Vanguard Magazine

10 APRIL/MAY 2026 www.vanguardcanada.com S SIT REP Canada Hits NATO's 2% GDP Defence Spending Target Prime Minister Mark Carney and National Defence Minister David McGuinty receive a briefing aboard a Royal Canadian Navy vessel at CFB Halifax, where Canada's achievement of NATO's 2% GDP defence spending target was announced. Image source: https://x. com/DavidMcGuinty/status/2037261708880761065 centrated at CFB Halifax and 14 Wing Greenwood. $1.2 billion will modernise critical power and municipal service infrastruc- ture at CFB Halifax Dockyard and Stadacona to support future naval operations, including the next generation of River-Class destroyers, alongside a $180 million Combatant Training and Integration Centre for destroyer crews. At 14 Wing Greenwood, $648 million will construct two new aviation support facilities for the CP-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and CQ-9B Guardian drone. A 475-acre waterfront industrial site in Dart- mouth, Halifax Gate, has also been acquired to support RCN operations. In New Brunswick, more than $1 billion is going to CFB Gagetown, covering a major recapitalisation of the Range and Training Area, a new ground-based air defence system, and upgrades to transition centre facilities for CAF members. Canada has committed to NATO's new Defence Investment Pledge of 5% of GDP by 2035, with 3.5% allocated to core de- fence and 1.5% to critical infrastructure and security-related spending. Over the next decade, that means half a trillion dol- lars in defence investment, spanning submarines and aircraft to drones, sensors, and radar systems. Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy is receiving $6.6 billion over five years, Canada's first explicit industrial strategy for de- fence, signalling a deliberate move toward building domestic capacity alongside purchasing capability. The Defence Invest- ment Agency, launched last October, is designed to stream- line acquisition decisions and accelerate delivery to the CAF. Together, they represent the institutional architecture Canada is building to sustain that investment over the decade ahead. OUR CAPABILITIES INCLUDE: • Global aerospace MRO support for aircraft, rotorcraft, engine, and avionics. • Complete engine MRO for GE T700/CT7 and J85; Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A/PT6T, PW100/150 and PW200; Pratt & Whitney F135; CFM International CFM56-7B; Rolls-Royce T56, AE 2100, AE 1107, M250 and RR300; Safran Arriel 1 & Arriel 2. • Full engineering, design and certification capability including reliability-based and predictive maintenance. YOUR READINESS IS OUR FIRST PRIORITY Bringing best-in-class aviation services to our military partners StandardAero.com RAISING THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE Canada has reached NATO's 2% of GDP defence spending benchmark for the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, according to Prime Minister Carney, who marked the milestone at CFB Halifax on March 26 as NATO released its Secretary General's 2025 Annual Report in Brussels. According to NATO's recently released Defence Expenditure report, Canada spent 1.47% of GDP on defence in 2024. In 2025, that figure jumped to an estimated 2.01%, what Prime Minister Carney called the largest year-over-year increase in defence investment in generations, and half a decade ahead of the previous government's schedule. Alongside the 2% milestone, Prime Minister Carney an- nounced more than $3 billion in new infrastructure invest- ments across Atlantic Canada, the most concrete new procure- ment news for industry to emerge from the event. In Nova Scotia, more than $2 billion in investments are con-

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