem… Alexander MacDonald, the Canadian who served as NASA’s first chief economist:

• Drone wars: US Army Tests Northrop Grumman’s Lumberjack Group 3 Strike Drone, kitted out with Palantir’s Maven… The Mongols, Drones, and the Future of War… The Drone Dominance Program Lethality Prize Challenge is now live… America Needs to Get Serious About Drones… France goes big on missiles and drones in multibillion-euro defence plan… People keep calling Shahed “a drone.” It’s not. It’s a mass attack system. And the real complexity is not the drone itself… America’s Best New Weapon in Iran Is a Drone Inspired by Iran… Ukraine is developing interceptor drone swarms to defend against Russian attacks… Europe’s Untapped Arsenal

• Arctic shelf: Inside NATO’s race to secure the Arctic… Ottawa earmarks up to $8B for 5 Wing Goose Bay but falls short of offering details… In war-torn times, allies are taking a keener interest in this Nordic nation’s culture of preparedness

• From the Ukrainian front: Drones haven’t won the fight in Ukraine. That matters as the West learns new ways of war… ‘The frontline is like Terminator’: fighting robots give Ukraine hope in war with Russia… How to Measure Russia’s Munitions Throughput—and How to Disrupt It

• Space race: ‘This feels fragile’: how a satellite-smashing chain reaction could spiral out of control… SpaceX tries to convince FCC that Amazon put satellites into wrong altitude… Inside Canada’s race for space sovereignty… Canada charts a new path in space, with the US… Sherbrooke-based SBQuantum put its quantum diamond magnetometer aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare as part of the MagQuest Challenge… SpaceX files for IPO… Roshel takes Jeremy Hansen to launch… Direct-to-device and NTN mobility are often framed as coverage solutions

  

🔫 Hot Shots

• Grey war: After 16 years and $8 billion, the military’s new GPS software still doesn’t work… Data centers emerge as targets in warfare’s AI era… A.I. Is on Its Way to Upending Cybersecurity… The front lines of irregular warfare are not found only on battlefields. They also run through banks, export regimes, and critical supply chains… Chinese firms market Iran war intelligence ‘exposing’ U.S. forces… Strategic Capabilities Office Launching Cognitive Warfare Project… China maps ocean floor as it prepares for submarine warfare with US… China is a prisoner of energy geography

• Odds & ends: How American Camouflage Conquered the World… An increasing percentage of Canadians report that they would be willing to serve in the Armed Forces if Canada were involved in a major conflict… Pax Americana — who paid for what?… The Crumbling Foundations of American Strength… German men must ask army for permission to leave country… China’s EV success formula — and Canada’s dilemma… Afghanistan veteran William MacDonald on being considered for the Canadian Victoria Cross

• Budgeting: The US FY2027 defence budget request totals $1.5 trillion, an unprecedented 44% increase over current levels. Here’s what stands out… Budget would cut Pentagon research by one-third. Can industry compensate?… DARPA’s budget for 2026 is $4.9 billion, a 12% jump from 2025

The Deep Brief

The Byproduct Theory of Defense Innovation

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 made asymmetric warfare impossible to ignore. On the Eastern front, cheap, adaptive systems — iterated fast, tested under fire — have consistently outperformed expensive, slow ones…

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3 months ago · 5 likes · 1 comment · Herbert Mangesius and Nicolas Colin

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

One week to go: Make sure your voice is heard in the Icebreaker x BDC national defence census, which will help governments and capital providers understand the challenges and supports Canadian SMEs need to win in defence.

🎯 Three-Shot Burst

Special guest POV by 🍁 Katheron Intson, CEO at Sentinel R&D

A lot of people looked at Swarmer’s Nasdaq debut and saw absurdity: a company with just $309,920 in 2025 revenue and a net loss of about $8.5 million trading like it had already arrived. On a conventional software screen, that looks detached from fundamentals. But conventional screens are built for normal commercial markets, not for companies whose products are still being validated under live battlefield conditions.

Reality Check: Swarmer is not a normal software company. Public reporting linked the company to Operation Spiderweb, the June 1, 2025 Ukrainian strike inside Russia. The clearest public account described Swarmer as “the invisible brain” behind the operation’s autonomous drone control layer. That does not mean Swarmer alone created Spiderweb, or that it should be credited with the entirety of the operation’s outcome. It means the company has been publicly tied to one of the most consequential drone operations of the war, which proved that low-cost autonomous systems could help impose strategic costs on extremely expensive military assets.

Think Bigger: Swarmer has been in its combat testing and validation stage. Yet according to both its SEC filing and company materials, drones equipped with its Trident OS have already flown more than 100,000 combat missions since 2023, and the company says those missions were conducted under active electronic warfare and GPS-denied conditions. That is not peacetime testing. It is live operational validation at a scale almost no Western defence software startup can match.

This is where the usual valuation language starts to break down. Revenue is one metric. Backlog is another. But neither fully captures what investors may actually be looking at here: a wartime autonomy stack being refined through repeated operational use, and through its demonstrated contribution to losses imposed on the adversary, before commercialization has fully caught up.

Public markets may be trying to price not merely software sales, but combat-proven relevance, battlefield-hardened data, and the possibility that this testing phase is already producing an asset of genuine strategic value.

That matters because value does not begin only when a contract is signed. In defence technology, especially during wartime, a system can be enormously valuable long before procurement channels have translated that value into recognized revenue. If software contributes to missions that destroy or degrade assets worth many times more than the company’s own current income, the absence of near-term sales does not necessarily mean the absence of substance. It may simply mean that the machinery of acquisition is moving more slowly than the machinery of war.

That does not mean Swarmer should be valued dollar-for-dollar on the reported damage associated with Spiderweb or any other mission. Damage is not revenue, and combat contribution is not the same thing as durable market power. But it does raise a serious and underexplored question: how should markets value a company that appears to have contributed to an operation associated with billions in reported losses, and to more than 100,000 combat missions beyond that, while still effectively in the validation phase of its life as a business?

Bottom Line: Swarmer’s debut makes more sense if you stop looking at it like an immature software company and start looking at it like a combat-validated autonomy layer. The market was not buying $300,000 of revenue. It was buying the possibility that software tested across more than 100,000 real combat missions, and publicly linked to a major strategic operation like Spiderweb, may already have demonstrated a kind of value that conventional financial statements are too early to capture.

Related:

• Volatus Aerospace Announces Strategic Collaboration with Sentinel R&D to Support Canadian Sovereign UAV Capability

• Defence tech founder warns Canada is getting “wishy-washy” about defining sovereignty

• DND seeking innovative solutions for Sentinel Shield: Wide-area detection for early warning against uncrewed aerial systems

• The Defence Industrial Strategy’s initial spending is not as Canadian as hoped… Canada formally launches Defence Investment Agency, expected to reduce $100-million contract minimum… What comes next on the contracting front?

• The Icebreaker’s parliamentary testimony frames final government report on reforming defence procurement:

“The old approach to procurement does not work at the speed of modern threats.”

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🤝 Deal Corner

Canada Ex-Defence Minister’s Startup Juno Sees Anduril-Type Role

Vancouver-based Juno Industries Inc. hopes to close a Series A round of about C$10 million by mid-April.

Founded last April, the company is developing a hub for communications, drones and sensors in Arctic environments called Polar Nexus, which CEO Hunter Scharfe said will be “the first of many sensor nodes and deployment platforms” from the company.

“Autonomous systems are going to become the forefront of defence investment,” and “those systems are very powerful and have a lot of different data capabilities,” Scharfe said. But the issue, he said, is what platform will be trusted to trawl through the data, interpret it, and provide officials options for action.

Juno’s ambition is to be a “neo-prime,” a term used for fast-growth startups like Anduril Industries Inc. that are racing with the traditional “prime” defence contractors like Lockheed Martin Corp. to deliver new security technology.

