Guardians of the North

Interview with Chris Pogue, President, Defence & Space, Calian In this episode of Vanguard Radio , host J. Richard Jones sits down with Chris Pogue—President, Defence & Space at Calian and a retired Royal Canadian Air Force officer—to explore how Canada is shaping the future of defence, space, and allied interoperability. Drawing on more than two decades of senior executive leadership across Canada's defence and aerospace ecosystem, Pogue offers a candid, strategic look at Calian's expanding role in supporting NATO allies, modernizing military training, and advancing multi-domain operations at a time of accelerating global uncertainty. The conversation spans Calian's end-to-end defence, space, and training capabilities; Canada's evolving defence modernization agenda and budget context; and the growing importance of interoperability across allied forces. Pogue also unpacks Calian VENTURES—how it works, why it's different from other innovation programs, and how it helps connect Canadian SMEs to real-world defence and space priorities under the government's "Rebuild, Rearm, and Reinvest" vision. From VICCI-enabled collective training to the integration of virtual, live, and distributed environments that strengthen command and control, the episode examines how innovation is being operationalized—not just imagined. Guardians of the North closes with a forward-looking discussion on Calian's priorities in training, interoperability, and space operations, and what it will take for Canada to remain a credible, agile, and trusted defence partner on the world stage. A must-listen for defence leaders, policymakers, industry partners, and anyone interested in how Canada is preparing for the next era of collective security.

You can listen to Guardians of the North online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Guardians of the North is an episode from The Vanguard Podcast by Terri Pavelic.

This episode is 22:03 long.

This episode was published on Jan 11, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Vanguard Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.