Ottawa is promising more on defense – and Calgary wants a piece of the action
While Calgary is best known as an oil and gas city, a growing aerospace and defense industry has largely flown under the radar.
According to Calgary Economic Development, there are currently 158 companies operating in the aerospace and defense sector in the city. The agency said the industry across the province could contribute $3.1 billion to gross domestic product in 2024.
“There’s a tremendous amount of defense and aerospace activity going on that most people don’t even know about,” said Jeff LaFrenz, president of VizWarX, a technology company whose software includes a virtual reality platform that allows soldiers to conduct battlefield meetings while safely inside their armored vehicles.
LaFrenz said the energy industry “dominates a lot of the discussions,” which could influence growth in the aerospace sector.
That may change.
This week, Boeing, Ottawa and Calgary Economic Development announced funding for a new Initiative To fast-track the commercialization of Canadian-made defense technologies in Calgary and help local companies find new customers in the region.
The company will have to spend a certain amount of money on Canadian Aerospace and Defense as part of a contract signed with Ottawa to replace the country’s aging maritime patrol aircraft. This is the latest in a series of announcements across Canada and is expected to be the first of the company’s “Alberta-focused announcements,” a Boeing spokesperson said.
wave of aviation announcements
This comes in a year when the city has also seen several announcements in the commercial aviation sector. Calgary has long been the headquarters of WestJet, the country’s second-largest airline, which placed its largest aircraft order ever this year.
Also this year, Lufthansa Technik announced a multi-billion dollar agreement to build an aircraft maintenance facility at the Calgary Airport, and Canadian Aviation Electronics (CAE) announced it would build a 126,000-square-foot aviation training facility in the city.
Meanwhile, de Havilland Canada plans to break ground in the spring on a 1,500-acre aircraft manufacturing facility 30 minutes east of the city, which is expected to become the company’s new head office.
Nicole Holinaty, Director of Calgary Aircraft Maintenance CompanyAny HeavyAero said there is a lot of overlap between the commercial and defense sides of the aerospace industry.try.
“An airplane engine is an airplane engine,” Holinaty said.
Holinati said the company has recently begun “entering the defense space,” but the red tape associated with becoming a defense contractor is an ongoing challenge. They hope the Boeing commercialization initiative will help them expand their network.
“There are a lot of barriers to bringing your innovation to the defense market,” he said.
It is hoped that this initiative can also bridge the gap between different industries. According to Kimberley, oil and water separators used in the energy sector could be reused for shipbuilding, or radar systems used in defense could be used in mining. Van Vliet, whose organization “ConvergX” will run the commercialization program.
people are a hindrance
But if the city wants to become a bigger player in the industry, one hurdle may be human resources. De Havilland Canada, for example, employs about 500 engineers at the company and many of them are near retirement age, said vice president Neil Sweeney.
“This is the only thing that can really stop this sector…not just in Alberta but across Canada,” he said.
The company will build a new site somewhere between Chestermere and Strathmore which could create more than 1,500 jobs.
According to one, the largest share of aerospace manufacturing employment in this country is in Quebec, followed by Ontario and Western Canada. report From Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. aerospaceE Maintenance, RepresentativeThe report said air and overhaul are more common in Western Canada, although it did not mention any specific provinces.
Montreal is the country’s aerospace hub (and… third largest in the world, after Seattle and Toulouse).
Aviation expert John Gradek said that, for example, although Calgary is still far from competing with Montreal, he believes the city is leading the country.
But without more dedicated post-secondary training to prepare a new group of aerospace workers, he said it will be difficult to see the field grow.
“There’s no shortage of opportunities,” said Gradek, a lecturer in supply networks and aviation at McGill University. “There is a shortage of talent.”
Still, Ottawa has promised to spend more money on defense and prioritize canada’s domestic industrial advantage – There is optimism that the region as a whole will grow, and Calgary (and Alberta) will get a bigger share of the pie.
“As a province we have an opportunity to really come together around aerospace and defence,” said Lafrenz, who is with tech company Wizworx. “I think we can compete with any place in the world if we want to.”