The Free Press

Trae Stephens: Silicon Valley and Washington Must Build Together

February 27, 2026, was a flash point in the cold war between Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C…

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3 months ago · 51 likes · 17 comments · Trae Stephens

The Defense Brief

Hill & Valley 2026: What the US Tech-Defence Alliance Actually Believes

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3 months ago · 5 likes · 1 comment · Louise Boucher

Related:

• Behind the scenes in Canadian defence procurement:

Not long ago, I was entrusted to lead the business development effort, technical compliance strategy, proposal structure, and OEM engagement for a bid valued at up to $60M. Here’s what that looks like.

• Pitchbook: “The Most Investable Corner of Defence? Electronics”

  • Uncrewed Mine Warfare Is Emerging as a Scalable Defence Industry Segment

• The most innovative defence tech companies of 2026

• The United States Department of War announced 25 companies competing for its $1.1B Drone Dominance Program. Check out their cap tables

  • Shield AI Raises $2B Series G at $12.7B Valuation

• Anduril, Palantir Developing Golden Dome Missile Shield’s Software, Source Says

• SBQuantum wants to help the world navigate in a post-GPS era

• Denvr signs two defence deals to deepen sovereign AI push in Canada

• Edmonton’s Wyvern Inc. to track rogue vessels as feds earmark $6M for defence research

• Cohere teams up with Swedish defence firm Saab on AI for surveillance jets

• Airbus and L3Harris Win $1.1 Billion Deals for Canada Fleet Support

• Carlyle Said to Plan Defence Fund as Governments Hike Spending

• Sailbotix announces initial deployment of one of the most advanced hand-deployable data buoys

• UK risks losing defence tech start-ups to relocation amid funding delays

• South Korea’s Defence Startups Surge as Global Conflicts Flare

• Canada Advances New Global Security Architecture: The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank

  • Ontario seeks private-sector manager for new $4-billion Protect Ontario investment fund

• Pete Hegseth’s broker attempted to make defence investments before Iran war

Defense Tech and Acquisition

Acquisition Marketplaces Are Blooming

Welcome to the latest edition of Defense Tech and Acquisition. We salute all those overseas serving in Operation Epic Fury and those stateside ensuring they are fully supported. Your work is vitally …

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3 months ago · 17 likes · 1 comment · Pete Modigliani and Matt MacGregor

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

⚔️ Combat Readiness

Former top general says we need to start building our own long-range missiles

Wayne Eyre, who was Canada’s top soldier as Chief of the Defence Staff until summer 2024, said this country desperately needs its own production lines for many of these munitions. “This includes using our inherent strength in the aerospace industry to produce our own long-range strike and air defence missiles, along with lower cost drones and counter-drone systems,” he said in an interview:

Fly Straight

Canada needs a "wartime mentality" in a disordered world

Sixty eight years ago this week, the Avro Arrow interceptor fighter took its maiden flight - arguably the pinnacle of Canadian aeronautical engineering history…

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3 months ago · 35 likes · 5 comments · John Ivison

• Ottawa’s defence spending plan has ambition, but half of the equation is missing

• Money alone does not build security: capacity does

  • Ukraine Is Making Home-Brew Long-Range Missiles

• In 1952, Canada was spending 8% (!) of GDP on defence

• Canada’s push to develop nitrocellulose hinges on real industrial integration… CellCore Technologies Emerges from Stealth at DEFSEC West, announces plans for new nitrocellulose facility

• As Canada hits NATO 2% goal, Carney vows more as warfare ‘rapidly’ changes

  • Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said Ukrainian drone makers were housewives with 3D printers and that their work was not real innovation. Ukrainians responded.

“If every housewife in ​Ukraine can really make drones, then every housewife in Ukraine can be the ⁠CEO of Rheinmetall,” Zelenskiy told reporters in a WhatsApp chat.

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Security Compass aligns engineering outputs to SA&A security expectations with structured evidence and change-aware monitoring. Make reassessments simpler by showing what’s implemented, what changed, and what’s validated.

• Iran roundup: Ukrainian cheap interceptor drone blows up Iranian Shahed drone in spectacular hit [VIDEO]… Iran built a vast camera network to control dissent. Israel turned it into a targeting tool… Images show destroyed US E-3 Sentry AWACS at Prince Sultan Air Base… Iranians Don’t Have a Missile Alert System, So Volunteers Built Their Own Warning Map

• Electromagnetism Secretly Runs the World

• China’s robot wolves have been put through a simulated street battle [VIDEO]

• A blueprint for Chinese global leadership

• Why China Is Stepping Up Its Reusable Rocket Push

• Hellscape Taiwan: A Porcupine Defence in the Drone Age

• US and UK teaming up to destroy underwater drones

• Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnipotence: Meet the Gods of AI Warfare

• Canadian bacon: The push to create a Canadian rival to GPS… Calgary-born astronaut to be voice link to Artemis II moon mission… Canada clears NATO’s 2% bar — after years of lagging and a last-minute lift… Saab CEO says company, Canada still in ‘intensive’ talks… Toronto Argonaut turned military outfitter wants Canadian Army to be ‘brilliant at the basics’… Farewell, Victoria! On Hanwha Ocean’s Bid for the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project… As oil pipelines become an ace in ‘Canada’s deck,’ should country place bet on path south or west?… Canadian Army overhaul looms as DND finalizes mobilization plans

• Thought leadership: The Luxury Beliefs That Broke Europe’s Energy System… NATO on how emerging technologies advance… Artificial intelligence is increasingly being incorporated into maritime surveillance, navigation, and decision-support systems… Kraken Robotics’ Chief Technology Officer, David Shea, “Dispelling Myths About Synthetic Aperture Sonar”

• Drone wars: Noah Gairn on CUAS… Dutch armed forces to add drone operators to combat brigades… VW in talks with Israel’s Iron Dome maker to shift from cars to missile defence… Kinetic interception, Russian style [VIDEO]… Yesterday, a $𝟱,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲 destroyed a $𝟲,𝟬𝟬𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗸 equipped with the world’s most advanced protection system… The Pentagon Copied Tehran’s Technology but Is Still Struggling to Keep Up

• Arctic shelf: In Canada’s far north, some fret Carney’s military plan overlooks everyday needs… Scenes From the Canadian Arctic

• From the Ukrainian front: Ukrainian drone architect talks to 60 Minutes on the cost per kill metric… Ukraine is offering Gulf states 1,000 drone interceptors per day. Each Sting interceptor costs $2,100. Each Patriot missile it replaces costs $3.9 million… Vibe-coded visualization of publicly available data relating to Unmanned Systems that have been used during the Russian invasion… A choice of deadly drones is a few clicks away for Ukrainian troops… Ukraine Is Building the Drone Warfare Machine NATO Still Does Not Understand… Ukrainian drones have made artillery and armored vehicles look obsolete. Why is the world still buying them?

• Why defence can’t scale innovation, by Stuart Lodge:

First Breakfast

The 1-to-100 Trap

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3 months ago · 23 likes · Stuart Lodge

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🔫 Hot Shots

• Grey war: Reservists killed in Kuwait a few weeks ago were targeted using adtech; Iranians used it to trace their movements to the port… Chinese Hackers Caught Deep Within Telecom Backbone Infrastructure… APT Iran hacking group advertises 375TB of data purportedly exfiltrated from Lockheed Martin for $600M… Buy a cheap satellite dish and listen: SMS, payment data, and military secrets will fall from the sky… Hacked hospitals, hidden spyware: Iran conflict shows how digital fight is ingrained in warfare… Iran-linked hackers breach FBI director’s personal email, publish photos and documents

• Odds & ends: “Ronnie, the Bren Gun Girl” was a Canadian icon representing nearly one million Canadian women who worked in the manufacturing plants that produced munitions, weapons, and equipment during the Second World War… More money for Canada’s military should mean more transparency and accountability… Why foreign investment has surged into Canada

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

Following the success of our national market mapping survey last fall (many of its conclusions are reflected in Canada’s defence industrial strategy), The Icebreaker is partnering with BDC to make sure Canadian dual use SMEs get to shape procurement going forward.

What’s Next: This survey is explicitly designed to capture financing pressure, procurement friction, certifications, cybersecurity requirements, export restrictions, long sales cycles, and the other real constraints SMEs face.

