Canada is about to give Ukraine a bunch of its old rockets

On September 6th, Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair announced that Canada would donate and transport 80,840 CRV7 rocket motors and 1,300 warheads to Ukraine as a part of Ottawa's ongoing assistance to its Eastern European ally.

“The additional 80,840 rocket motors are being prepared for shipment to Poland and will arrive in the coming months,” a government press release noted. The new donation is in addition to a previous announcement made in June 2024. 

On June 13th, Minister Blair announced that Canada planned to send an “initial tranche” of 2,300 CRV7 to Ukraine, insinuating that more of the rockets would be donated to the Ukrainians in the future. But why are these rockets important?

Canada has well over 80,000 decommissioned CRV7 rockets previously used by the country’s CF-18 fighter aircraft, and they were slated for destruction. But the rockets became an issue for Ottawa after Ukraine asked for them to be given to Kyiv. 

In February 2024, Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov sat down with Global News in an exclusive interview and explained why Kyiv wanted Canada's decommissioned CRV7 rockets. 

Budanov is Head of the Main Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine, and during his interview with Global News, he urged the Canadian government to transfer the roughly 83,000 decommissioned CRV7 rockets Ottawa was sitting on to Kyiv during his interview. 

“We hope it will be a win-win situation,” Budanov explained. Shipping the decommissioned to Ukraine would provide the country with badly needed ammunition for the war but would also save Canadian taxpayers money according to reports at the time about the situation.   

The 83,000 decommissioned CRV7 rockets were sitting at the Canadian Forces Ammunition Depot Durdun in Saskatoon at the time Budanov asked that they be given to Ukraine, and providing them to Kyiv would save Ottawa the costs associated with their destruction. This is why it seemed like a win-win for both countries. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Boevaya Mashina - Own Work, CC BY-SA 4.0

"We need a lot of equipment, both ammunition, munitions in general, artillery munitions — lots of types of equipment," Budanov told Global News, and he believed the CRV7s could be helpful despite the risks involved. 

The CRV7 is a ground attack rocket but the ones slated for destruction were taken out of service in 2005 and Canadian officials reportedly warned at the time that the decades-old rockets could be unstable.

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Marcelloo - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,

Due to their advanced age, the CRV7 rockets could be dangerous when transported but the Ukrainians were ready to take on the risks according to Budanov, who explained in his interview that Kyiv's needs were dire. 

“We have no concerns,” Budanov said, adding that Ukraine was accustomed to handling older ammunition like the CRV7. However, Canadian officials hadn't made up their minds on whether or not to send the rockets to Ukraine in February 2024, though it seems they have now finally decided to send the older rockets to their Eastern European ally. 

A representative for Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair told Business Insider in February 2024 that the government needed to ensure that CRV7 rockets were ​​"operationally effective and safe to transport to Ukraine before any potential donation."

"At every step of the way, we have examined all possible military donations from our own stocks — and have made significant donations of CAF equipment including M777 howitzers and Leopard 2 tanks," the representative continued.

However, the Conservative Party of Canada, the opposition party to Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party, was pushing to send the rockets to Ukraine and issued a statement at the time noting that the decommissioned rockets should be sent to Ukraine rather than destroyed with taxpayer money. 

"The Canadian Armed Forces is sitting on a stockpile of 83,000 CRV7 rockets that the Trudeau government has slated for disposal," the statement from the Conservative Party read according to Newsweek. "Ukraine has asked the Government of Canada to provide them with these surplus weapons."

"Instead of making Canadians pay millions of dollars to decommission these weapons, common sense Conservatives are calling on the Trudeau government to give these weapons to Ukraine who can use them in the defense of their sovereignty," the statement continued.

Despite their age, Canada's CRV7 rockets will likely prove to be a valuable weapon for Ukraine since they can be used with Kyiv's attack helicopters or fired from launchers against tanks and artillery according to Budanov. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Staff Sergeant Mike Harvey/MOD, OGL v1.0

CBC News noted that the CRV7 can also be fired from both fixed-wing warplanes and attack helicopters and come with different kinds of warhead — one of which, the 7.3 kilogram type, is capable of piercing armored or heavily reinforced targets.”