The Canadian government has allocated funding to support drone operator training programmes at the Serhiy Prytula Foundation’s Training Centre. The foundation reported this on Instagram.
The funding is being provided through the Directorate of Military Training and Cooperation (DMTC) of Canada’s Department of National Defence. Over 24 months, the partnership will cover two areas: basic training for FPV operators and fixed-wing drone operators.
“And most importantly, it is an opportunity to build a resilient training infrastructure: instructors, methodologies, standards that will outlast any single project,” the foundation said.
Earlier, following a meeting between Ukrainian and Canadian delegations, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the creation of a Defence Drone Initiative Marketplace in the country — a digital marketplace to speed up the procurement and deployment of unmanned systems and countermeasures against them. In his view, the Canadian Armed Forces will need millions of drones in the coming years, compared with the 2,000 they have today. The plan is to increase production tenfold, with Canada intending to direct a third of them towards supporting Ukraine’s defence.
Also, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Canada is ready to contribute its technologies to the development of the European anti-ballistic programme FREYJA, which Ukraine expects to be ready by the end of 2026.