It runs March 24 to April 6, takes ~10 minutes, and will help governments and capital providers understand the challenges and support Canadian SMEs need to win in defence.

Bottom Line: Canada’s banks and policymakers have moved quickly to endorse multinational defence-finance vehicles, but Canadian defence SMEs still need reliable domestic credit channels, guarantees, and underwriting standards that treat lawful defence production as bankable.

If you want the system to work for Canadian dual use SMEs, you need to show up in the data. If Canadian dual use SMEs stay silent, then existing primes and foreign incumbents will define the market, the barriers, and the support agenda for them.

Stand up and be counted — take a few minutes to influence what support, capital, and market access look like next.

Related:

• BDC expands Defence Platform to $6 billion and names a StrongNorth Fund leader

• BDC leads negotiations as Canada hosts international partners to advance establishment of the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank

• Canadian Defence Industry Resilience (CDIR) Program is opening new doors for companies ready to step into the defence and security market

• Ottawa spending $1.4-billion to ramp up domestic ammunition production capacity. The Canadian Shield Institute weighs in, giving this announcement a 3 out of 10 sovereignty score:

  Over $1 billion of the $1.4 billion investment will go to General Dynamics Canada, a subsidiary of the American defence company…

  In areas like building nitrocellulose production capacity, a capability that our existing and vast wood pulp industry could meet with government support and partnership, there is no excuse to not direct the investment to a truly Canadian option.

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Dominion Dynamics is expanding our team and we’re looking for ambitious Canadians who want to build sovereign technology for the future of national defence.

🤝 Deal Corner

Defence Tech Exits: Swarmer, Merlin, and CSG

On March 17, Swarmer — a Ukrainian drone autonomy software company founded in 2023 — listed on Nasdaq and closed up 520% on its first day of trading. It now trades at a 1,000x revenue multiple — a remarkable achievement since revenues declined in 2025 even as losses quadrupled.

Simultaneously, Merlin — which designs autonomous flight systems — also had a successful IPO and raised $200M, valuing the company at $1B.

Related:

• Kraken Robotics Announces $24 Million in Defence Orders; the company is also seeking new talent for its software department in all product areas

• Is defence tech a ‘proper’ VC-backable vertical?

• MDA Space wins $32-million contract to build telescopes for space surveillance

• Brave1 packs rooms in the US with its Ukraine defence tech roadshow

• 15 defence startups to watch in 2026, according to VCs

• US Navy and Hadrian Team Up on Alabama Submarine Facility

• ‘Cruise missile’ drones and low-cost Shahed knockoffs listed on Alibaba

• Photonic names former Microsoft Xbox head Don Mattrick CEO… From dropping out of film school to leading Xanadu’s bold IPO, quantum trailblazer Christian Weedbrook is no stranger to calculated risks

• Telesat shares soar on hopes for defence spending by Canada and allies

• Defence and housing take centre stage at N3 Summit

• Toronto Argonaut turned military outfitter wants Canadian Army to be ‘brilliant at the basics’

• French-Italian VC 360 Capital raises €85m for deeptech fund backed by European defence prime… Becoming the First French Defence Unicorn

• UK drone interceptor start-up in funding talks at $1bn-plus valuation

• The Battlefield is the Next Betting Market

• Enigma Emerges from Stealth

• Silicon Valley Bet on War: The Bets are Paying Off

• The Danger of Vibe Patriotism in Defence Tech

• High-speed combat drone production starts at new US Anduril plant in days… Anduril has effectively become the gatekeepers for US counter drone tech

• Arc has secured $50 million in Series C funding to scale production of electric tugs, ferries, and defence vessels

• Rheinmetall Walked Away. Germany Should Take the Hint… Merz’s €600 Billion Defence Push Is Rippling Across Germany

• Iran war puts Europe’s air defence startups in the spotlight: ‘The gap is impossible to ignore’

• A Pentagon Sovereign Wealth Fund?

• Only 1 Canadian company cracks Resilience’s 100 Startups to Watch in 2026

• US procurement: Issues with the Ancient Arsenal Argument… SBIR’s Back and New PAEs… Navy unveils acquisition reform, establishes five more PAE organizations

  • How Defence Programmes Actually Shape Industrial Decisions

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

⚔️ Combat Readiness

Palantir’s Maven artificial intelligence system will become an official program of record

The designation marks a shift from earlier pilot programs and short-term contracts to a standardized capability expected to be deployed across the US armed forces. Programs of record typically receive stable, multi-year funding and are integrated across service branches, streamlining procurement and adoption.

Canada’s space commander reveals major threats to our sovereignty, security.

• Space sovereignty for middle powers

• Beyond Venture: Space Needs a Complete Capital Stack

• The Defence Paradox in Earth Observation: The Enabler and the Hindrance… For Satellite Startups, War Pays Better Than Climate Change

• Canadian Space Agency terminates Lunar Rover Mission in 2026-27 Plan

• Why Canada Must Build Sovereign Launch Capability to Lead the Space Economy

Bruce Mehlman's Age of Disruption

Six-Chart Sunday – The Art of War in the 21st Century

Emerging technologies are changing how we work, live, play, learn, parent… and fight. A profound revolution in military affairs is reshaping warfare & redefining power, as is vividly on display in Iran, Ukraine, financial markets and communications networks around the world. 21st century warfare is increasingly…

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3 months ago · 76 likes · 6 comments · Bruce Mehlman

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Security Compass aligns engineering outputs to SA&A security expectations with structured evidence and change-aware monitoring. Make reassessments simpler by showing what’s implemented, what changed, and what’s validated.

• Iran roundup: Who Runs Out of Munitions First in Iran… Why the Blockade Won’t Hold — and What It Means for Prices… U.S. vs. Israel on battlefield tech… America goes on cyber-offence… Iran-backed Iraqi militia Saraya Awliya al-Dam released FPV drone footage showing their drone flying through the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad without activating any air defence systems… Pentagon Plans to Mass Produce Attack Drone Used in Iran War… A bootstrapped startup just bombed Iran:

Industrial Base Alpha

Spektreworks

I don’t write about this subject lightly…

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4 months ago · 29 likes · 13 comments · Matthew Bernard

• AI warfare: How the Iran war could derail the AI boom… Saab and Cohere sign memorandum of understanding on advanced AI collaboration… Anthropic Denies It Could Sabotage AI Tools During War… AI Mission Planning Tools Are Coming: Your Pilots Are Not Ready to Use Them… US intelligence elevates AI as a top global threat in new report… Compute infrastructure will decide the next phase of the conflict

• Canadian bacon: Canada Shifts From Peacekeeping to Building a Strong Military… Canada’s Industrial Transformation in the World Wars and What It Actually Teaches Us… Inside the Mountain Where Americans and Canadians Are Still Tight… CAF members safe after missile intercepted near Israel-Lebanon border… Colt Canada to deliver more than 65,000 rifles to Canadian troops in sped-up procurement process… Europe is eyeing France’s nuclear shield. Should Canada follow?… Why Canada needs a modern merchant fleet

  • China is after Canada’s pulp and paper industry – it’s a national-security issue

  • In 1982 there were approximately 100,000 people working simultaneously in the CANDU supply chain, thirteen reactors under construction domestically and internationally at a single point in time

• Army ‘Very Close’ to Fully Fielding First US Hypersonic Missile… U.S. Army Receives DARPA’s Optionally Piloted H-60Mx Black Hawk

• The U.S. Ammo Shortage Is Worse Than You Think… Magazine Breadth — Not Just Depth — Is Key to Munitions Industrial Base Resilience… Why the Ammunition Surge Is Stalled—and How to Fix It

• Thought leadership: What is Deterrence at Scale?… UK publishes ‘future operating environments 2040’… Russia’s drone army is already here… Canada must play to win: From the Arctic to our economy, participation is no longer enough… Lofty goals, real constraints: Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy… An Era of Global Rearmament and the U.S. Defence Industrial Base

