CFB Suffield seeing increased activity in modern military world

Posted on July 23, 2026 by Ryan Dahlman

By Zoe Mason
Southern Alberta Newspapers

After years of reduced activity, things are ramping up at CFB Suffield.

In late June, an annual NATO training exercise wrapped up. But already, contractors are arriving for a new initiative that will see deployment to the base surge for the summer season.

CFB Suffield is the largest training area in Canada, with a manoeuvre training area that spans more than 1,500 square kilometres of the base’s total 2,700 square kilometres.

The base’s vastness is a feature that attracted interest from both military and civilian organizations to test new technologies and techniques.

It’s the reason the British military has long maintained a presence in southeast Alberta, which has been home to the British Army Training Unit Suffield, or BATUS, since 1971.

Historically, BATUS used Suffield for heavy tank training. But after the pandemic, those exercises were shifted elsewhere and British use of the base was dialled down.

Now, the British military is scaling up operations in Alberta, using the expansive base as a testing ground for drone and counter drone technology.

BATUS commander Lt. Col. Paul Eaton says the Albertan base will be increasingly used as a testing hub for new technology and training.

“This new direction aligns with U.K. and Canadian strategy to draw in defence strategic partners and utilize the uniqueness that Suffield offers,” he said in a statement to Southern Alberta Newspapers.

Eaton says the British and Canadian militaries have started using the base for trials and experimentation to test rapidly evolving drone and counter-drone technology.

He says a new joint initiative held at Suffield this summer will bring in both military and industry partners to collaborate on the development of future drone technologies that can be integrated immediately in the field around the globe.

Contractors associated with that initiative began arriving in June. Deployment to Suffield is expected to surge to around 400 soldiers and 200 contractors, with elevated activity at the base stretching through the summer season.

It’s a use that aligns with the region’s economic strategy, which has placed increasing emphasis on the aerospace and defence sector in recent years.

“Southeast Alberta is open for business when it comes to drones and UAVs. So it makes sense to train and test drones here and the British are proving that,” said City of Medicine Hat director of economic development Selena McLean-Moore.

While the economic stimulus of the drone training is not expected to equal the activity produced by the tank training, which would bring in thousands of British troops, McLean-Moore says the city will still reap some benefits, particularly in the service and retail sectors.

Activity at the base was also limited by a training moratorium that just lifted last fall.

Since it was lifted, reserve summer training at the base has resumed and two Canadian Brigade Groups have conducted training across multiple disciplines this year.

Amber Donnelly, public affairs officer for CFB Suffield, says regular force units have also expressed strong interest in using the base for training, and planning is underway for more exercises in the near term.

In the meantime, Suffield has remained home to a Canadian Defence Research station which hosts an annual NATO training exercise.

Exercise ‘Precise Response’ is a live agent training exercise for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence training that takes place at Suffield every summer. 

This year, Precise Response included 33 Canadian Armed Forces members, consisting of a 24-member decontamination platoon and nine support staff ensuring they are supplied and replenished.

The platoon’s job is to chemically, biologically and radiologically denominate vehicles, equipment, and personnel, including those who may have been injured.

Donnelly says the exercise is designed to reinforce interoperability for the multinational task force.