The Battle Lab – GDMS-C
Accelerating Innovation for the Canadian Armed Forces
BY JAMES CARELESS
The modern battlespace is a highly complex environment that is in constant flux. The multitude of factors at play at any given moment risks overwhelming even the best commanders, paralyzing them with too many choices.
This is precisely why General Dynamics Mission Systems—Canada (GDMS-C) has created the GDMS-C Battle Lab. Located at the company’s Ottawa headquarters, the Battle Lab is a computer-equipped laboratory designed to foster innovative solutions in the C5ISRT (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Targeting) domain for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), with a particular focus on the Canadian Army.
Stephanos Lampsos is GDMS-C’s Business Development Manager. “We created the Battle Lab to help our engineers and those of our partner companies to innovate together in a well-equipped collaborative environment,” he told CDR. “It’s an incubator where we can develop C5ISRT solutions faster for our customers, by moving at the speed of industry rather than the slower pace of procurement.”
GDMS-C’s “DIGITALSpine” technology is central to the Battle Lab’s efforts. Designed to connect every sensor, effector, and decision-maker in a military battlespace, DIGITALspine seamlessly integrates services across various platforms, including headquarters, command posts, vehicles, UAVs, and dismounted soldiers. In doing so, DIGITALSpine’s digital ecosystem provides secure connectivity with joint, interagency, multinational, and public partners in real-time. This ensures that everyone involved is on the same page with access to the same Big Picture information, whether they be a general at HQ or a dismounted soldier in the field.
READ: INDUSTRY PROFILE – GDMS-Canada DIGITALspine
WHY GDMS-C LAUNCHED THE BATTLE LAB
GDMS-C’s decision to launch and host the Battle Lab on its premises — and to do this work in partnership with everyone from SMEs to global primes — came in part from the company’s ongoing conversations with CAF personnel. “We regularly talk with our customers about the pain points they encounter during their day-to-day operations in the field and elsewhere,” said Lampsos. “In hearing what they’re up against, GDMS-C was motivated to address their pain points in constructive and positive ways, and to do so expeditiously. The Battle Lab was created for this purpose.”
READ: GDMS: DEFEND IT or LOSE IT
As well, GDMS-C was motivated to launch the Battle Lab based on the company’s support of the CAF in Bosnia and Afghanistan. “In Afghanistan in particular, the need to move to a counter-insurgency strategy mandated a fundamental shift in how the Canadian Army operated,” explained Lampsos. “Significant changes in tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) were necessary to fight that fight, which were made. The rapid adoption of Lessons Learned there saved lives. A large number of enhancements to fight the war in Afghanistan focused on platforms and ISR in order to defeat a tenacious enemy. These lessons helped the CAF to execute their mission more effectively.
With Afghanistan winding down, and Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, NATO launched two major initiatives to defend its eastern members: Operations Assurance Forward Presence (aFP) and Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP). When Canada stepped up to lead Operation REASSURANCE in Latvia, the CAF needed help from industry to train the Latvian brigade’s multinational members. Times had changed, and the CAF was changing with them.
As the Land C4ISR contractor/partner for the Canadian Army, GDMS-C is helping it adapt to new ways of training and operations on the modern European battlefield. This is where the Battle Lab comes into play: “It represents a space for the customer and its industry partners to collaborate at pace towards mission solutions for the warfighter,” said Lampsos. “The GDMS-C Battle Lab, which is industry-led, represents that space where the customer can quickly evaluate technology and deploy it. And make no mistake: While the Cold War presented Russia as an impenetrable Iron Curtain, the war in Ukraine has demonstrated that, in the C5ISRT domain, this is a highly adaptable battlespace that demands constant innovation.”
HOW IT WORKS
In mission terms, the Battle Lab exists to solve C5ISRT problems efficiently and effectively. So what does this mean in practical terms?