  • Canada should mandate 70% domestic content on all major defence contracts, giving the Defence Investment Agency authority to enforce it and removing regulatory barriers to sole-sourcing Canadian suppliers

  • For decades, America used technology to offset mass. Today, that same technology is proliferating, eroding its advantage, and reshaping the character of warfare:

    Building Our Future

    The End of Technological Overmatch

    America’s military has enjoyed technological superiority over every adversary it has faced for decades…

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    3 months ago · 3 likes · 1 comment · Building Our Future

• Drone wars: France Introduces Telecom-Based Counter-Drone Network Using 19,700 Towers to Protect Critical Assets… Why making a great drone isn’t enough… How low-cost drones are used in modern military strikes… Q&A with Chad McCoy, Firestorm Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer… ‘Multiple waves’ of unauthorized drones recently spotted over strategic US Air Force base… The drone swarm is coming, and NATO air defences are too expensive to cope… Why Cheap Drones Destroy Expensive Things - And How to Deal with Them… In tiny Estonia, drones lead booming defence expansion

• Arctic shelf: Ships Should Meet the Polar Code Before Entering Canadian Arctic… In Canada’s Frozen North, With Canada’s Frozen Soldiers… Carney’s depressing Arctic confession… Canada wants to build up its long-neglected Arctic. The hard question is how… Canada, the Nordics, and the New Arctic Industrial Base… Forging an Arctic Security Strategy: Why Canada Needs a Coherent Framework Now… Russia Builds $600M Arctic Military Communications Network with Drone Integration… In a more competitive Arctic, Canada’s influence hinges on investment

• From the Ukrainian front: Zelenskyy gives King Charles iPad showing Ukraine’s battlefield and airspace situation; Ukraine offers protection to Europe… Ukraine Just Proved a $500 Drone Can Kill a $16M Helicopter… Saudi Arabia Turns to Ukraine for Air Defence Weapons Amid Iran Strikes… Ukraine commands NATO’s simulated enemy for first time in history at Portugal naval drills

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🔫 Hot Shots

• Grey war: The US bans all new foreign-made network routers… Companies are now on the front lines of war. They need to act like it… Hackers have hacked into one of China’s main supercomputing centers

• Odds & ends: In modern conflict, it’s not enough to be powerful; resilience under pressure is essential… Canadian companies make their case at Nvidia’s GTC conference… These Canadians are preparing for a US invasion… Mobilize by Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar and Defence Lead Madeline Hart is out… EA-18G Growlers Carrying Mixed Load Of Old And New Jamming Pods Are Flying Iran Missions… Australian Rare-Earths Miner Lynas Inks $96M Pentagon Deal

Gray Matters

🎙️ Ep 21 - Techquisition: SBIR Reauthorization Explained

After a 6 month lapse, the SBIR program is officially back following Congressional reauthorization…

Listen now

3 months ago · 2 likes · Maggie Gray

On Fragile Orbits

Dual-Use: From Infatuation to Commitment

Industrial policy is having a comeback, led by two words: dual-use. Here in Canada, the phrase appears repeatedly in the new Defence Industrial Strategy. It carries a promise. Defence investment becomes innovation policy. Military spending becomes economic development. Security becomes prosperity…

Read more

3 months ago · 4 likes · Jessica West

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

🎯 Three-Shot Burst

Ukraine is giving international partners and defence companies access to its vast trove of real combat data to train artificial intelligence models for autonomous drone systems — a move Kyiv is calling “the first initiative of its kind in the world.”

“The future of warfare belongs to autonomous systems,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov wrote in a release announcing the program.

Bottom Line: For companies building autonomous systems or target recognition software, the value is straightforward: Validated, real-world training data compresses development timelines and improves model performance in ways no laboratory environment can replicate. For allied governments, it offers a faster path to fielding AI-enabled defence capabilities — without having to generate their own combat datasets from scratch.

Related:

• Open-sourced: Individual builds a functional MANPADS missile launcher for under $100, using open-source 3D-printed files, firmware, and ATR models now on GitHub [VIDEO]

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Dominion Dynamics is expanding our team and we’re looking for ambitious Canadians who want to build sovereign technology for the future of national defence.

🤝 Deal Corner

Pentagon hiring investment bankers

The Pentagon is reportedly hiring investment bankers to deploy $200B over 3 years in defence deals. Take a look at the job specs.

The Pentagon is also committing $150M to a maritime-tech VC fund and appears to be ramping up venture deals. Elsewhere, Wall Street firms are looking to ex-military and national security experts to navigate Iran conflict risks.

Closer to home, BDC is expanding its Defence Platform to $6 billion, and has appointed Peter Suma to lead its new, $300-million StrongNorth Fund. Mark McQueen has some thoughts on the capital pacing required going forward.

Related:

• Canada announces $35B for defence, infrastructure in Canada’s North. Most of the investment is being drawn from a pool of money set aside almost four years ago

  • Op-ed: Great defence industrial policy. But how do we know it’s working?

• Assessing the impact of venture capital dynamics on military norms

• Canada Leases Space Port in Bid to Break Reliance on US Rockets Like SpaceX… One Hundred Years of Liquid-Fuel Rocketry

  • $200M to Maritime Launch Services
    $8.3M to Canada Rocket Company
    $8.3M to NordSpace
    $8.3M to Reaction Dynamics

• IQT’s Look at the Year Ahead: What 2026 Could Have in Store for Strategic Technologies

• Canada’s first-mover advantage in SMRs faces growing geopolitical risks

• Canada pitches Telesat Lightspeed to the Australian government; Norway and UK are next: Can we make the sale?

• Canada’s SkyWatch has launched the first app for satellite imagery inside ChatGPT

  • Planet Labs Extends Middle East Satellite Imagery Delay on Iran Risks

  • Open-source intelligence shuts down

• PitchBook Analyst Note: The Iran War Viewed Through a PE Lens

  • Global defence spending grew in 2025, reaching USD2.63 trillion, up from USD2.48 trillion in 2024

• Lux Aeterna raises $10 million to build reusable, returnable satellites

• Kai Emerges From Stealth With $125M in Funding for AI Platform Bridging IT and OT Security

• The Return of Industrial Warfare: What Modern Conflicts Mean for the Defence Supply Chain

  • Industrial sovereignty does not end at the mine

• Hadean, the AI battle simulation startup, closes bridge round ahead of a Big B

• HavocAI’s All-Domain Shopping Spree

• Palantir and NVIDIA announce a new Sovereign AI OS that provides a complete AI datacenter stack

• US Army awards Anduril Industries a contract with a total value of as much as $20 billion to buy the defence startup’s software, hardware and services. The deal “formalizes single contract vehicle” and “eliminates pass-through charges on subcontracts”

  • DoD Modernization is Burdened by Legacy Systems and Services

  • A guide to US federal acquisition architecture

Marlinspike: The 21st Century Offset

Valley of Value Destruction

The “Valley of Death” describes the period it takes the Department of War (DoW) to transition from prototype to contract. Companies caught in this valley often run out of capital before contract awards are announced…

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3 months ago · 14 likes · 3 comments

• Galvion Secures Canadian DND Order for 29,000 Additional Caiman Helmet Systems & Covers

• Calian VENTURES and Tessellate Robotics Advance Autonomous Navigation for Arctic Defence

• NYSE Listing Puts MDA Space in Position for Global Deals

• Ottawa gives NRC $900 million for drone innovation hub and defence-focused IRAP stream

  • Canada’s New Flying Laboratory and What It Means for Defence Innovation

• Xanadu in talks with government over potential $390 million for domestic quantum manufacturing

• Kongsberg-led venture to design future Mid-Shore Multi-Mission Vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard

• Company offers use of private deep-water Baffin Island port to Department of National Defence

• European NATO nations reduce reliance on US arms imports: SIPRI data

• Drones, lasers and radars: Middle East war spurs hunt for cheaper air defence

  • The high price of intercepting Iran’s low-cost drones

• We need a strong, unapologetically Canadian defence industry voice—for the first time in a generation, we have one

• A collaboration between TKMS and Seaspan ULC delivers Canada’s desired outcome for sustainment

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

⚔️ Combat Readiness

US military supremacy shines as China fails big in Iran, Venezuela

For years, China showcased their powerful HQ-9B missiles as the best air defence system. In less than a year, their system has failed catastrophically in Pakistan, in Venezuela and now in Iran.

