Public demand signal · NATO

Defending against air and missile attacks

See the five public problem areas NATO is asking industry and innovation teams to work against, then compare Canadian technologies without mistaking alignment for eligibility or endorsement.

Read the original source

Source-backed fact

What needs to change

Detect, track, prioritize, and engage a growing mix of air and missile threats before they reach forces or critical infrastructure, including in all-weather and high-readiness conditions.

Source-backed fact

What success looks like

Layered defences share reliable data in real time, remain mobile and resilient, and preserve enough capacity to respond across sustained operations.

3 reviewed assessments

Organizations with technology that may be relevant

Each connection pairs the organization-specific reason it may be relevant with the public evidence that supports it.

QinetiQ Target Systems Canada Hammerhead and Barracuda Naval Target Systems

Moderate public evidence

Hammerhead and Barracuda Naval Target Systems may help teams working on Defending against air and missile attacks by contributing to detection and situational awareness, aerospace operations, and targeting and precision effects.

What supports this assessment

Hammerhead USVs put allies to the test (opens in a new tab)
QinetiQ · official company news
QinetiQ's March 2026 report identifies the Canadian Target Systems team and documents deployment and remote control of ten Hammerhead targets in three multinational exercise scenarios.
Uncrewed Surface Targets (opens in a new tab)
QinetiQ · official company product
QinetiQ's official surface-target portfolio describes Hammerhead, Barracuda, Sprite II and tow targets for naval live-fire readiness, fast-attack-craft and piracy scenarios, including simultaneous control of up to 40 targets.
NATO Aggregated Demand Signal to Industry and Innovation Ecosystems Across the Alliance (opens in a new tab)
NATO · government policy
Defending against air and missile attacks
Hammerhead MkII Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (opens in a new tab)
QinetiQ · official company product
The Hammerhead MkII product page supports line-of-sight and over-the-horizon control, 35-knot operation in Sea State 3, payload customization and swarm threat representation.

Rheinmetall Canada Air defence, weapons and vehicle sustainment

Moderate public evidence

Air defence, weapons and vehicle sustainment may help teams working on Defending against air and missile attacks by contributing to aerospace operations, targeting and precision effects, and protection and survivability.

What supports this assessment

NATO Aggregated Demand Signal to Industry and Innovation Ecosystems Across the Alliance (opens in a new tab)
NATO · government policy
Defending against air and missile attacks
Government of Canada recovery vehicle contracts (opens in a new tab)
Public Services and Procurement Canada · award or contract
The cited official portfolio material supports the Air defence, weapons and vehicle sustainment capability family and its described delivery scope; product and platform availability remains configuration-dependent.

QinetiQ Target Systems Canada Banshee Aerial Target Systems

Moderate public evidence

Banshee Aerial Target Systems may help teams working on Defending against air and missile attacks by contributing to detection and situational awareness, aerospace operations, and targeting and precision effects.

What supports this assessment

QinetiQ Target Systems — Ground Based Air Defence partnering profile (opens in a new tab)
CanadaBuys · procurement notice
CanadaBuys identifies QTS as a Canadian aerial-target equipment and services provider and documents Banshee use across a broad set of ground-based and naval air-defence systems.
NATO Aggregated Demand Signal to Industry and Innovation Ecosystems Across the Alliance (opens in a new tab)
NATO · government policy
Defending against air and missile attacks
Banshee Jet 80 aerial target (opens in a new tab)
QinetiQ · official company product
The Banshee Jet 80 official page documents twin turbine propulsion, land and sea launch, use with surface-to-air and air-to-air weapon systems, modular target enhancement and realistic infrared signatures.

Evidence limits

An empty result means the research is incomplete, not that Canada lacks relevant technology.
Public statements do not establish procurement timing, budgets, eligibility, or endorsement.
Every future assessment must remain source-linked and open to editorial review.

