Canada to Serve as Lead Nation at MSPO 2026 in Poland Deepening Defence Ties with Warsaw.

Poland’s Ministry of National Defence and Targi Kielce have confirmed that Canada will be the Lead Nation at the 34th International Defence Industry Exhibition (MSPO), held in Kielce from 8 to 11 September 2026. The role cements a rapidly tightening Canada–Poland strategic partnership around defence industrial cooperation, NATO interoperability, and support to Ukraine.

Poland’s defence ministry and trade fair operator Targi Kielce have formally named Canada as Lead Nation for MSPO 2026, giving Ottawa top billing at one of Europe’s most influential defence industry shows and providing a high visibility platform for Canadian primes and SMEs in Central and Eastern Europe. The confirmation on 13 November 2025 follows months of negotiations on an expanded Canadian national pavilion that were kicked off during Prime Minister Mark Carney’s August visit to Warsaw, and builds on earlier joint statements by both governments that Canada would assume the lead role at the 34th edition of MSPO in September 2026.
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Polish and Canadian authorities already indicate that the pavilion will highlight technologies with clear operational value, in particular surveillance and communications systems that shape the view of the battlespace (Picture source: MSPO)

In Kielce, the Lead Nation format has gradually become a tool of defence diplomacy and political signalling in Central Europe. MSPO already uses all the halls at Targi Kielce and, in 2026, will extend into a new pavilion of 15,500 m² with a height of 15 metres, presented as the largest facility of this kind currently under construction in the Polish exhibition sector. This additional volume makes it possible to display heavy platforms, complete air and missile defence architectures, and integrated command posts for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR). It also offers wider exposure for the BITD across land, air, naval, cyber and space systems. Since 2004, the rotation of Lead Nations, including Germany, Israel, Sweden, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Visegrád Group and the European Defence Agency, has given the exhibition a strong transatlantic dimension. France, the United States, Türkiye, and South Korea each return twice in this role, while Poland has done so on three occasions, and Ukraine appears as a special guest in 2024.

Canada’s arrival in this framework fits into a broader adjustment of Ottawa’s posture in Central and Eastern Europe. The bilateral relationship with Poland is organised around several pillars, including trade, energy, military presence, and industrial cooperation, and Kielce offers a venue where these strands can be presented and turned into concrete projects. As a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member engaged on the eastern flank, in enhanced forward presence and in training and advisory missions, Canada brings a capability portfolio that is directly relevant for the region: high-mobility armoured vehicles, space-based surveillance assets, C4ISR suites, advanced simulation tools, soldier systems, critical infrastructure protection solutions, and cyber defence tools. MSPO 2026 provides an opportunity to show these elements not as separate products but as complete capability chains, connected and interoperable with Polish and allied structures.

Polish and Canadian authorities already indicate that the pavilion will highlight technologies with clear operational value, in particular surveillance and communications systems that shape the view of the battlespace. Canadian satellite capabilities deliver radar and optical imagery over extensive maritime and land areas, with metric-level resolution suitable for detecting activity on roads, in ports, or at critical rail junctions. In parallel, Canada’s soldier digitisation solutions combine secure radios, tactical terminals, geolocation,  and command-and-control software for small units, creating local command networks where information circulates more rapidly between platoon, company, and brigade headquarters. Simulation systems, from combat group level to staff training, complete this set by allowing procedures to be rehearsed, network architectures to be tested and decision chains to be refined without consuming live training days or ammunition.

For allied forces, MSPO 2026 thus functions as a practical demonstration area for the tactical and operational effects sought on the eastern flank. The combination of long-range sensors, secure communications networks, and protected land platforms is intended to shorten the interval between detection, decision, and action, while maintaining strict Emission Control (EMCON) so as not to expose allied networks unnecessarily to adversary electronic surveillance. In a multinational brigade mixing Polish, Canadian, and other NATO units, the systems displayed in Kielce are expected to support a shared Recognized Maritime Picture/Common Operational Picture (RMP/COP), enabling radar tracks, intelligence feeds, and tasking orders to circulate without interruption between headquarters, vehicles, and forward detachments. Canadian participation is therefore read as a test case for practical interoperability, including data links, NATO standardisation, logistics, and in-service support, rather than a simple juxtaposition of stands.

The geopolitical implications of this choice go beyond the framework of the exhibition and fit into the current reshaping of the Euro-Atlantic security architecture. By accepting the Lead Nation role, Ottawa signals that it intends to maintain a sustained defence presence in Central Europe at a time when Russia’s war against Ukraine is driving rapid increases in defence budgets, higher production rates for ammunition and vehicles, and closer integration of allied BITDs. Kielce gathers on a single site North American and European prime contractors, specialised small and medium-sized enterprises, financial actors, and defence ministry representatives seeking to secure supply chains, pool some industrial capacities, and maintain support to Kyiv over time. In this setting, the Canadian pavilion becomes a necessary stop for delegations looking for contracts, offset arrangements, and technology transfers aligned with national constraints, and also a place where the future configuration of deterrence, forward defence, and collective security on NATO’s eastern flank takes more precise shape.