Related:

• Taiwan is turning into a porcupine, with over a thousand anti-ship missiles… Thousands of Chinese fishing boats have been massing in geometric formations in the East China Sea… Poll finds most Taiwanese willing to resist Chinese invasion… Taiwan’s bid to export drones free of Chinese parts is taking off

• Iran roundup: Iran’s Cheap, Plentiful Weaponry Puts US Military Under Unprecedented Strain… Ottawa questioned why Iranian strike on military hub with Canadian forces was not made public… Why Kharg Island is so significant… Operation Epic Fury: The first 10 days visualized… How Iran Exposed the U.S. Defence Emperor’s Facade… US has burned through ‘years’ of munitions since start of Iran war… How Iran’s Naval Mines Work… Chinese AI Startup Watching US Military Assets in Middle East From Space… An Iraqi pro-Iran armed group used a fiber-optic FPV drone to attack a key US military facility close to Baghdad’s international airport [VIDEO]… F-35 Software Upgrades ‘Stagnated’ as Jets Fly Iran Missions… Iran’s Survivable Second Drone Strike… How Seven Insurance Letters Closed the World’s Most Critical Chokepoint and Why Markets Are Mispricing Duration by 300%… Iranian Attacks On Prized Missile Defence Radars Are A Wake-Up Call… Don’t Count Launches: Misreading Iran’s Drone Capacity

• AI warfare: The Pentagon got hooked on AI war machines, but where are the guardrails?… Rise of the AI Soldiers… The Autonomous Battlefield: And Why the U.S. Military Isn’t Ready for It

  • For Canada, the march of the killer robots is getting hard to avoid

• Canadian bacon: Finding domestic workers may hamper progress on new defence industrial strategy… Winning the Dual-Use Era Requires a Human Capital Architecture… China Owns Canada’s Only Antimony Mine — Holding Canada’s Trump Card… Canada ready to promote CANDU… Could the Iran War Catalyze Canadian Oil and Gas?… Oil prices are spiking: Can a solar tycoon convince America to embrace the sun?… The Middle Power Moment?… Submarine bidders open to Ottawa splitting contract, say procurement speed setting new standard… Canada considers joining U.K., Italy and Japan to develop future fighter jets… Canada mulls joining U.K.-led response force as its military grows

• DIU, Navy tap Anduril to prototype Dive-XL autonomous submarine

• How the South Builds America’s Next Industrial Chapter

• The West’s response to new methods of warfare in Ukraine and the Middle East has been sluggish

• Drone wars: For the Pentagon’s drone push, the “factory is the weapon”… Cheap drones transform global battlefield… Ukrainian Forces use laser light beam to fry fiber optic on “waiter” drones… Arash-2: Shahed’s Bigger Brother… Britain to buy fleet of 20 drone ships for the Royal Navy… Phones ringing off the hook for Ukraine defence firms as Mideast seeks help… US Apache pilots explain how helicopters are shooting down Iranian drones… Can drones be stockpiled? Europe wrestles with weapons dilemma… Poland to build EU’s first anti-drone shield… Unpacking Iran’s Drone Campaign in the Gulf: Early Lessons for Future Drone Warfare… U.S. Reaper Drones Take the Fight to Iran, but at a Cost

  • Dispatch from the Front Lines: How are we not a drone superpower by now?

• Arctic shelf: Canada, Nordics Deepen Arctic Security Ties, Back Greenland Sovereignty… Carney heads to Arctic war games as NATO flexes muscle in Norway… More than 30 Canadian soldiers suffer ‘cold-weather injuries’ during Arctic training… Canada and its allies are prepared to defend the Arctic, Carney says… Norway’s elite Arctic soldiers still dig their own snow caves to hide from drones

• The Sea Geeks Are Ready for World War III

• From the Ukrainian front: To Fight Iran’s Drones, U.S. Taps Ukraine’s Hard-Earned Knowledge… U.S. dismissed Ukraine deal for anti-Iran drone tech last year

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🔫 Hot Shots

• Grey war: Training Your Unit on Spectrum: A Company/Battery Commander’s 30-Day Plan… How mobile networks became infrastructure for modern war… 14,000 routers are infected by malware that’s highly resistant to takedowns… Iran Warns US Tech Firms Could Become Targets as War Expands… Datacenters are becoming a target in warfare for the first time… Salt Typhoon is hacking the world’s phone and internet giants — here’s everywhere that’s been hit… Russian military hackers revive advanced malware to spy on Ukraine, researchers say

• Odds & ends: From strategy to scale: Seeing Canada’s defence innovation agenda in action… The RCAF has reached an important milestone with the integration of the new AIM-120D-3 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) into the CF-18 Hornet fleet… War, AI, and the Enduring Human Trinity… This Canadian family fuelled Myanmar’s civil war with ‘blood pearls’… Can America’s Mineral Wealth Be Unlocked Without Smelters?… OSINT Field Notes #6… Applications for the MINDS Targeted Engagement Grants are now open… They Came to Spy on America. They Stayed to Coach Little League… AI-Ready Biodata Is America’s Next Strategic Infrastructure… Will China Overplay Its Hand?… Sovereign by Design: Strategic Options for Canadian AI Sovereignty

• Golden Dome: Redefining Homeland Defence in the Era of Complex Threats… Britain must join European missile shield, says defence company boss

• US Shipyards Specialize in Steel, Smaller Vessels:

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

Special guest POV by🍁 Cameron Rowe, Co-Founder at Sentradel

Modern air defence was built for Cold War threats like fast jets, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. Systems like Patriot, NASAMS, and Iron Dome use radar to detect objects, calculate trajectories, and fire interceptors moving several times the speed of sound. A Patriot interceptor can travel above Mach 4 and costs roughly $5-$6 million.

Reality check: These systems work well against traditional threats, but drones introduce new problems. A one-way attack drone like Shahed-136 flies about 150-190 km/h, carries a 30-40 kg warhead, and costs ~$20,000. They can be launched in large numbers and fly very low.

Detection is harder than it seems in practice. Most drones have very small radar cross sections. A Shahed is around 0.01 to 0.03 square meters, which is tiny for legacy radars. Their slow speed also creates problems because radar software often filters slow objects to remove birds and ground clutter. A drone can look a lot like noise.

Low altitude flight makes things worse because of the radar horizon. A drone flying at 50 to 100 meters may not appear at all until it’s too late.

Bottom Line: Interception is expensive. Missile defence has never been fully solved, even for nuclear warheads, because saturation overwhelms defences.

Drones recreate the same saturation problem at far lower cost. It’s a cost curve problem disguised as a missile problem. And cost curves, historically, are where technology revolutions hide.

Ukraine shows us both progress and limits. Shaheds are intercepted with missiles, anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, MANPADS, and electronic warfare such as jamming. Systems like the Gepard and ZU-23-2 are used alongside older heavy machine guns like the DShK.

The central issue remains simple: focus on cost per interception — a layered approach with solutions that work and scale.

Related:

• Why The US May Not Be Able To Stop Iran’s Shahed Drone Attacks… Only so many air-defence interceptors are available to knock down an almost limitless number of drones

• The Pentagon and at least one Gulf government are in talks to buy Ukrainian-made interceptors to fend off attacks by Iranian drones

• US deploys laser interceptor for first time

• Rethinking Counter-Drone Defence: A Cybernetic Approach

• The Iran war has been a stunning aerial success… The Glaring Oversight in the U.S. War Plan

• Ukrainian autonomy company The Fourth Law unveils an anti-Shahed drone

• Getting creative:

  • North Vector Dynamics is building Canada’s answer

  • Footage of Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 Eagles and Eurofighter Typhoons shooting down incoming Iranian attack drones [VIDEO]

  • Onboard footage from United Arab Emirates Joint Aviation Command AH-64D Apache attack helicopters as they shoot down incoming Iranian attack drones [VIDEO]

  • The era of jamming drones is over

• Iran’s Missile Math: $20,000 Drones Take on $4 Million Patriots… Testing the limits of US inventory… Gulf states in race to secure more US interceptors

• The US Air Force can now load up to 76 low-cost APKWS guided rockets onto a single F-15, creating a <$20,000-per-shot answer to Iranian-style drone swarms

• Turkey Makes Aviation History With First Drone To Shoot Down A Moving Supersonic Target

• Defence start-ups set their sights on the interceptor market

• Autonomous drone warfare will soon be open source?

