49North Hires TerraSense-Led Lab to Gather Ship Imagery for Canada's CQ-9B Drones
49North, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MDA Space, has awarded a contract to the Airborne Sensing Lab (ASL), a consortium led by TerraSense Analytics, to collect imagery of maritime vessels over the Strait of Georgia. The data will support automated target classification for Canada's Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) project.
- 49North awarded a contract to the Airborne Sensing Lab, a consortium led by TerraSense Analytics, with UBC's STAR initiative and KF Aerospace.
- ASL will capture EO/IR imagery of maritime vessels over the Strait of Georgia.
- The imagery will support automated target classification for Canada's RPAS project.
- The award is part of 49North's $78.2 million RPAS contract with GA-ASI.
- Team SkyGuardian Canada is working to deliver 11 CQ-9B Guardian aircraft to the RCAF by 2028.
What the contract covers
According to 49North, ASL will provide a high-quality airborne data-collection platform to capture electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) imagery of maritime vessels over the Strait of Georgia. The imagery will support the development of the RPAS project's automated target-classification capability.
ASL is a consortium led by TerraSense Analytics. It works in collaboration with the University of British Columbia Survive and Thrive Applied Research (STAR) initiative and KF Aerospace. The announcement came from Ottawa on Oct. 15, 2026.
Part of a larger RPAS programme
The award sits within 49North's $78.2 million RPAS contract with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI). 49North is a member of Team SkyGuardian Canada, alongside GA-ASI, CAE and L3Harris WESCAM. The team is working to deliver 11 CQ-9B Guardian aircraft to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) by 2028.
The CQ-9B Guardian is based on GA-ASI's MQ-9B, which, according to the release, is on order or operating for a growing list of international defence and security forces.
49North says it focuses on secure, multi-domain C4ISR and mission-critical capabilities for Canada's national defence priorities. This includes partnerships with Canadian universities, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and other defence contractors to provide sovereign capabilities to the RPAS project.
What the partners say
Joe Armstrong, President of 49North, said the contract "brings together Canadian industry and academic expertise to support the development of an important sovereign capability for the RCAF's RPAS project."
Cornell Pich, Vice President of Business Growth and Strategy at TerraSense, said programs like RPAS show "the importance of bringing homegrown technology into national defence capability development."
Gregg Evjen, President of KF Aerospace, said the company is contributing "its aircraft, operational expertise and decades of experience supporting complex defence programs."
Michel Lalumiere, Director of International Strategic Development Canada at GA-ASI, described the effort as an example of the Canadian Government Defence Industrial Strategy's Build-Partner-Buy approach. He said it fits within the Build and Partner pillars and supports the Team SkyGuardian Canada initiative led by GA-ASI.
What it means
The contract shows how the RPAS project is distributing work to Canadian universities and smaller firms, a goal 49North and its partners stress in their statements. For the programme itself, the collected EO/IR imagery is meant to feed the development of automated target classification. The release does not give the contract's value, its duration or a schedule for the data collection.
