October 7, 2026 – AtkinsRéalis, a world-class engineering services and nuclear company with offices around the world, and DRAKKAR, a Canadian leader in aerospace and industrial services, have signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore strategic collaboration in support of Canadian defence programs.
Announced during DEFSEC Atlantic in Halifax, the MoU was signed at the Québec Pavilion in the presence of Investissement Québec. Bringing together two proudly Canadian, Montreal-headquartered companies with complementary capabilities, AtkinsRéalis and DRAKKAR are joining forces to explore made-in-Canada defence solutions. The collaboration will explore opportunities across the air, land and maritime domains; including services such as acquisition, modernization, mobilization, in-service support, and the long-term sustainment of complex defence platforms, systems and infrastructure. This could create a Canadian lifecycle-delivery model that connects engineering and program integration with industrial execution, maintenance, logistics, manufacturing services and scalable operational capacity.
“AtkinsRéalis and DRAKKAR bring together complementary Canadian capabilities to support defence programs from acquisition and modernization through long-term sustainment,” said Stéphanie Vaillancourt, president, Canada, AtkinsRéalis. “By combining our engineering, systems integration, program management, operations and maintenance, and asset management expertise with DRAKKAR’s capabilities in aerospace maintenance, logistics and manufacturing services, we can help strengthen Canada’s defence capacity, supply-chain resilience and long-term operational readiness.”
The president and CEO of the DRAKKAR Group, Benoit Hudon, reiterated the importance of creating defence partnerships in the current context, which is particularly favourable to the development of the Canadian markets. “Building strong partnerships with established Canadian companies that already have the capabilities, infrastructure and workforce in place is essential to strengthening Canada’s defence industrial capacity. By combining complementary expertise such as AtkinsRéalis’ and DRAKKAR Group’s existing Canadian footprints, we can accelerate defence readiness, deliver greater value to government and contribute meaningfully to Canada’s sovereignty objectives,” said Hudon.
Uniquely Canadian Team
AtkinsRéalis’ global Defence expertise includes supporting the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) in the UK, which Canada has announced its intention to join as an observer. The Company has been a top-five supplier of Defence Construction Canada over the last five years, with an active presence on the majority of military bases in Canada. AtkinsRéalis previously provided operations and maintenance services for the Royal Canadian Navy’s minor warships and auxiliary vessels fleet.
DRAKKAR complements these capabilities through an integrated Canadian industrial operation in the sectors of aerospace, defence and ground transportation. Through its three lines of service, DRAKKAR Group is ready to support defence programs. Its aircraft maintenance operations, strategically located in Mirabel, Quebec, include heavy maintenance, cabin integration, line maintenance, mobile repair services and ground handling. It also provides third-party logistics services, including warehousing, inventory management, kit preparation, freight, and transportation, with a footprint in North America. Finally, its integrated manufacturing services, delivered across borders, cover manufacturing engineering, production support, assembly, production, retrofit, field services and technical workforce across key sectors, providing valuable support to its customers.
Potential areas of collaboration include fleet sustainment, defence aviation support, supply-chain solutions, platform modernization, Arctic mobility, program transition, localization, knowledge transfer and the development or expansion of Canadian in-service support capabilities.
By bringing their services together, AtkinsRéalis and DRAKKAR aim to provide Canadian government customers, prime contractors, and original equipment manufacturers operating in Canada’s defence industry with access to a broader domestic delivery capability. The collaboration is intended to strengthen Canadian industrial participation, specialized skills and supply chains, while offering large foreign contractors a made-in-Canada option.