⚔️ TECH WARS 👨‍💻

Long-range Terrorism

“However, any such cooperation aimed at protecting our partners can only proceed without diminishing our own defense capabilities here in Ukraine…

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4 months ago · 4 likes · 1 comment · ⚔️Marc C Lange👨‍💻

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🤝 Deal Corner

Dominion Dynamics to build a sovereign autonomous wingman

Dominion Dynamics says it will invest $50 million to build Canada’s very own “autonomous wingman” to fly alongside crewed air fighters.

CEO Eliot Pence said in a statement that the systems “will allow Canada to operate effectively in the most contested and remote environments, including our own Arctic.”

On top of potentially preserving the lives of crewed aircraft, Autonomous Collaborative Platforms can also expand the reach and sensing capability of allied forces with persistent surveillance, electronic warfare, and strike support, the company added.

Related:

• In 1940, the British Air Ministry dismissed Geoffrey de Havilland’s proposal for an unarmed, all-wood bomber as absurd. De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited built the Mosquito anyway

• The Canadian Armed Forces are reliant on a single American defence giant to supply 100% of its ammunition, with all propellants made in Florida

• Pitchbook initiation report on SpaceX IPO: air value at $1.1T–$1.7T… $16B in revenue and $7.5B in EBITDA in 2025

• The Pentagon’s Favorite Tech Guy Is This Hawaiian Shirt-Wearing Founder

  • Kushner’s Thrive, Andreessen Lead $4 Billion Anduril Round

• Defence AI Lab Smack Raises $32M Seed and Series A

• Augur, a ‘grey-zone’ national security startup, raises $15M

• Orqa Raises $14.7M, Heads to the US

• Trump Sons Back New Drone Company Targeting

• Drones: a strategic tool for defence and markets

• H4D Heads to Germany

• Vast Secures $500M in Funding to Accelerate Production of Haven Space Stations

• British defence tech outfit Mutable Tactics raises over $2M in pre-seed round

• Hardware testing startup Nominal hits $1B valuation, raises $155M in 10 months

• Medicine Hat’s Landing Zones Canada: AI-enhanced drones get upgrade with $1.1-million investment

• Kraken dives deeper into defence with $615-million Covelya Group acquisition

• A Darkly Modern Guide to Betting on War

• CAE and TKMS Team Up for Canada’s Next Submarine Era

• 21 Canadian cybersecurity companies are coming to San Francisco for RSAC 2026

• One company makes both solid rocket motors (SRM) inside every Standard Missile (SM) the Navy buys. The United States Department of War just committed over $1.3 billion across three instruments to expand and sustain that industrial base

  • X-Bow Systems and the Future of U.S. Rocket Motor Production

  • The $12 Motor That Could Ground America’s Military Drones:

Industrial Base Alpha

Rival Robots

BLUF: This is my first article in a series called “Prototypes-To-Primes” where I profile the founders, investors, and companies they are building. Here I hope to shine a light on the hardworking people building in the toughest sector for the challenges of national security. This first one is a great story of a BattleBots champion and a serial entreprene…

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4 months ago · 12 likes · 5 comments · Matthew Bernard

• Finnish Defence Chief Warns Against Rushing Military Tech Adoption and Calls on Europe to Develop a New Kind of Maneuver Warfare

• An AI agent that monitors Canada Buys

• Bubble Technology Industries awarded contract to detect space radiation for astronauts

• Feds announce nearly $1 billion for domestic defence innovation, including Bombardier aircraft

• MDA Space: A Canadian company many haven’t heard of just grew revenue >50%

• Satellites are Canada’s next sovereignty frontier as global ‘race’ heats up

  • GPS jamming is emerging as an increasingly prevalent — and troubling — weapon of war

• Modern Military Technology Advancements and the Relevance of Textiles

• Applying lessons from Silicon Valley at the Pentagon

  • The Pentagon is dismantling one of the most entrenched pillars of its bureaucracy

  • US Army hopes to lure civilian tech workers by letting some join as captains

• Iran war underscores the ‘urgency’ for Europe to build its defence capabilities, VCs say… Europe’s defence tech start-ups hunt for more capital

• Boris Wertz: America’s H-1B visa debacle could send foreign founders our way. Our system needs a fix first

• Under the Hood: How Defence Startups Really Protect IP

• Reality Defender Joins NATO’s Cognitive Warfare Experimentation

• Strong products do not guarantee defence contracts… here’s the playbook

Britain’s World

Rethinking rearmament: The return of finance for defence

This article forms the second part of a two-part series on rethinking rearmament. The first part, focusing on industrial requirements, can be read here…

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4 months ago · 10 likes · Benedict Goodwin

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

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In the 20th century, innovation in semiconductors led to unprecedented industrial growth. In 21st century Canada, that could be a formidable economic unlock.

⚔️ Combat Readiness

How Iran’s missile arsenal is being wiped out

Iran’s missile threat has been severely degraded, with some estimates claiming as much as 70% of its launchers destroyed.

How does it work?: Satellites spot a missile launcher and instantly beam coordinates to the nearest F-35 which fires without ever seeing the target.

As Iran tries to move a launcher, U.S. satellites see it glowing like a matchstick from space, and can target the source. Every time a launcher launches a missile it exposes its position. They’re designed to be reusable but under these conditions they’re mostly only getting off one shot.

Defense Tech and Acquisition

Insights in Iran: Lethality in Action

Welcome to the latest edition of Defense Tech and Acquisition…

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3 months ago · 14 likes · 2 comments · Pete Modigliani and Matt MacGregor

Related:

• Iran roundup: Space Was ‘First Mover’ In Iran Conflict, Top General Says… Israel says it knocked out Iran’s cyber warfare headquarters… How China’s enormous bet on Iran failed… How America reverse engineered Iran’s top attack drone… U.S. Space Force’s AN/FPS-132 (Block 5) Ballistic Missile Early Warning Radar System in Qatar damaged by Iran… Cyber Command disrupted Iranian comms, sensors, top general says… U.S. intelligence sees Canada as ‘serious place of concern for Iranian activity’… Satellite firm pauses imagery after revealing Iran’s attacks on US bases… U.S. braces for cyberspace retaliation from Iran… Iran’s Underground ‘Missile Cities’ Have Become One of Its Biggest Vulnerabilities… The Four Hour Cyber War on Iran… Israel’s jet-launched ballistic missile that took Khamenei by surprise:

Iran’s arsenal:

Shanaka Anslem Perera

The Invisible Siege: How Insurance Markets, Not Missiles, Closed the Strait of Hormuz

Shanaka Anslem Perera | March 3, 2026…

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4 months ago · 337 likes · 48 comments · Shanaka Anslem Perera

• AI warfare: Iran War Provides a Large-Scale Test for AI-Assisted Warfare… Meet the startups trying to build military-specific AI… To strike 1,000 targets in 24 hours in Iran, the U.S. military leveraged the most advanced AI it’s ever used in warfare… How the US military uses Claude… Intelligence, targeting and damage assessments are accelerating in Iran thanks to military versions of software now remaking business and daily life… How could AI fundamentally affect military leadership?

