Canada’s drone ambitions put domestic manufacturers to the test

To anyone pitching themselves as a Canadian drone manufacturer, Josh Ogden has a question: If you’ve assembled IKEA furniture, are you a manufacturer? “If we’re going to build, let’s be honest about what that means. Building means building our own product.” Josh Ogden, AVSS It may sound like a joke, but the co-founder and CEO of AVSS is making a serious point as Ottawa looks to expand its drone fleet and build a domestic supply chain to support it. If Canada wants control over the technology it needs to defend itself, Ogden says, it needs people who know how it was built and can change and adapt it quickly when required. Just being the people who put a drone together from someone else’s design doesn’t give the country that sovereign control. “If we’re going to build, let’s be honest about what that means. Building means building our own products,” Ogden said in an interview with BetaKit. His comments come as federal spending opens new opportunities for the sector. In September, Ottawa announced its Defence Drone Initiative Marketplace, a digital procurement platform for the Canadian Armed Forces and Coast Guard to acquire drones and counter-drone systems. AVSS, which operates in Ottawa and New Brunswick, was among six Canadian companies awarded initial contracts collectively worth up to $50 million. Now, with nearly 400 suppliers qualified for the marketplace and further requests for proposals expected, Ogden sees an opportunity for those purchases to strengthen Canadian engineering and manufacturing. He wants buyers to consider who owns the technology, where the expertise is, and whether a supplier can make changes without turning to a foreign partner for permission or advice.  “If there’s a shortage in one chip, you should be able to go and have your designs done so that you can modify that chip without talking to anybody,” he said. Designing for disruption Ogden doesn’t have to look far for an example of why sovereign capability matters; his own company had to learn how to keep manufacturing through the supply-chain disruptions of COVID-19. AVSS brought its first product to market in 2020, after three years developing and testing parachute safety technology that helps drones meet strict aviation requirements to fly over people. As the pandemic took hold, the company ran into chip shortages, unpredictable component prices, and injection-moulding suppliers laying off staff. AVSS began stockpiling parts, but the experience also changed how its engineers learned how to design future products. Modular design, for instance, became a priority, giving the team room to swap components as supplies and costs shifted. “What COVID taught us was how to design for potential shortages, price increases, and making modifications,” said Ogden. He sees that experience as a vital part of what established Canadian manufacturers bring to defence work. “Any company that existed before COVID—and made it through COVID—is already tougher. They’ve already got the calluses.” Owning the innovation The same ability to make changes proved useful when AVSS received a request from the avalanche industry. The company had become the first in Canada approved to drop explosives from drones for avalanche mitigation, carrying out demonstrations in Alberta’s Jasper National Park. Its system dropped five pounds, but the feedback was to develop a way to release a 50-pound bag of explosive material. Josh Ogden. Image courtesy AVSS. AVSS received the request in March, and, over the following months, its engineers redesigned the new release system. Ogden said the company has now produced three product lines ready for testing in the mountains. Making those changes quickly and accurately required detailed knowledge of the hardware, including the strength of attachment points and the forces acting on them.  “You can’t do that when you don’t own the IP, and you don’t know how it was built and how you can modify it,” said Ogden. A company licensing foreign technology may have to pay ongoing fees and accept limits on where it can sell. Owning the technology gives Canadian manufacturers more freedom to reach customers abroad and keep more of each sale to invest in products and jobs at home. Building domestic expertise AVSS is ready for a busy 2027, with the recent expansion activities finalized and new contracts to deliver more than 1,000 drones and associated equipment to the federal government over the year. That’s on top of a commercial business that sold more than 2,500 units of its parachute safety technology, avalanche tech, and integrated systems worldwide this year. The company is increasing its workforce to support its growth. AVSS currently has approximately 50 staff in Ottawa and five in New Brunswick, with plans to reach 70 by December. An expansion that triples its facility space is also nearly complete, and Ogden is already planning to grow it fivefold next year. AVSS is also developing the engineers it will need. Junior staff spend two years working on technology alongside senior colleagues and without the commercial deadlines handled by more experienced team members. “That is what it takes to build a sustainable company,” he noted. For him, every purchase is a chance to build up Canadian expertise so the country can develop, produce, and adapt the technology it needs without depending on anyone else. “We’re building capability so that when someone comes to me and says, ‘Can you modify this drone?’ The answer is yes, and I could do it that day.” PRESENTED BY Learn more about how AVSS supports the Canadian drone industry. Feature image courtesy AVSS.The post Canada’s drone ambitions put domestic manufacturers to the test first appeared on BetaKit.