Summary Report: Canada-Singapore Defence and Dual-Use Roundtable

Canada and Singapore continue to negotiate a General Security of Information Agreement (GSOIA), the first priority in the report from the February defence-industrial roundtable, A Matter of Execution. 

During Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan’s September visit to Ottawa, the two governments signed a joint statement to establish an Economic Partnership Framework. This level of engagement, and renewed commitment between the two partners, demonstrates sustained momentum in the relationship. 

Canada links industrial capacity to military readiness

The war in Ukraine has shown the value of rapid adaptation and the ability to increase production. Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy links military readiness to its ability to produce and maintain critical equipment and expand output in a crisis. The strategy seeks stronger ties with the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Indo-Pacific partners. 

Under the DIS’s Build-Partner-Buy framework, Canada will prioritize domestic production where it has strengths or sovereign requirements, partner where it lacks capacity or joint work offers an advantage, and buy abroad when domestic production or partnerships prove impractical. Foreign purchases must support Canadian industry and preserve Canadian control over equipment use and maintenance.

The DIS favours long-term partnerships that combine joint technology development, shared intellectual property, and develop trusted supply chains. Technology transfer and local production are also integral components of future partnerships. Talent, from scientists to specialized trades, remains a significant constraint, and scientist exchanges, university partnerships, and the Global Talent Program offer ways to build capacity with partners.

Participants identify six areas for joint work

Singapore’s limited land and workforce make automation, uncrewed systems, and access to testing priorities. Canada offers space for testing and production, alongside demand for new capabilities. Participants identified six areas for co-operation. 

• Sovereign AI: Build on Canadian models and secure infrastructure in Singapore to deploy artificial intelligence under national control for sensitive government and defence data.
   
• Quantum: Sensing, navigation without GPS, and secure communications, drawing on Canada’s quantum computing expertise and Singapore’s specialized capabilities.
   
• Common aircraft platforms: Develop components, upgrades and maintenance, and repair and overhaul services for the Chinook, P-8A, F-35, and A330 MRTT aircraft that both countries operate or are acquiring.
   
• Domain awareness: Combine subsea, surface, air, and space sensing with data integration to address surveillance challenges in Canada’s Arctic and Singapore’s maritime approaches.
   
• Advanced materials: Explore joint research and development in an area that both countries prioritize.
   
• Munitions: Explore Canadian production and storage of ammunition, explosives, and propellants for domestic and export markets, and seek purchase commitments from partners.
   

Participants also discussed emerging dual-use applications. One example cited was Canada’s potential to supply helium-3 to Singapore’s quantum sector. Helium-3 forms as tritium from CANDU reactor operations decays and provides cooling for some quantum computers.

Firms need clearer routes into both markets

Firms want clearer guidance on procurement, supply chains, and first points of contact in each market. Participants raised three issues.

• Eligibility and evaluation: Participants asked whether Canada’s procurement rules could disadvantage Singaporean firms because Singapore does not belong to NATO. Officials acknowledged the need to adapt rules to the modern context and changing environment.
   
  • One organization highlighted that a recent Canadian procurement weighed whether a bidder was from a NATO country of origin in the evaluation criteria. It expressed concern that alliances should not constrain the formation and reinforcement of new partnerships that Canada now needs. In this vein, another participant recommended that the Canada-in-Asia Conference in March 2027 explore a designated list of Asian partners, such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan and the attendant policy infrastructure (i.e. export controls, designation as trusted sources, etc.) to enable deeper, more productive relationships amongst like-minded partners. 
     
• Routes for smaller firms: Firms need to understand how to move from innovation funding to demonstrations, production, and contracts.
   
• Local partners and financing: Participants favoured consortia and local partners. Canadian operations could support access to domestic and third-country markets and, subject to eligibility, institutional support such as financing from Export Development Canada.
   

Participants also identified Cap Vista, DSO National Laboratories, and the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) as potential entry points for Canadian firms to the Singaporean ecosystem. 

Participants put forward eight practical next steps:

1. Joint research and innovation: Link Cap Vista’s accelerator and funded trials with Canadian programs and institutions, including Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS), Defence Research and Development Canada, and the National Research Council, to help smaller firms move from research to production.
    
2. Testing: Identify projects, firms, and end users for trials in Canada’s Arctic and open ranges, and in Singapore’s tropical climate, urban terrain, and congested radio environment.
    
3. Space launch: Share plans for Canadian launch services and facilities in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador with potential Singaporean customers.
    
4. Defence Investment Agency briefing: Invite a DIA representative to the Canada-in-Asia Conference, or another session in Singapore, to explain how firms can engage the agency. 
    
5. Industry connections: Explore a role for the Association of Aerospace Industries (Singapore) in helping Canadian firms enter the market, arranging DIA briefings for Singaporean firms, supporting joint innovation and co-development, identifying demonstration grants, and organizing reciprocal visits. AAI’s industrial attachment program with the Republic of Singapore Air Force offers a model for sharing expertise. The Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) is the natural counterpart; the February roundtable summary report recommended an AIAC-AAIS MOU.
    
6. Trade office introductions: Connect firms with Export Development Canada’s Singapore office and the trade offices of Ontario, Saskatchewan, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta.
    
7. Formal delegation to CANSEC 2027: work to organize a formal delegation from Singapore to CANSEC in 2027 for a concrete exploration of industrial engagement opportunities, supply chain, and B2G levels.
    
8. High Commission engagement: Secure High Commission support for thematic sessions, a broader briefing on the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, and follow-up on the Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience.

Conclusion

The report from the February roundtable called co-operation “a matter of execution.” Eight months after that meeting, participants have identified opportunities and practical next steps to execute on. 

The Canada-in-Asia Conference in March 2027 provides the next checkpoint. Its defence industries track gives both sides an opportunity to review progress on the General Security of Information Agreement and Defence Investment Agency briefing and select joint projects to advance with partners, funding, and end users.
 

• Edited by Jahafar Abdullah, Marketing & Communications Manager, Singapore Office, APF Canada.