The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces 2025-26 Departmental plan: At a glance
A departmental plan describes a department’s priorities, plans, and associated costs for the upcoming three fiscal years.
Vision, mission, raison d’être and operating context
Strategic operating context
The global security landscape is undergoing major changes, driven by climate change, challenges to the international order, and disruptive technologies. State-on-state conflicts have returned, competition persists, and new warfare methods are making conflicts faster and more complex. Together, these trends threaten the prosperity and security which Canada and many other nations have long relied on.
Canada's best defence against global uncertainty is a military that is modern, adaptable, and well prepared. This relies on the people, culture, technology, processes, structure, and innovation that enable the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF) to build and sustain a strong future force. The core mission of the CAF is to detect, deter, and defend against threats to Canada and North America, especially in the Arctic, while strengthening its ability to address threats in key regions including the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific.
Canada's commitment to spend 2% of the gross domestic product on defence will further contribute to the Defence Team's ability to assert Canada's sovereignty and counter these threats by providing the required tools, training and personnel. As Canada increases its investments in defence, the first priority will be to fortify the Defence Team's foundation by investing in its people, its infrastructure, and maintenance and repair. The focus will then shift to addressing capability gaps, including by procuring all of the capabilities outlined in Canada's renewed defence policy, Our North, Strong and Free (ONSAF).
Key priorities
The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces top priorities for 2025-26 are as follows:
- Operations and Readiness
- Reconstitution
- Culture Evolution
- Modernization
- Stewardship and Compliance
Highlights
In 2025-26, total planned spending (including internal services) for DND/CAF is $35,665,011,698 and total planned full-time equivalent staff (including internal services) is 93,471. For complete information on DND/CAF's total planned spending and human resources, read the Planned spending and human resources section of the full plan.
The following provides a summary of the department's planned achievements for 2025-26 according to its approved Departmental Results Framework. A Departmental Results Framework consists of a department's core responsibilities, the results it plans to achieve, and the performance indicators that measure progress toward these results.
Core Responsibility 1: Operations
- Planned spending: $2,270,235,517
- Planned human resources: 2,764
- Departmental results:
- Canadians are protected against threats to and attacks on Canada
- People in distress receive effective search and rescue response
- Canada's Arctic sovereignty is preserved and safeguarded
- North America is defended against threats and attacks
- Canadian Armed Forces contribute to a more stable and peaceful world
The CAF plays a vital role in national and continental defence and in promoting peace and security abroad. The CAF must be prepared to detect, deter and defeat threats to Canada from air, land, and sea, and in space and cyberspace, and address threats to North America. The employment of CAF resources around the globe for capacity-building, humanitarian missions, defence engagement, peacekeeping and defence operations continues to protect Canada's security and prosperity.
The CAF, including the Regular and Reserve Forces and the Canadian Rangers, will remain ready to support Canadians when called upon by the Government of Canada through Requests for Assistance at home or abroad, including meeting the growing need to support civil authorities in natural disaster response. To address new and escalating challenges that present a range of implications for Canada's security, the CAF will establish greater presence, reach, mobility, and responsiveness in the Arctic and the North. We will defend Canada by bolstering Canadian sovereignty and national military capabilities, while also strengthening the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the only bi-national military command of its kind in the world, and working with the United States to protect our shared continent more broadly.
The CAF will continue making valuable contributions to deter major-power conflict, confront terrorism and insurgency, and address instability. CAF operations will prioritize North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) assurance and deterrence measures and Canada's commitment to Indo-Pacific stability. The CAF will continue to support United Nations (UN) and other peace support operations with deployments to peacekeeping missions as part of Canada's enduring commitment to multilateral engagement to address global peace and security challenges and to strengthen the rules-based order.
Through expanding its economic security scope, DND will bolster its ability to protect Canada’s defence equities from adversarial exploitation of our open economic tools to ensure the CAF gains and maintains its military advantage. This enhanced focus on the 'protect' function will complement ongoing efforts in the 'promote' space spearheaded by the Defence Industrial Team.
More information about Operations can be found in the full plan.
Core Responsibility 2: Ready Forces
- Planned spending: $12,320,171,806
- Planned human resources: 42,417
- Departmental results:
- Canadian Armed Forces are ready to conduct concurrent operations
- Military equipment is ready for training and operations
In accordance with the Chief of the Defence Staff and Deputy Minister Directive for CAF Force Posture and Readiness, the department will prioritize and direct Defence activities to ensure that the CAF is ready to execute complex operations in contested, degraded and operationally limited environments. This will include enhancing readiness across four key pillars: people, equipment, training and sustainment. As Defence advances its modernization efforts, there will be a deliberate emphasis on CAF and allied interoperability, as well as the integration of new capabilities into training and readiness activities.