Well, the Battle Lab allows innovative military concepts to be developed, tested, field-trialled, and refined in short order — achieving a turnaround time from start to finish in about three months. In doing so, the Battle Lab encourages engineers and end-users to collaborate side-by-side in identifying challenges such as Urgent Operational Requirements (UORs) and co-creating solutions. Working together, they solve problems sooner than experts working in isolation.
Again, GDMS-C makes all of this possible by bringing its DIGITALspine to the mix. Serving as an all-encompassing network, DIGTALSpine allows different technologies (hardware, software, middleware, firmware) being used by a project’s many partners to plug in and achieve “day-zero interoperability” (aka plug-and-play). The result is enhanced, seamless collaboration that has access to as many useful resources as possible — producing the best outcomes as a result.
This is why the CAF and industry partners like L3Harris, TACTIQL, and Thales are working together with GDMS-C in the Battle Lab to come up with C5ISRT solutions. Functioning as a team, such partners can test end-to-end scenarios in a risk-free environment — such as demonstrating how data from satellite imagery and video feeds can be shared from headquarters to vehicles and dismounted soldiers on their tablets. And because GDMS-C and its partners are focussed on creating solutions that will work properly on the battlefield, the Battle Lab’s scientists and engineers tap into real-time feedback from the Canadian Army (including lessons from bases and Operation REASSURANCE) to guide development and ensure operational relevance.
“Our partners are excellent at what they do, whether they are with the CAF or associated with large-scale OEMs, SMEs, or innovators looking for an incubator,” Lampsos told CDR. “Along with GDMS-C, they can identify users’ C5ISRT needs and work with us to plug that into a full mission thread. But technology without a place to live is just technology in isolation. Meanwhile, a lack of intentional systems integration leads to a clunky, slow, and non-user accepted capability. Well, the GDMS-C Battle Lab provides an infrastructure and architecture (DIGITALspine) that this capability can plug into. This is why the Battle Lab is ready to be the Army’s center of gravity for SSE 42 projects (the C4ISR aspect of Canada’s Strong, Secure, Engaged defense policy) and LC5ISRT Army modernization, getting tomorrow’s technology to the user today!”
WELL-DESERVED RESPECT
The GDMS-C Battle Lab is earning interest and respect from the military and defence companies that have worked with it to date
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“We’ve had engagements with various departments within the Canadian Army,” said Lampsos. “They’ve come to our Ottawa headquarters to understand exactly how Battle Lab functions, and how they can leverage its capabilities to accelerate some of the technologies and solutions that they’re trying to get their hands on.”
The Battle Lab’s business collaborators certainly appreciate this GDMS-C initiative. “L3Harris is excited to participate as an industry partner with Thales and GDMS to enable faster solutions to be developed and delivered to the Canadian Army,” said Rich Foster, Chief Executive and Vice-President of L3Harris Technologies Canada.
“In a powerful example of industry-led innovation, Thales and General Dynamics Mission Systems, together with Canadian partners, are demonstrating what true collaboration looks like by working side-by-side to accelerate the advancement of Army C5ISRT capabilities,” said Cara Salci, Vice President of Growth, Industry and Corporate Affairs at Thales Canada, Defence & Security. “This type of agile design approach means we’re not just responding to requirements; we’re anticipating them. It’s a shift from reactive procurement to forward-thinking industrial partnership, where readiness and relevance drive innovation. Soldiers can test and trial new solutions in integrated, modular architectures designed to enhance interoperability, scalability, and collaborative combat readiness. For the Canadian Army, this translates into better, faster, and more mission-tailored capabilities. We are committed to supporting the Army’s modernization, and partnerships like this are key to delivering the agility and readiness our soldiers deserve.”
