1. Canadian defence
CBC News reported on Nov. 7 that AI-assisted air combat is no longer theoretical. In July, Anduril’s YFQ-44A “Fury” collaborative combat aircraft fired an air-to-air missile at a simulated target over California’s Mojave Desert; in October, an F-22 pilot had the drone carry out simulated combat tasks. Yvan Blondin, who commanded the Royal Canadian Air Force from 2012 to 2015, told CBC such drones will be integral to modern militaries by the 2030s. The United States has two prototypes; Australia has a Boeing-built CCA and is working with Anduril on an underwater version; Britain is spending £5 billion on drones and autonomous systems.
The Department of National Defence told CBC the RCAF is examining how these systems could help Canada but has made no decision to buy them, and that the Canadian Armed Forces would support autonomous functions only if they were “operated within a responsible chain of human command and control.” Dominion Dynamics CEO Eliot Pence, who previously worked at Anduril, is building Scout, a Canadian CCA meant to fly three or four drones ahead of each fighter, beyond the radar’s edge, and to strike with a missile. He argues Canada lacks enough fighters to cover the Arctic, about 40 percent of the country. Pence said he has raised about a third of the $500 million needed for a prototype; Ottawa has bought the firm’s simulation platform but not a prototype contract. “We don’t care. We’re going to build it anyway.” Benoit Breault, Dominion’s senior vice-president for aerospace engineering, said any use of force would need human approval, but other safeguards—even how an AI chooses a route home—are unfinished, and the human-machine interface is still “embryonic.” Craig Martin, a former Canadian navy officer who teaches the law of armed conflict at Washburn University, warned of automation bias and of systems failing outside the environments they were trained for. UN Secretary-General António Guterres wants a binding treaty on autonomous weapons by the end of 2026; diplomats meet in Geneva this month, and Martin wants Canada to lead that conversation. Jennifer Yoon, CBC News (Canada).
Opinion
No new opinion pieces filled for this section within today’s budget.
2. Advances in robotics
South Korea has opened its first factory whose product is training data for humanoid robots. The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, working with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, unveiled the site on Nov. 3; Interesting Engineering, via Yahoo Tech reported the details on Nov. 7. Twelve bipedal robots are remotely guided through household and industrial tasks while the system records spatial coordinates, torque and tactile feedback—opening a refrigerator, moving furniture, handling laundry and working levers inside a vehicle. KIMM president Seog-Hyeon Ryu said high-quality task data is “essential to national technological competitiveness,” and that gathering it at home should reduce reliance on foreign foundation models. The work falls under the science ministry’s K-Moonshot AI Humanoid Mission; Korean firms and universities are due to get access from late 2027. Raghav Kalra, Interesting Engineering via Yahoo Tech (South Korea).
In Shanghai, Korean firm RealWorld is showing its RLDX robotics model at BMW Technology Office China’s startup showcase at the China International Import Expo, which runs through Nov. 10, Seoul Economic Daily reported on Nov. 8. Trained on factory data from South Korea and Japan, the system is meant to let a five-fingered hand do precise work on a shop floor. The demo has a humanoid pick objects of different shapes off a moving conveyor, rather than from fixed spots. CEO Ryu Joong-hee said the firm wants the technology used in logistics and electronics assembly. Kim Ji-young, Seoul Economic Daily (South Korea).
Deutsche Welle, in a Nov. 2 news compact, described how humanoid robots are also on the German government’s agenda (News kompakt: Digitalgipfel rund um KI startet in Berlin):
In Berlin beginnt an diesem Montag ein zweitägiger Digitalgipfel der Bundesregierung. Dazu werden mehr als 1000 Teilnehmer aus Politik, Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft in der deutschen Hauptstadt erwartet. Im Mittelpunkt steht das Thema Künstliche Intelligenz (KI). An der Konferenz nimmt auch Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz teil.
Im Anschluss ist eine gemeinsame Pressekonferenz mit Digitalminister Karsten Wildberger geplant. Nach Angaben eines Regierungssprechers wird Kanzler Merz auch Vertreter der deutschen Firma Neura Robotics treffen. Das Unternehmen entwickelt humanoide Roboter, die sehen und hören können und einen Tastsinn haben. Sie sollen in der Industrie und in Haushalten zum Einsatz kommen.
Translation: On Monday a two-day federal digital summit begins in Berlin. More than 1,000 people from politics, science and business are expected in the German capital. The focus is artificial intelligence. Chancellor Friedrich Merz is also taking part. A joint press conference with Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger is planned afterward. According to a government spokesperson, Chancellor Merz will also meet representatives of the German firm Neura Robotics. The company develops humanoid robots that can see and hear and have a sense of touch. They are meant for use in industry and in households. Deutsche Welle (Germany), compiled with dpa, AFP and Reuters.
