TerraSense Analytics Joins CANUC to Advance Canada’s Sovereign Uncrewed Capability

TerraSense Analytics is proud to be a founding member of the Canadian Alliance for National Uncrewed Capability (CANUC), an alliance of Canadian-controlled companies working to strengthen Canada’s domestic uncrewed and autonomous systems sector.

Formally announced on September 8, 2026, at MSPO in Kielce, Poland, CANUC brings together 14 founding companies spanning airframes, propulsion, autopilots, sensing, radar, geomatics, artificial intelligence, autonomy, safety systems, testing and sustainment.

Together, the founding members employ more than 400 people, generate more than $70 million in combined annual revenue and have delivered systems with tens of thousands of operational flight hours. The alliance’s formation and its call for greater investment in Canada’s sovereign drone supply chain have since been covered by the Financial Post and True North Strategic Review.

What Sovereign Capability Really Means

As Canada prepares to invest significantly in uncrewed and autonomous systems, the definition of “Canadian” matters. It is a question being raised across the industry, including in BetaKit’s recent examination of what it would take to build a sovereign drone industry in Canada.

A product sold through a Canadian office is not necessarily a Canadian capability. If its underlying intellectual property, software, firmware or engineering authority remains under foreign control, Canada may have limited ability to modify the system, respond to emerging threats, sustain it independently or deploy it on its own terms.

CANUC is advocating for a practical and enforceable Canadian-content standard that considers where ownership, technical authority and intellectual property reside—not simply where a company is registered or where final assembly takes place.

The alliance’s six shared policy priorities are:

• Procuring Canadian capability when domestic industry can meet the requirement

• Keeping strategically important intellectual property in Canada

• Making defence procurement faster and more accessible to small and medium-sized companies

• Supporting both the use and protection of Canadian airspace

• Treating uncrewed and autonomous systems as a sovereign national capability

• Ensuring that industrial benefits, skills development and economic opportunities reach communities across Canada

CANUC is an advocacy alliance rather than a commercial bidding organization. Its members remain independent companies and continue to manage their own technologies, partnerships, contracts and customer relationships.

TerraSense’s Role in Canada’s Uncrewed Ecosystem

A sovereign uncrewed capability requires more than domestically manufactured aircraft.

It also requires Canadian-controlled technologies that can process sensor data, identify relevant information and help operators make informed decisions in real time. The intelligence and autonomy within a system can be just as strategically important as the platform carrying it.

TerraSense develops Canadian-built artificial intelligence for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations. Our MIST platform integrates imagery and data from multiple sensors and platforms to detect, classify and track objects of interest, helping operators turn complex sensor feeds into actionable information.

TerraSense technology has been developed through close collaboration with Canadian and allied defence organizations, researchers, platform manufacturers and operators. It has been tested in field environments because sovereign capability must be more than domestically owned—it must also be operationally relevant.

“Capital won't flow into production capacity based on 100-unit orders and vague future commitments. To scale, the industry needs a clear, long-term demand signal. Canada has the technologies, people, and companies standing by to deliver, and CANUC gives our industry a stronger collective voice as Canada decides what it wants to own, control and sustain for the future.”

— Jozsef Hamari, CEO, TerraSense Analytics

TerraSense’s participation in CANUC also reflects the reality that no single company delivers an entire uncrewed ecosystem. Platforms, sensors, communications, software, artificial intelligence, testing and sustainment must work together.

“Canadian companies do not need to build every component independently, nor should sovereignty prevent us from working with trusted allies. The important question is whether Canada retains meaningful control over the technology and expertise it will depend on. Strong Canadian companies and well-structured domestic and international partnerships are both essential to building a resilient defence industrial base."

— Cornell P. Pich, Vice President of Business Growth and Strategy, TerraSense Analytics

Building in Canada, Working With Allies

CANUC’s position is not about excluding international partners. Canadian companies already collaborate with allied organizations, and those relationships provide access to operational experience, specialized technology and international markets.

Sovereignty means structuring those relationships so Canada retains the ability to maintain, adapt and advance strategically important capabilities. Joint development, co-production, two-way licensing and shared standards can all support that objective.

Canada has the engineering talent, operational experience and industrial base needed to become a leader in uncrewed and autonomous systems. TerraSense joined CANUC because realizing that potential will require coordinated action across industry and government—and a clear understanding of what it means to build a capability Canada can truly call its own.

Further reading: Financial Post | True North Strategic Review | BetaKit