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The federal government is spending $5 million to fund an Ontario Tech University project that expands a research and testing lab in Oshawa for defence-sector technology.
The funds will go towards the ACE Climatic Aerodynamic Wind Tunnel, which can test a range of vehicles by simulating extreme weather conditions.
With the funds, the lab will be able to test heavier and larger vehicles being developed for defence purposes, said Les Jacobs, the university’s vice-president of research and innovation.
“It really is moving ACE to the kind of world-class facility that all of us here at the university … have long envisioned,” Jacobs said at an announcement on Tuesday.
The project will also expand the lab’s capacity to test aerospace technologies and drones, he said.
The ACE expansion will strengthen the supply chain in Canada, said MP Ryan Turnbull, who represents Whitby. He said Canadian companies across the automotive, aerospace and defence sectors will be able to bring new technologies to the market more quickly.
“It will give Canadian innovators a home-field advantage,” Turnbull said.
MP Ryan Turnbull, who represents Whitby, said the ACE expansion will help Canadian companies bring new technologies to the market more quickly. (Mark Bochsler/CBC)
In total, Jacobs said the expansion project will cost roughly $9 million, which includes funding from other partners such as the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association.
The association’s president, Flavio Volpe, said ACE will provide a suitable environment for companies navigating the transition from producing high-volume civilian vehicles to specialized defence production.
“That has to happen in a place where you’re not worried about every dollar getting a return,” he said.
Volpe said ACE provides a low-risk, academic space for companies to test their vehicles and learn from their mistakes.
Funding comes after Oshawa’s pitch to feds
Tuesday marked the latest federal defence spending announcement after the government revealed its defence industrial strategy in February.
The $6.6-billion strategy sets out benchmarks for the next decade, including a goal to buy and maintain most of the military’s equipment domestically.
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The announcement also comes a year after the city of Oshawa submitted a proposal to the federal government that positioned it as a future leader for the defence sector.
The proposal highlighted ACE, which is an approved test centre under NATO’s DIANA network — meaning NATO countries and industry partners test their defence equipment there.
“That blueprint we created … is something that is starting to take life and beginning to pay great dividends,” said city and regional councillor Tito-Dante Marimpietri, who spearheaded the plan.
He said conversations are ongoing with the federal and provincial government about other opportunities highlighted in the plan, including Northwood Business Park — a stretch of 202 hectares in north Oshawa, which the city says is ready to be developed for the defence sector.