Canada will buy as many as 65,000 assault rifles to replenish its aging arsenal in a deal with Colt Canada Corp., the latest in a military spending bonanza as the country re-arms.
The Canadian Armed Forces will receive 30,000 new general service rifles over three years in the first phase, worth an estimated C$307 million ($224 million). Then, in year four, it has an option for another 19,207 general service rifles and 16,195 so-called full-spectrum rifles, which have more advanced features for front-line combat.
The guns will replace C7 and C8 rifles, also from Colt, which have been in use for more than 35 years, the government said.
The deal illustrates Canada's new urgency on military procurement and the benefits of a new defense industrial strategy published last month, Defense Minister David McGuinty said in an interview.
"This is really a wonderful example of the DIS in action," he said. "Quick procurement, Canadian supplier, tremendous need at the level of the Canadian Armed Forces."
Canada is hastening to invest tens of billions of dollars more in its military after decades of low spending, which had left it perennially short of its NATO obligation to spend 2% of gross domestic product on defense. The shortfall had long frustrated the US, with grievances beginning before President Donald Trump took office and reaching new levels under his administration.
The deal went through Canada's new Defence Investment Agency, a procurement entity started in October by Prime Minister Mark Carney, who recruited former Royal Bank of Canada executive Doug Guzman to run it. Carney promised to pivot his country's defense spending away from the US as Trump imposed tariffs and said he wanted to make Canada a US state.
Colt Canada is based in Kitchener, Ontario and was previously a Canadian company called Diemaco Inc. It was bought in 2005 by historic American gun-maker Colt -- which was itself acquired in 2021 by Prague-based Colt CZ Group SE. That company's stock is trading close to record highs this month amid a global rush to invest in military hardware.
Colt Canada's manufacturing heritage means the rifles will be made in Ontario, a win for Canada's strategy to re-arm using domestic resources when possible, McGuinty said.
"We're talking over 100 employees, which I think will expand,"
McGuinty added that officials are turning their attention to the ammunition needs for the new rifles and "we'll have more news on that front fairly soon."