Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a $2 billion investment on Wednesday to acquire 190 new armoured combat support vehicles for the Canadian Armed Forces, marking the latest step in his government’s push to overhaul the country’s military procurement system and strengthen domestic defence manufacturing.
Speaking to reporters in London, Ontario, Carney confirmed that General Dynamics Land Systems will build the vehicles at its local facility, bringing Canada’s total fleet of armoured combat support vehicles to 550 once deliveries are complete. The four-year contract represents one of several major defence purchases the Carney government has finalized in recent weeks.
“These vehicles are manufactured in order to last, with capabilities which match the next generation’s requirements,” Carney told reporters at the announcement.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the new vehicles are built to withstand gunfire, landmines, and improvised explosive devices while remaining agile enough to operate alongside frontline units. Officials say the deal will create or sustain more than 6,000 jobs each year over an eight-year period, with economic benefits extending well beyond Ontario. The PMO pointed to steel workers in Saskatchewan, engineers specializing in thermal imaging in Quebec, and electricians in Nova Scotia as examples of the ripple effects the contract is expected to generate across the country.
The purchase is also the first agreement struck under the federal government’s new Strategic Partnership Framework, part of a broader Defence Industrial Strategy designed to deepen ties between Canada’s major defence contractors and domestic suppliers. Companies entering these partnerships are required to commit to Canadian research and development, expand supply chains within the country, and prioritize hiring Canadian workers.
Wednesday’s announcement fits into a much larger pattern of rising military investment under Carney’s government. Canada’s defence budget climbed from $38.3 billion in 2023 to $62.7 billion in 2025, allowing the country to finally meet NATO’s longstanding benchmark of spending 2 percent of GDP on defence a target Canada had fallen short of for years. Carney has gone further still, pledging that Canada will hit NATO’s newer, more ambitious goal of 5 percent of GDP in defence and defence-related spending by 2035.
The armoured vehicle contract is only the most recent in a string of high-profile procurement decisions. Just ten days earlier, on July 6, Carney revealed that Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems had been chosen as the preferred bidder to construct Canada’s next generation of submarines a program that could see up to 12 Type 212CD vessels enter service, with formal negotiations between Ottawa and the company now underway.
In May, the government also began negotiations to acquire Sweden’s GlobalEye early warning aircraft, opting to explore that route rather than proceeding with the American-built Boeing E-7 Wedgetail or the L3Harris Aeris X.
Meanwhile, questions continue to surround Canada’s long-standing commitment to purchase 88 F-35 fighter jets. Carney ordered a formal review of that program in early 2025 after the United States imposed tariffs on Canadian goods, and his government has since been examining whether to replace a portion of the order with Sweden’s Gripen fighter jet instead.
Taken together, the moves signal a government intent on using defence spending not just to modernize the Canadian Armed Forces, but to reduce reliance on U.S. suppliers and build up domestic industrial capacity a strategy likely to face continued scrutiny as costs and timelines for these major programs become clearer in the months ahead.