More information about Ready Forces can be found in the full plan.
Core Responsibility 3: Defence Team
- Planned spending: $4,406,612,568
- Planned human resources: 22,295
- Departmental results:
- Canadian Armed Forces is growing toward its end state of 101,500 personnel
- The health and well-being of the Defence Team is well supported
- The Defence Team reflects the values and diversity of Canadian society
- Military families are supported and resilient
- Youth in Canada are provided with experience and opportunities that enable a successful transition to adulthood
The department will focus on enhancing its multi-year program to improve the ability to attract, recruit and retain its workforce; advancing efforts to build a team that supports the broad perspectives, cultural and linguistic diversity, gender balance, age and other characteristics of Canadian society; and ensuring a strong Defence Team where members feel safe, supported, and accepted. Defence will ensure that the needs of its military members, their families, and the department's public servants are met. This includes developing a CAF Living Accommodations Strategy and developing childcare solutions for CAF members.
More information on Defence recruitment is available on Forces.ca, and in the CAF Retention Strategy.
More information for military family support can be found at the Military Family Resource Centres website.
More information about the Defence Team can be found in the full plan.
Core Responsibility 4: Future Force Design
- Planned spending: $1,165,339,276
- Planned human resources: 2,055
- Departmental results:
- Defence capabilities are designed to meet future threats
- Defence and security challenges are addressed through innovative solutions
Defence will continue its in-depth analysis of the long-term military operating environment, focusing on the likely characteristics of future conflict, warfare, and warfighting. This analysis considers both adversary and allied perspectives to assess the challenges Canada must consider when developing military capabilities. Coupled with the future operating environment, capstone military concepts will guide the alignment of CAF Force Development and Design with the evolving future operating environment.
More information about Future Force Design can be found in the full plan.
Core Responsibility 5: Procurement of Capabilities
- Planned spending: $9,548,783,861
- Planned human resources: 3,064
- Departmental results:
- Defence procurement is streamlined
- Defence equipment acquisition is well-managed
- Defence information technology acquisition is well-managed
- Supplies are available and well-managed
Defence is committed to delivering the new and modernized capabilities outlined within Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE); ONSAF; and the NORAD Modernization Plan to ensure that the CAF is better prepared for a more complex operating environment. Defence will work to balance procurement costs with operational requirements, schedules and socio-economic benefits. The challenges of defence procurement are compounded by a rapidly changing security environment, evolving technology, complex acquisitions, and staffing shortages in critical areas. Defence procurement continues to be impacted by trade disruptions, shifting geopolitical landscape, and the lingering effects of the pandemic on the global supply chain, including disruptions in manufacturing, delays in transportation, and increased costs for raw materials and components. To address these challenges, Defence will develop a Defence Industrial Strategy that will aim to ensure the CAF has secure, timely and reliable access to key capabilities, while supporting the Canadian defence industrial base.
More information about Procurement of capabilities can be found in the full plan.
Core Responsibility 6: Sustainable Bases, Information Technology Systems and Infrastructure
- Planned spending: $4,892,993,081
- Planned human resources: 15,883
- Departmental results:
- Naval, Army and Air Force Bases enable military operations and defence activities
- Defence infrastructure is well-managed throughout its lifecycle
- Defence activities are carried out in a safe and environmentally responsible manner
Defence will operate safe and secure bases, wings and establishments and maintain various services to support training and operational requirements. With a large and real-property portfolio, Defence will prioritize efforts to build and maintain modern, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure and Information Technology (IT) systems that support military requirements, improve efficiency, and reduce the environmental footprint.
Defence information technology systems are essential in delivering timely, trusted and secure information to decision makers. The department will provide secure and resilient enterprise-level system solutions to respond to the evolving cyber threat environment, enhance communication capabilities across both domestic and allied networks, and support the integration of joint targeting systems. Defence will continue to evolve its capabilities, capacity and expertise for offensive cyber operations against threats.
More information can be found on the DND/CAF Greening Defence website, the Defence infrastructure projects website and the Defence Real Property Portfolio Strategy website.
More information about Sustainable bases, information technology systems and infrastructure can be found in the full plan.
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