Canada and Ukraine signed a formal production arrangement at CANSEC on Wednesday, turning a year-old political pledge into bricks and mortar reality.
The deal creates Airlogix-Sentinel, a joint venture between Ukrainian drone maker Airlogix and Canadian UAS manufacturer Sentinel Research and Development, and commits both governments to manufacturing Ukrainian uncrewed aerial systems on Canadian soil.
It is the first concrete vehicle for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s August commitment to invest in drones, counter-drone capabilities, and electronic warfare through Canadian-Ukrainian industry partnerships. The signing at CANSEC, Canada’s premier defence and emerging-technology event, gave that pledge an operational structure.
Minister of National Defence David J. McGuinty co-signed the arrangement alongside his Ukrainian counterparts. He framed the venture as serving two purposes at once.
“Canada is proud to deepen its defence partnership with Ukraine through this new project arrangement,” McGuinty said. “By supporting joint ventures like Airlogix-Sentinel, we are helping deliver the critical capabilities Ukraine needs while supporting high-value Canadian jobs and strengthening Canada’s industrial base.”
The partnership leans deliberately into Ukraine’s battlefield advantage. Canada acknowledged Ukraine’s operational expertise in autonomous systems and said the arrangement is designed to open further joint development and co-production opportunities beyond its initial scope.
Sentinel R&D CEO Kath Intson put it plainly. “Since day one, Sentinel R&D has believed that we must collaborate and build with Ukraine in order to earn the privilege of learning from this highly capable and resilient ally,” she said.
On the Ukrainian side, speed is the headline metric. Airlogix Chief Commercial Officer Dmytro Piatrin said, “Our main intention is to provide effective systems as fast as possible to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We are optimistic that this joint venture is in line with that goal.”
The signing lands against a backdrop of deepening Canadian commitment. Since February 2022, Canada has committed more than $25.5 billion in total assistance to Ukraine, of which $8.5 billion is military aid. On February 24, the four-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, McGuinty announced roughly $2 billion in military assistance for fiscal year 2026-27 and renewed Operation UNIFIER, Canada’s military training mission in Ukraine, for three additional years through 2029.
The Airlogix-Sentinel venture is also framed as advancing Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy, positioning domestically produced UAS capacity as both a security asset and an industrial one.
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