Ottawa’s Dominion Dynamics will build a Ukrainian uncrewed ground vehicle in Canada and fit it with its own autonomy software under a memorandum of understanding signed Oct. 13 with Ukrainian manufacturer TENCORE.
Why it matters: It’s one of the first Canadian industry deals to follow the Carney-Zelenskyy defence declaration. It also gives a Canadian startup a combat-proven platform to build on as Ottawa scales up its uncrewed fleet.
Driving the news: The companies signed the MOU at the Canadian Pavilion during the AUSA 2026 defence conference in Washington, D.C. Nadia Theodore, Canada’s deputy ambassador to the United States, attended the signing.
The details:
Dominion plans to manufacture the TerMIT in Canadian facilities, with initial production targeted for 2027.
A TENCORE team will lead the initial technology transfer and train Canadian technicians to build the vehicle.
Dominion will integrate AuraNet, its command-and-control software, as the vehicle’s onboard intelligence layer.
Dominion also plans an Arctic-hardened TerMIT for Canadian operations and export to NATO allies.
Yes, but: The MOU is a first step. The companies say they will keep working toward definitive agreements, and they have not disclosed the deal’s value, production volumes or where in Canada the vehicles would be built.
What they’re saying: “When Prime Minister Carney and President Zelenskyy committed our countries to build together, they gave industry a mission,” said Eliot Pence, founder and CEO of Dominion Dynamics. “Canada has the workforce and the suppliers to build at scale. This agreement is how two companies start turning that commitment into vehicles, and we intend to move fast.”
“The biggest lesson from Ukraine is speed,” said Roman Tkachenko, co-founder of TENCORE. “Battlefield requirements change in weeks, so production, operational feedback and engineering have to run as a loop: build, deploy, learn, change, scale.”
By the numbers:
5,000+: TerMITs TENCORE says it has delivered to Ukrainian units since 2024
300 kg: the vehicle’s approximate payload
2,000: military drones Carney said the Canadian Armed Forces had in September
One-third: share of Canadian-made drones Carney pledged to Ukraine
The bigger picture: Canada is the latest country to host TerMIT production. In June, TENCORE and Germany’s Quantum Systems launched a joint venture to build 2,000 of the vehicles in Germany for Ukrainian forces, funded by the German defence ministry. TENCORE has also signed production deals this year with France’s Shark Robotics and Germany’s FERNRIDE.
Background:
The TerMIT is a modular, tracked ground robot. Ukrainian brigades use it to move supplies, evacuate wounded soldiers, lay mines and carry weapons.
Pence founded Dominion in Ottawa in 2025 after leading global growth at Anduril. The company has tested AuraNet with the Canadian Rangers in the High Arctic.
Carney and Zelenskyy signed a joint declaration on defence and security co-operation in Calgary on Sept. 10, where Carney said Canada would build capacity to produce millions of drones within two years.
What’s next: An Arctic-hardened TerMIT would give Dominion a domestic product to pitch into Ottawa’s drone push, including its new national drone marketplace modelled on Ukraine’s Brave1. The companies have not said when they expect to sign definitive agreements.