  • Maduro raid was the trigger point for the DoW’s conflict with Anthropic… Pentagon formally designates Anthropic a supply-chain risk

  • Project Dynamis — the US Marine Corps’ flagship initiative to bring AI-powered decision advantage to the tactical edge — has an immediate, one-year ADOS billet available

• Canadian bacon: Canada’s submarine conundrum: Buying a few boats is harder than it looks… Canadian military refuses to release photo of air force commander signing F-35 fuselage… Saab sees Canada as ‘great’ partner to design next-generation fighter jets… U.S. could hold a ‘red card’ over Canada’s Gripen fighter jet option… Canada Once Had Nukes. We Might Need to Bring Them Back… Is “Lockheed Martin Canada” an authentically Canadian company, when it is fully controlled by an American parent company?… From Client State to Sovereign Power… Canadian Government Provides Next Steps to Sovereign Cloud… Despite US-Canada tensions, it’s business as usual at NORAD: U.S. F-35s and Canadian CF-18 Fighters Train to Stop Cruise Missiles Approaching Through the Arctic… Canada Is Already at War with the US—We Just Don’t Know It Yet… Navy commander, SecState kibosh mixed submarine fleet… Canadians assigned to ‘other duties’ outside of Iran strikes while on U.S. exchange… Canada’s small military is a big problem for Carney… Canada is not a middle power – it’s a future great power

• The Future of War Is Drones Bombing Data Centers

• Defence Investment Agency seeks input from Canadian industry on future submarine fleet sustainment

• Drone wars: Anthropic Made Pitch in Drone Swarm Contest During Pentagon Feud… Drone Dominance: Pentagon to order 30,000 one-way drones in ‘next few days’… When drone production becomes distributed warfare… NATO to Shift Focus From Tanks to Drones, AI at July Summit

• Arctic shelf: Arctic warfare… Trump’s Greenland gambit exposes Canada’s Arctic vulnerability… Arctic Summit in Whitehorse talks infrastructure, security in the North… Closing Strategic Gaps in the Face of China’s Expanding Influence in the Canadian Arctic… Arctic security talks need more focus on intelligence, say some analysts… Japan may join Canadian Arctic military exercises as part of new strategic partnership

• America cannot rebuild its military to attack without China:

• The Emerging Role of UGVs

• NASA successfully kicks asteroid off course in Earth defence test

• China Building Subs That Can Strike U.S. From Closer to Home, U.S. Navy Warns… China’s Defence Budget Is Bigger Than You Think

• U.S. military tested device that may be tied to Havana Syndrome on rats, sheep, confidential sources say

• Ukraine’s first defence unicorn: This New Company Will Build Ukraine’s Deadly Drone Boats For Western Militaries

  • Uforce’s CEO Oleg Rogynskyy 🍁

• From the Ukrainian front: Armed robots take to the battlefield in Ukraine war… Interceptor launch from Ukrainian naval drone [VIDEO]… Networked for War: Lessons from Ukraine’s Ground Robots… Russia’s Starlink shutdown is a blow to its soldiers and drones

ROBIN’s Substack

Ukraine’s unseen victory.

While world attention has been drawn towards the new. evolving war in Iran there is a danger we will forget to watch what is going on in Ukraine…

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4 months ago · 89 likes · 1 comment · ROBIN HORSFALL

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🔫 Hot Shots

• Grey war: Trump’s new cyber strategy details more offensive response to cyber threats… Iran-Backed Hackers Aim for Economic Disruption… US releases national cyber strategy… A Possible US Government iPhone-Hacking Toolkit Is Now in the Hands of Foreign Spies and Criminals… Why National Guard Troops Lead In Cyber Warfare, Drone Tactics… This AI agent freed itself and started secretly mining crypto… China Suspected in Breach of FBI Surveillance Network… Your WiFi router can see you through walls… An attacker hid a prompt in a GitHub issue title. An AI triage bot read it, interpreted it as an instruction, and handed over the npm token… Fake DOD memo about ‘compromised’ apps shows swift spread of deceptive messaging… Iranian Hacking Outage Coincided With Israeli Military Strike

• Bio defence: Why Washington Confuses Pandemics with Bioweapons… Defending Against the Next Bioweapon: the mRNA Imperative

• Monitoring the situation: Interactive global intelligence dashboard

• Odds & ends: Canada’s lack of mineral processing capabilities is a defence vulnerability, committee hears… Australia to join G7 critical minerals alliance, Canada’s Carney says… NordSpace is looking for a Sr. BD Director… Plan Qulliq’s first Innovation Lab takes flight… Innospace Explores Canadian Launch Option… Swedish brochure “In case of crisis or war” provides advice on how to prepare yourself and what you should do in the event of crisis or war… Here’s Canada’s version… The new alliance positioning Edmonton as a Canadian defence hub… Switzerland just published its national quantum strategy, and it’s worth a read… H1 2026 Canadian Defence Events… CDAI 2026 Strategic Outlook: The Road to Five Percent

Noahpinion

Japan can be America's arsenal

I just came back from Andreessen Horowitz’ American Dynamism Summit in Washington, D.C. It was very refreshing to see so many smart people invested in both American reindustrialization and American defense…

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4 months ago · 356 likes · 26 comments · Rie Yano - Coral Capital

If you’ve got battlefield intel, classified tips, or just want to call in an airstrike on our typos, hit “reply” and sound off. Whether it’s a new tech sighting, a rumour from the mess hall, or feedback on our comms, we want your SITREP.

Share The Icebreaker

Over the weekend, the US and Israel kicked off a major air campaign against Iran, framed as a strike to cripple Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities. It’s already spilled across the region due to Iranian missile and drone retaliation against several neighbouring Gulf states, much of which targeted civilian infrastructure.

Reality check: Canada’s official line is “we support the objective, but we’re not participating militarily” — except Canada had up to ~18 CAF exchange personnel embedded with US forces in Bahrain (U.S. 5th Fleet) and Qatar (the CAOC at Al Udeid), which is exactly where targeting, air tasking, and operational coordination happens.

As Canada continues to grapple with the fallout of the ongoing conflict in Iran, a group of police chiefs say there are no imminent threats in Canada or to Canadians. However, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is warning Canadians to be vigilant.

Bottom Line: Like in Ukraine, this conflict demonstrates that modern war is an industrial + data contest. Canada should treat it as a forcing function for (1) counter-UAS and integrated air & missile defence (sensors + EW + interceptors + command software), (2) targeting-grade ISR (space, airborne, maritime; fusion that turns “too much sensor data” into “actionable decisions”), (3) base/critical-infrastructure defence (hardening, rapid detection, cyber resilience, incident response), and (4) munitions + sustainment (predictive logistics, domestic/ally manufacturing capacity, cheaper autonomous systems that preserve exquisite assets).

The winners won’t be “one magic drone” — they’ll be companies that plug into allied command stacks, survive procurement gauntlets, and measurably reduce the cost per defended asset or cost per successful strike. In this new world, unit economics is strategy.

Related:

• Homefront: CSIS acting to prevent possible Iranian proxy attacks on US targets in Canada, former spies say… Vancouver’s Iranian community celebrates after Iran’s supreme leader killed

  • A visual guide to the industrial processes you can no longer permit in the state of California — and the grandfathered facilities that still can

• Ripple effects?

  • Russia: How Iran help(ed) Russia produce drones… Kyiv says Russia accepted US plan for Ukraine security guarantees

  • China: The Iran Question Is All About China… China is the primary buyer of Iran’s oil: Why China Is the Wildcard for Markets in the US-Iran Conflict… History repeats?… Five charts show China’s oil dilemma after US strikes

    • What happens if the Strait of Hormuz closes [VIDEO]

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🤝 Deal Corner

A unique investment asymmetry?

Canada, despite being a G7 economy, a top-10 NATO contributor, and responsible for one of the largest sovereign geographies on earth — including the Arctic — remains the only major allied nation without a full-stack prime or sovereign systems integrator. Our defence industrial base is composed primarily of Tier-2 and Tier-3 suppliers embedded in foreign programs. This creates a unique investment asymmetry.

