A Saguenay SME specializing in the finishing of aluminum surfaces is preparing to help the German army, which has just received an amount of 150 billion dollars for modernization in the middle of the war between Ukraine and Russia.
“We are not yet in a safe world, so I have the impression that this is not a market that will disappear overnight,” summarizes Maxime Lamirande, sales manager of A3 Surfaces, a manufacturing company with around twenty employees, in Chicoutimi.
“In the military we can only do business with friendly countries,” he continues on the sidelines of an event for suppliers of Subcontractance Industrielle Québec (STIQ) in Boucherville last Thursday.
In 2022, the federal government invested $150 billion in modernizing its military against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For Berlin it was about strengthening the national army, which had been neglected since the Cold War.
Impact on Quebec
For Chicoutimi SME A3 Surfaces, which has 25 employees, the increased demand in the military sector so far could have a domino effect. The company already has an office in Paris to establish itself in the European market.
“We do business with the German company Rheinmetall, so we should have an impact,” explains Maxime Lamirande of A3 Surfaces, which developed the antimicrobial aluminum technology.
In Quebec, the arms manufacturer Rheinmetall has a large factory in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu in Montérégie.
While more than 22% of the country’s defense industry jobs are located in Quebec (aircraft, ammunition, parts), many local SMEs want to continue working with army suppliers, according to a profile last year by Canada’s Ministry of Innovation.
“We also have customers in optics. Light science is on the rise,” explains Maxime Lamirande.
“In optics, the challenge is to align the lasers and detectors correctly. The light is diffuse and goes in all directions. “We therefore have to absorb it so that the beam comes out perfectly straight,” he concludes.
10 main activities in Quebec in defense
1 – Maintenance, repair of military aircraft
2 – Ammunition
3 – Aircraft construction
4 – Simulation systems
5 – Training service
6 – Communication systems
7 – Combat Vehicles
8 – Maintenance, repair of ships
9 – Other
10 – Structural elements of ships
Source: Ministry of Innovation, Science and Industry, 2022
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