![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2230366416.jpg.jpg\")
The Canadian official also pointed to upcoming high-level political engagement between the two countries, including planned visits by Prime Minister Mark Carney and current discussions surrounding a possible free trade agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ottawa does not have the luxury of wasting time to accelerate defense production and procurement. Central to Canada\u2019s ambition to expand its defense industrial capacity is the newly accepted Defence Industrial Strategy and the creation of a new Defence Investment Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur strategy is build, partner, buy,\u201d Fuhr said. \u201cIf it\u2019s urgent, we\u2019ll probably have to go and buy it. If it\u2019s something they can wait for, we\u2019ll have to co-develop it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The minister stressed that Ottawa wants partnerships that help stimulate Canadian industry rather than relying solely on direct foreign procurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fuhr said Turkey\u2019s experience in developing an indigenous defense industrial base offered lessons for Ottawa, particularly in areas where Ankara has achieved rapid technological growth and supply-chain independence. He described Turkey as one of a small number of countries that have successfully developed a mature and largely independent defense industrial ecosystem, comparing Ankara\u2019s progress to that of South Korea and France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are several sectors where Canada and Turkey could develop capabilities more rapidly. \u201cAmmo production is one, drones, counter drones, those are pretty obvious places,\u201d Fuhr said. He also suggested future cooperation could include co-development programs rather than simple off-the-shelf purchases, particularly in areas where Canada seeks faster capability growth without starting entirely from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ottawa\u2019s interest is not limited to procurement opportunities. Fuhr described Canada as a stable and reliable investment destination, highlighting the country\u2019s financial system, investment climate and policies aimed at encouraging foreign direct investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Canadian efforts in building a broader relationship with Turkey have already started to bear fruit. The Strategic and Unmanned Systems Research Center (S\u0130SAM) of local Sefine Shipyard has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Canada-based Kraken Robotics during the Saha Expo 2026 here this month. As part of the agreement, Kraken will work with S\u0130SAM to integrate the KATFISH towed synthetic aperture sonar system into its mission planning software and develop automatic target recognition capabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Canada looks for lessons in Turkey’s effort to nurse a homegrown industrial ecosystem for making vital defense equipment, a senior Canadian official said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":120759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,12,36,48],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3352],"class_list":["post-72922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-industry","category-newsletters","category-the-americas"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"5374FA22NZBXHHJHJQF6QXHME4","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2026\/05\/11\/canada-eyes-turkey-as-a-fellow-mid-power-ally-in-weapons-development\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n