Thales Canada and Cohere have reached a significant milestone in their partnership with the Royal Canadian Navy’s adoption of artificial intelligence for in-service support operations.
Through a new task awarded to Thales under the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels and Joint Support Ships in-service support (AJISS) contract, the partners will deliver the first integration of agentic AI into the Navy’s maintenance and support activities.
The initiative combines Thales Canada’s defense and digital technology expertise with Cohere’s secure enterprise AI solutions, supported by Thales’ cortAIx AI accelerator for critical systems. It is intended to support maintenance and in-service support activities by improving service delivery, operational efficiency, ship readiness and mission effectiveness.
The adoption of agentic AI will help expand the capacity of the AJISS program by automating specific support functions while maintaining human oversight. By streamlining routine processes, personnel will have increased capacity to focus on mission-critical and complex tasks, while ensuring that the best vessel is mission-ready and available at the time it is needed.
“The Royal Canadian Navy’s commitment to advancing AI adoption will help ensure Canada remains agile and competitive in an increasingly complex operational environment,” said Ian Krepps, CEO, Thales Canada.
“This milestone reflects both Canada’s drive for innovation and our dedication to delivering advanced solutions that enable the Canadian Armed Forces to focus on what matters most – the availability of their assets and the successful execution of their missions.”
“Canada has an opportunity to lead in the responsible use of secure, enterprise-grade AI across defence and other mission-critical environments,” said Ivan Zhang, Co-founder, Cohere.
“Through our work with Thales, we’re showing how agentic AI can operate securely to support ship readiness, including in disconnected environments, while keeping Royal Canadian Navy personnel firmly in control. The result is less time spent on routine administrative work and more time focused on fleet readiness and mission effectiveness.”