Defence Signals

Developments connected to this Defence need

Payloads, production lines and pressure tests

A Halifax space company has bought a hyperspectral payload, the Coast Guard has asked industry how landing craft could support two future polar icebreakers, and new financing is moving into Canadian flight-test, uncrewed-aircraft and aerospace-production capacity. A Montreal materials company has also been selected to receive a proposed U.S. defence-production award aimed at gallium-arsenide components. These records sit at different proof thresholds. A purchased sensor creates an integration path; an RFI defines a problem; capital and floor space create capacity; and a proposed award outlines a qualification route. AMALGAM DART and the RAF's fielded Giraffe 1X radars show the later stages: systems tested in a binational operating problem or delivered into an active defensive architecture. None of those stages should be collapsed into readiness. The payload has not launched, the landing craft have not been procured, financed facilities have not demonstrated output, and selected production has not completed qualification. The useful comparison is where each record sits between intent and operational effect, and what evidence must come next.

Connected item: AMALGAM DART tests binational air defence

Explicit Defence need record link

Read the Defence Signal

From ore to operational effect

Canada's defence capacity can be read from the ground up. McIlvenna Bay has produced its first copper, zinc and pyrite concentrates; Bombardier has agreed to absorb a 750-person Mississauga aerostructures operation; and Canadian firms and innovation hubs are joining transmission, integration, testing and commercialization. Farther along the chain, NATO DIANA has selected an adoption-focused cohort, DRDC has defined the real operating conditions for Arctic drones, MAPLE STRIKE has exercised the command infrastructure behind airpower, and the U.S. Army has placed its first production contract for a high-energy laser. Together, the records show that capability gains value at the handoff between inputs, skilled production, integrated systems, adoption support, explicit requirements, exercised operations and funded production. The evidence does not establish that every Canadian input will reach a defence program, that the announced collaborations will produce contracts, or that systems entering production have completed operational fielding. The practical question is narrower: which handoffs can Canadian organizations own, and what proof does each next user need?

Connected item: The U.S. Army orders its first production laser

Explicit Defence need record link

Read the Defence Signal

Continue exploring

Continue from the defence need into the evidence graph

Follow reviewed organization connections, Mission areas derived through named capabilities, the focused map, and direct or clearly labelled derived editorial paths.

Organizations

Profiles that provide the strongest reviewed or discovery-led continuation.

Mission and ecosystem paths

Follow reviewed needs, mission areas, technologies, programs, domains, regions, or focused map views.

View organizations connected to Defending against air and missile attacks

Signals and briefs

Continue into connected editorial intelligence; each link identifies whether the path is explicit or derived.

Public-source alignment only. This is not procurement eligibility, NATO endorsement, or a classified requirement.

Continue exploring

Carry the defence need into a practical search.

Open the mapped view, inspect potentially relevant organizations, and save records and evidence to a private Shortlist.

Explore on the map My shortlists

Public demand signal · NATO

Defending against air and missile attacks

See the five public problem areas NATO is asking industry and innovation teams to work against, then compare Canadian technologies without mistaking alignment for eligibility or endorsement.

Read the original source

Source-backed fact

What needs to change

Detect, track, prioritize, and engage a growing mix of air and missile threats before they reach forces or critical infrastructure, including in all-weather and high-readiness conditions.

Source-backed fact

What success looks like

Layered defences share reliable data in real time, remain mobile and resilient, and preserve enough capacity to respond across sustained operations.

3 reviewed assessments

Organizations with technology that may be relevant

Each connection pairs the organization-specific reason it may be relevant with the public evidence that supports it.

