Canada launches national drone market to speed up production capacity, third of Canadian drones to go to Ukraine – Carney
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the creation of the Defence Drone Initiative Marketplace (DDIM) Supply Arrangement, a national digital drone marketplace that will connect operators and end users with Canada's defense ecosystem, speeding up the sourcing, procurement and deployment of capabilities related to unmanned systems and counter-drone defense.
"... I have to admit our armed forces currently have about 2,000 drones. In the coming years we'll need millions. So earlier this year our government, the government of Canada, launched the Defence Drone Initiative to scale up domestic drone production. This initiative will provide safe, reliable, world-class drone systems for the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Coast Guard," Carney said, speaking to media alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He said Canada is taking important steps to build up its drone capabilities and to deepen its partnership with Ukraine in the process. Carney said the launch of the national drone marketplace for the Canadian Armed Forces will give Canada the ability to produce millions of drones over the next two years.
"Today's contracts will increase the number of drones available to the Canadian Armed Forces tenfold. Importantly, a third of all the drones we produce will go to support Ukraine's defense," the prime minister said.