Strengthening Partnerships and Building Canadian Supply Chains

Thales is living Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy. As our workforce grows, we are strengthening the country’s industrial base through partnerships with more than 350 Canadian suppliers. More than 70% of these hold multi-year contracts and nearly 50% are small-and medium-sized businesses. The breadth of our supply chain reflects our commitment to long-term relationships, the creation of sovereign capabilities and high-quality Canadian jobs, and continuing to build and partner in Canada.

We are also expanding and sustaining Canada’s Industrial base through in-house capability expansion and technology transfer. The expansion of the Uncooled Optronics Centre of Excellence in Quebec ensures Canada has the domestic capability and capacity to produce essential vehicle and soldier defence technologies. We also enable long-term evolution of C4ISR systems for operational success both domestically and internationally.  

Accoss our operations, Thales leverages the expansive talent of Canada’s defence industry to meet customer needs and bring new solutions to market. Recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 R&D spenders by Research Infosource, Thales works with more than 55 research institutes and consortia nationwide. In 2025 alone, we invested more than $51 million in Canadian R&D, reinforcing our role as a trusted partner to organizations such as the National Research Council, Defence Research and Development Canada, and Mitacs.