Related:

• Canada’s defence companies battle for billions in historic military build-up

• Ready for takeoff: How former Canadian fighter pilots built one of our most successful defence companies helping train foreign militaries

• Quantum, cloud and cyber take shape in Canadian defence plan… China Is Now Trying to Use Fancy Quantum Sensors To Unstealth U.S. Navy Nuclear Attack and Missile Submarines… Lockheed Martin and Xanadu: Redefining Quantum Machine Learning… Xanadu Expected to Become the First and Only Publicly Traded Pure-Play Photonic Quantum Computing Company

• NordSpace launches venture arm with strategic investment in Wyvern… The Future of Government Space Contracts

• RBC Seeks to Bet on New Defence, Energy Projects in Canada

• Canadian-owned defence and tech firms launch Ottawa-based trade association

• Fighter jets and subs exempt from new defence industrial strategy, feds say

• The push to create a Canadian rival to GPS

• Ottawa makes first RDII investments in Ontario with $15 million for CDL Defence and Wolf Advanced Technology

• Public market comps from BCI including in defence… The Big Bet on European Defence Stocks Is Getting Expensive

• US Navy Awards $50M to Castelion for Blackbeard Hypersonic Weapon

• Auterion, the drone software startup, eyes raising $200M at a $1.2B+ valuation

• Chariot Raises $34M Series A

The Pentagon is opening doors for innovation: The CTO just announced a two-year royalty-free trial on 400 carefully selected patents from DoD labs to help industry accelerate tech development and commercialization

• Nuclear startup Proxima Fusion is aiming to secure around €2bn to build a test facility in Germany

  • Nuclear Fuel: The Most Sophisticated Industrial Product You’ve Never Heard About

• Aalyria Raises $100M at a $1.3B Valuation… Google spinout Aalyria valued at $1.3 billion as investors pour into space-based communications… Roundup of European space companies

• NODA AI Raises $25M Bessemer-led Series A at $125M Valuation

• Vector closed a SOCOM contract in ~18 months

• German startup develops cyborg insect swarms for NATO forces [VIDEO]

• Air defence startups Frankenburg and Tytan raise €30m each from Plural, NATO Innovation Fund

  • Investors back European start-ups building low-cost air defence

  • Drone swarms and deal fever: consultants cash in on Europe’s defence pivot

• Staggering European defence industry order backlogs, according to Vincent Marmion:

  • BAE Systems (UK): £83.6B

  • Thales (France): €16.8B

  • Leonardo (Italy): €47.3B

  • Airbus (Netherlands/France): €46.8B

  • Rheinmetall AG (Germany): €55B

  • Rolls-Royce (UK): £18.8B

  • Saab AB (Sweden): SEK 275B

  • MBDA (Multiple): €37B

  • Safran (France): does not provide backlog data

  • Naval Group (France): €14.4B

  • TKMS (Germany): €18.7B

• Autonomous Warship Startup Saronic Raising at $7.5 Billion Valuation… a profile on the company by Kyle Briggs

• Building a Better Missile: How the Sidewinder was invented

  • It’s a Miracle: A Cheap Pentagon Missile — The Air Force has built the ERAM cruise missile in 16 months

• The Looming Taiwan Chip Disaster That Silicon Valley Has Long Ignored

• How Estonia built a defence industry from scratch

• Canada Needs American Dynamism… A neo-mercantilist ‘offer’ for Canada… Canada, like Europe, seeks to break U.S. defence dependency

  • The Transatlantic Defence Business Politics Can’t Break

• Germany limits drone deal after Peter Thiel backlash… Merz steps up scrutiny of arms procurement amid spending angst

• NATO tech accelerator’s search for new chief drags on, sparking complaints

• Pentagon’s spending plan doubles down on land, air, sea robots

• The Defence Industry Doesn’t Need More Applicants — It Needs More Value

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Barrack Hill: Navigating Canada’s defence and procurement landscape with precision.

💾 Attention Calgary: Announcing the 2026 Red Team Hackathon Series

A national defence-tech innovation challenge for Canada’s brightest entrepreneurs, startups, and future leaders.

The 2026 Red Team Defence Tech Hackathon Series continues in Calgary in partnership with the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).

This national series brings together entrepreneurial teams and early-stage startups from across Canada to compete for $200,000 in total prize money, potential grants, and exclusive internship opportunities — all while solving critical dual-use challenges that matter to Canada’s defence and security ecosystem.

Modern Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) operations increasingly rely on drones, ground robots, maritime vessels, sensors, and networked platforms operating in complex and contested environments. As system density increases, cognitive load on operators rises — creating operational friction, delays, and potential mission risk.

Calgary Event: March 21, 2026 | Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), Calgary, AB

Ten selected teams will compete for a $20,000 prize pool and the opportunity to advance to the Grand Final in Ottawa this November.

Your Mission: Voice-Driven UxS: Converting Battlefield Voice Commands into Operational Tasks for Uncrewed Systems

Design and prototype a voice-enabled Command & Control (C2) system that allows a single Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) operator to convert battlefield voice commands into actionable operational tasks for Uncrewed Systems (UxS).

What’s at Stake

• $20,000 Calgary prize pool

• Qualification pathway to the Ottawa Grand Final

• National exposure within Canada’s defence-tech ecosystem

• Access to industry mentors and internship opportunities

Presented by: Remote Robotic Systems

Sponsored by: AVSS, Orqa, ThinkOn, and NORRG

Marketing Partner: The Icebreaker

Register Now: www.redteamhack.ca

⚔️ Combat Readiness

Cyber operations were almost certainly used against Iran in the early hours of Operation Epic Fury. AI, cyberattacks, and cheap drones helped the US and Israel carry out targeted Iranian leadership assassinations

Russian commentators are sounding the alarm over America’s use of a new kamikaze drone against Iran. It appears to have an integrated Starlink terminal, and was reverse-engineered from Iran’s own Shahed-136.

US officials claimed the attack was necessary to stop Iran from building up an impenetrable stockpile of drones and missiles to ring fence their nuclear program.

Now, the US is racing to accomplish the Iran mission before its own munitions run out. Missile interceptor stocks are also low. Check out the missile math: only so many air-defence interceptors are available to knock down an almost limitless number of Iranian drones.

Related:

• Iran roundup: Hacking traffic cameras — inside the plan to kill Ali Khamenei… How Cyber Command contributed to Operation Epic Fury against Iran… Russia abandons Iran… US using cyber warfare to fracture Islamic regime from within its ranks… Hackers hit Iranian apps, websites after US-Israeli strikes… How Russian and Chinese Tech Underpins Iranian Strategic Depth… Can Iran hit back hard enough? Missile and interceptor math matters… Black Tomahawk Cruise Missile Seen For The First Time In Strikes On Iran… Iran Has One Card Left—It’s Pointed at Your Network

  • Vessels near the Strait of Hormuz are suffering from a complete loss of GPS signals [VIDEO]

  • Israel used a laser air defence system against rockets launched from Lebanon [VIDEO]

    • America needs a lot more weapons: A high-low mix of exquisite, expensive munitions and inexpensive mass-produced ones

    • Macron orders nuclear warhead increase and unveils ‘forward deterrence’ plan for Europe

The Defense Brief

(Early) Lessons from Iran

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4 months ago · 19 likes · 1 comment · Louise Boucher

• AI warfare: The F-35 now has an AI co-pilot… How to Adapt in an Era of Algorithm Warfare… AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations… CrowdStrike: The Age of the AI Adversary Begins… Why the nations that can power inference will own the models, the narratives, and the future

  • Anthropic situation: U.S. Strikes in Middle East Use Anthropic, Hours After Trump Ban… US Accused of Using AI For Spying, Killer Robots… Military Worries Simmer at OpenAI, Google As Anthropic Hits Stalemate With Pentagon

    • Palmer Luckey — should the military be regulated by corporate execs?

    • Musk’s xAI and Pentagon reach deal to use Grok in classified systems

    • Pentagon moves to build AI tools for China cyber operations

    • AI Inside the French Armed Forces

    • China’s AI Arsenal

    • What’s Next: World Models and Their Importance in Physical AI

    • A preview of what OpenClaw can do for surveillance and remote monitoring

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