Opinion
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3. Canada and the European Union
There was no genuinely new Canada–EU news story in the past day that I could open without repeating an earlier edition. A briefing by Rafał Mańko for the European Parliamentary Research Service, last updated Nov. 3, does add unused legal detail on what the late-October Montreal summit set in motion (Association with the EU). Commission President Ursula von der Leyen floated “associate membership” for Canada on Sept. 15. The summit conclusions instead commit both sides to define, by the 2027 Canada–EU summit, “an ever-closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership itself.”
Mańko stresses that association is not a ready-made status. Under Article 217 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU it is a treaty creating “reciprocal rights and obligations, common action and special procedure,” and it does not turn the partner into a member state or confer observer status. Legal scholar Jan Wouters, cited in the briefing, notes that the Treaties draw a binary line between member states and third countries; there is no intermediate category. Concluding such an agreement requires the European Parliament’s consent and unanimity in the Council, and the deals are often “mixed,” needing ratification by every member state—one reason they can take years to enter into force.
The same legal tool has been used very differently: deep single-market participation (the European Economic Area), a customs union (Türkiye), a free-trade area (Morocco), the deep agreements with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, and the post-Brexit deal with Britain, which is broad in policy but stops short of the single market. Canada’s next steps will be negotiated content, not a label. Rafał Mańko, European Parliamentary Research Service (European Union).
Opinion
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4. Ukraine’s defence industry
Ukraine’s unmanned ground vehicles completed a record 31,398 missions in October, more than four times the 7,511 logged in January, the defence ministry said on Nov. 6, citing the military’s e-points system, the Kyiv Independent reported. Francis Farrell writes that FPV drones have created a “kill zone” near the front that now bars ordinary vehicles from logistics runs, rotations and casualty evacuations. UGV companies and battalions have appeared in almost every brigade. Most missions are supply runs, but the machines also carry out strikes, evacuations, reconnaissance, mining, demining and drone launches. Each success is recorded on the Delta system and earns e-points for the Brave1 Marketplace. “UGVs are the technology that makes it possible to minimize the risk to humans on the front,” the ministry said. Francis Farrell, The Kyiv Independent (Ukraine).
That same drone saturation is pushing fighting underground. In a Nov. 2 report, Sébastian Seibt of France 24 described Ukraine’s October “Veles” operation, which sent specially trained troops 15 kilometres through a disused 1.2-metre gas pipeline near Kupiansk—a tactic Russia used first—so they could fight away from aerial drones:
"Il devient évident que plus la guerre avance, plus les passages souterrains représentent un véritable nouveau front", assure Ryhor Nizhnikau. Il faut, en effet, trouver des moyens d’avancer ou de contre-attaquer. Pas facile en surface lorsque le front est gelé. Surtout, "les troupes en terrain dégagé sont immédiatement repérées par les drones ennemis et prises pour cible", assure Will Kingston-Cox.
La menace permanente des drones a rendu intéressantes ces voies alternatives souterraines, pourtant très étroites et parfois dangereusement car chargées en gaz. "Au moins, c’est plus prévisible pour les soldats qui n’ont pas à craindre la possibilité d’une attaque de drone impossible à anticiper en surface", souligne Ryhor Nizhnikau.
Translation: "It is becoming obvious that the further the war goes on, the more underground passages represent a genuine new front," says Ryhor Nizhnikau. Forces do, after all, need ways to advance or counter-attack. That is not easy on the surface when the front is frozen. Above all, "troops in open ground are immediately spotted by enemy drones and taken as targets," says Will Kingston-Cox. The permanent threat from drones has made these underground alternatives attractive, even though they are very narrow and sometimes dangerously so because they still hold gas. "At least it is more predictable for the soldiers, who do not have to fear a drone attack that is impossible to anticipate on the surface," Nizhnikau says. Sébastian Seibt, France 24 (France), 2 November 2026. Remotely piloted drones quickly lose their signal in these galleries, and fibre-optic drones struggle to turn in the narrow bends—another reason the pipeline war is, for now, a supporting tactic rather than a replacement for fighting on the surface.
Opinion
No new opinion pieces filled for this section within today’s budget.
Lean edition to stay inside the Ledger’s 1% daily budget: German and French passages are included (Deutsche Welle in robotics; France 24 in the Ukraine section). Opinion slots and the coverage-by-perspective block are left empty rather than filled with pieces I had not opened in this run.
Prepared by Ludwig for The Ludwig Ledger.