A similar level of appreciation is expressed by Michael Nelson, CEO of TACTIQL. “The Battle Lab was our first opportunity to deploy our software alongside other technologies as part of an end-to-end system,” he said. “It provided valuable feedback from GDMS-C and other companies, helping us refine our solution for greater compatibility and impact for the Canadian Armed Forces. Seeing our software in this environment helps users and decision-makers understand how it contributes to a larger capability and inspires further collaboration and innovation. The Battle Lab offers a unique opportunity for start-ups like TACTIQL to test and gather feedback, for GDMS-C to foster meaningful industry engagement, and for the CAF to see how Canadian innovation can deliver world-class battlefield advantage today and in the future.”
ASSESSING THE BENEFITS
Throughout this article, we have touched on the benefits that the Battle Lab can provide to the CAF and its partners. But given how considerable these benefits could be, it is important to specify them in detail.
Speed is the first benefit worth noting. We live in an increasingly dangerous world where the fundamental nature of military conflict is changing. For instance, in 2022, drones were still at the periphery of the battlespace; today, they are integral to modern warfare, underscoring the rapid pace of change. This is why the CAF needs to access innovative solutions in months, not years. The Battle Lab can deliver such speed. Conventional procurement processes cannot.
Risk Reduction is the next big benefit offered by the Battle Lab. The fact that Canada is increasing military spending to 5% of GDP doesn’t change the need to spend taxpayer money wisely and sparingly. The Battle Lab platform allows innovative ideas to be realized and tested quickly at minimal cost, rather than waiting years to procure actual hardware for millions of dollars only to experience its shortcomings in battle. “It’s all a matter of being able to ‘fail faster’,” Lampsos told CDR. “It reduces the CAF’s risks and costs when issues can be detected early on, before major funds have been committed to a specific technology.”
Adaptability is a third Battle Lab advantage. Being able to test new ideas and adopt the ones that work in short order allows the CAF to be adaptable and agile in an ever-changing world. “In doing so, the CAF can innovate at pace, ensuring the warfighter can outpace their enemy and maintain deterrence by quickly adapting to the battlespace,” said Lampsos.
Improved integration: The central role of GDMS-C’s DIGITALSpine in the Battle Lab means that new and existing technologies can be integrated into a single, functional, and interoperable ecosystem easily. This allows assumed concepts of system integration to be tested in a risk-free setting, and simultaneously opens up the possibility for novel combinations to be safely explored.
Finally, the Battle Lab is equipped to support all three phases of the defence capability lifecycle. These phases are developing scenarios, testing scenarios before using them on the battlefield, and finally deploying the tested solutions in theatre to help manage operations better.
WHAT’S COMING NEXT
At present, the GDMS-C Battle Lab is in its infancy. The concept only went public in May 2025. Since then, the Battle Lab has been buzzing as government and industry partners brainstorm new ideas.
Today, the Battle Lab’s future is focused on growth, scalability, and constant improvement.
In the growth category, GDMS-C wants to keep building partnerships across academia, industry, and the CAF to strengthen Canada’s innovation ecosystem. Moving forward, GDMS-C is interested in exporting this platform to NATO countries and other Canadian allies, both to bolster Canada’s economy and to promote this approach worldwide. In doing so, the Battle Lab will continue to be a trusted innovation partner for the CAF and its allies, keeping Canada at the leading edge of C5ISRT technology.
When it comes to scalability, the Battle Lab approach has been purposely designed to be expandable and portable. This means that a Battle Lab can be replicated in different operational environments, including being deployed in the field to support and manage battlefield operations.
Meanwhile, constant improvement is in the Battle Lab’s DNA. Its emphasis on innovation means that cutting-edge technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) will naturally be incorporated into its solutions as they progress.
“To sum up, the Battle Lab exists to develop innovative solutions for the CAF and our allies quickly, safely, and affordably,” said Stephanos Lampsos. “It is the kind of problem-solving approach that will make Canada safer in a world that is becoming evermore dangerous. This is what GDMS-C and our partners — and we are always looking for more — are able to offer through this initiative.”
James Careless is CDR’s Ottawa Bureau Chief
