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Before the Second World War, the British government was anxious to acquire new, secure sources for weapons production. The Canadian government was reluctant to co-operate, fearing isolationist opinion, especially in Québec.

Canada helped develop the world’s first nuclear reactors and nuclear arms. During the Second World War, Canada participated in British research to create an atomic weapon. In 1943, the British nuclear weapons program merged with its American equivalent, the Manhattan Project. Canada’s main contribution was the Montreal Laboratory, which later became the Chalk River Laboratory. (See Nuclear Research Establishments). This Allied war effort produced the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. It also led to the development of Canada’s nuclear energy industry.

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HMCS ​Chicoutimi is one of four used submarines Canada purchased from Britain in the late 1990s.

A corvette was a small, lightly armed Canadian warship used for anti-submarine warfare in the Second World War. With the convoys of the North Atlantic under siege by German U-Boats in the early years of the war, Canada needed to

Dominion Arsenal, the first government cartridge and shell factory and proofing facility, established 1882 at Québec to provide the Canadian Militia with ammunition.

Land mines, used in zones of conflict to prevent access, are containers filled with explosives. Usually camouflaged or hidden, the devices maim and even kill when detonated by their unsuspecting victims. Land mines are small, inexpensive and easy to deploy.

Military aviation began with the use of balloons for observation as early as 1794, during the French Revolution.

Radio waves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum, as is visible light. H.R. Hertz provided practical demonstration of Maxwell's theory and, in 1888, actually performed radio-wave-reflection experiments.

In the early 20th Century, the Ross rifle, a Canadian-made infantry weapon, was produced as an alternative to the British-made Lee-Enfield rifle.

The war on the water was an essential, if not the most important, aspect of the WAR OF 1812. Great Britain was obviously at a disadvantage geographically when trying to defend its colony Canada in a conflict with the United States.

For 45 years, the Canadian government investigated unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Several of its departments and agencies collected sighting reports of UFOs in Canadian airspace from 1950 to 1995. These investigations started during the Cold War, spurred by fears of Soviet incursions. What began as a military question eventually became a scientific one. From the start, however, the government was reluctant to study this topic. It devoted few resources to it, believing UFOs to be natural phenomena or the products of “delusional” minds. By contrast, many Canadian citizens were eager for information about UFOs. Citizens started their own investigations and petitioned the government for action. In 1995, due to budget cuts, the government stopped collecting reports altogether. For their part, citizen enthusiasts have continued to investigate UFOs.