Brampton, Ont.-based

MDA Space Ltd.

is betting that its new

defence

company can rake in multi-billion-dollar contracts as Canada accelerates its defence spending blitz.

Canada’s largest space technology company, best known for building the Canadarm, on Thursday officially launched 49North Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary that will focus on developing technologies from sensors and communications systems to autonomous systems such as unmanned aerial vehicles to boost a military’s capabilities in intelligence, surveillance and more.

The new Ottawa-headquartered company will be led by Joe Armstrong, who previously held executive roles at CAE Inc., including overseeing the Montreal-based company’s global defence portfolio that spanned 40-plus countries.

MDA Space chief executive Mike Greenley said 49North, which has been in progress since last June, is a “natural extension and evolution” of MDA Space’s goal to provide defence capabilities both in and outside space.

“We have this collection of defence activity that’s not involved in space,” he said. “We were talking about how to bring to light the non-space defence activity that we do (and) looking at ways to focus our business in the areas that matter.”

Staffed by hundreds of employees across Canada, 49North will focus on advancing already-established projects, such as unmanned aerial vehicle programs for the Canadian Air Force and the Royal Canadian Navy and building electronic warfare systems for navy ships. It will also soon start actively recruiting more workers.

The company’s core objective will be to service Canada’s military buildup and boost its defence capabilities, ambitions that have been supercharged by Ottawa’s recent defence commitments as outlined in the last budget and its long-awaited Defence Industrial Strategy.

Greenley said it is well-positioned to score major domestic contracts.

“The highest priority is to deliver defence capabilities to the Canadian Armed Forces and to support that capability once delivered,” he said. “As part of MDA Space, 49North has the ability to take on very large, multi-billion-dollar programs (unlike) small,

new defence companies

that might take on smaller projects.”

The government’s new

defence strategy

prioritizes homegrown suppliers that focus on areas such as aerospace, unmanned autonomous systems, sensors and specialized manufacturing. It also aims to increase the share of defence contracts awarded to Canadian companies by 70 per cent and to expand partnerships with select companies to “build world-leading champions.” Ottawa wants to grow domestic defence industry revenues by more than 240 per cent by 2035 and increase defence exports by 50 per cent.

Homegrown businesses and provinces have already made moves in hopes of tapping into the $82 billion that Ottawa has earmarked for defence.

Prince Edward Island Premier Rob Lantz on Wednesday said the province will set up an advisory panel to help local companies pursue defence-related opportunities. British Columbia last year recruited former defence minister Harjit Sajjan to identify areas where the province could snag some of the defence funding. Sajjan in January

launched

his own defence technology startup focused on autonomous systems software for military and civilian use.

A series of defence and dual-use startups and venture funds have also recently launched, including Ottawa’s Dominion Dynamics Inc., which in January

secured

Canada’s largest early stage defence tech fundraising round.

  • Telesat, MDA Space awarded the first contract from Ottawa’s new defence investment agency
  • MDA Space acquires Israeli digital satellite company SatixFy Communications

• Email: ylau@postmedia.com