QinetiQ Target Systems Canada Hammerhead and Barracuda Naval Target Systems

Moderate public evidence

What supports this assessment

Hammerhead USVs put allies to the test (opens in a new tab)
QinetiQ · official company news
QinetiQ's March 2026 report identifies the Canadian Target Systems team and documents deployment and remote control of ten Hammerhead targets in three multinational exercise scenarios.
Uncrewed Surface Targets (opens in a new tab)
QinetiQ · official company product
QinetiQ's official surface-target portfolio describes Hammerhead, Barracuda, Sprite II and tow targets for naval live-fire readiness, fast-attack-craft and piracy scenarios, including simultaneous control of up to 40 targets.
NATO Aggregated Demand Signal to Industry and Innovation Ecosystems Across the Alliance (opens in a new tab)
NATO · government policy
Defending against air and missile attacks
Hammerhead MkII Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (opens in a new tab)
QinetiQ · official company product
The Hammerhead MkII product page supports line-of-sight and over-the-horizon control, 35-knot operation in Sea State 3, payload customization and swarm threat representation.

Rheinmetall Canada Air defence, weapons and vehicle sustainment

Moderate public evidence

What supports this assessment

NATO Aggregated Demand Signal to Industry and Innovation Ecosystems Across the Alliance (opens in a new tab)
NATO · government policy
Defending against air and missile attacks
Government of Canada recovery vehicle contracts (opens in a new tab)
Public Services and Procurement Canada · award or contract
The cited official portfolio material supports the Air defence, weapons and vehicle sustainment capability family and its described delivery scope; product and platform availability remains configuration-dependent.

QinetiQ Target Systems Canada Banshee Aerial Target Systems

Moderate public evidence

What supports this assessment

QinetiQ Target Systems — Ground Based Air Defence partnering profile (opens in a new tab)
CanadaBuys · procurement notice
CanadaBuys identifies QTS as a Canadian aerial-target equipment and services provider and documents Banshee use across a broad set of ground-based and naval air-defence systems.
NATO Aggregated Demand Signal to Industry and Innovation Ecosystems Across the Alliance (opens in a new tab)
NATO · government policy
Defending against air and missile attacks
Banshee Jet 80 aerial target (opens in a new tab)
QinetiQ · official company product
The Banshee Jet 80 official page documents twin turbine propulsion, land and sea launch, use with surface-to-air and air-to-air weapon systems, modular target enhancement and realistic infrared signatures.

Evidence limits

An empty result means the research is incomplete, not that Canada lacks relevant technology.
Public statements do not establish procurement timing, budgets, eligibility, or endorsement.
Every future assessment must remain source-linked and open to editorial review.

Defence Signals

Developments connected to this Defence need

Payloads, production lines and pressure tests

Connected item: AMALGAM DART tests binational air defence

Explicit Defence need record link

Read the Defence Signal

From ore to operational effect

Connected item: The U.S. Army orders its first production laser

Explicit Defence need record link

Read the Defence Signal

Continue exploring

Continue from the defence need into the evidence graph

Follow reviewed organization connections, Mission areas derived through named capabilities, the focused map, and direct or clearly labelled derived editorial paths.

Organizations

Profiles that provide the strongest reviewed or discovery-led continuation.

Mission and ecosystem paths

Follow reviewed needs, mission areas, technologies, programs, domains, regions, or focused map views.

View organizations connected to Defending against air and missile attacks

Signals and briefs

Continue into connected editorial intelligence; each link identifies whether the path is explicit or derived.

Public-source alignment only. This is not procurement eligibility, NATO endorsement, or a classified requirement.

Continue exploring

Carry the defence need into a practical search.

Open the mapped view, inspect potentially relevant organizations, and save records and evidence to a private Shortlist.

Explore on the map My shortlists

What needs to change

What success looks like

Organizations with technology that may be relevant

Evidence limits

Developments connected to this Defence need

Payloads, production lines and pressure tests

From ore to operational effect

Continue from the defence need into the evidence graph

Organizations

Mission and ecosystem paths

Signals and briefs

Carry the defence need into a practical search.

Your weekly briefing on Canadian defence

What needs to change

What success looks like

Organizations with technology that may be relevant

Evidence limits

Developments connected to this Defence need

Payloads, production lines and pressure tests

From ore to operational effect

Continue from the defence need into the evidence graph

Organizations

Mission and ecosystem paths

Signals and briefs

Carry the defence need into a practical search.

Your weekly briefing on Canadian defence