CFB Suffield (Image Credit: File Photo/CHAT News)

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

Military Training Base

CFB Suffield set to have busy summer

Mar 27, 2026 | 7:18 AM

The commander of the Canadian Army says a sprawling military training base in southeastern Alberta may soon see a boost in activity.

Lieutenant-General Michael Wright says Canadian Forces Base Suffield will be used “increasingly” starting this summer as a testing hub for new technology and for training.

He says there will also be investments at Suffield, but didn’t specify what it would involve.

The history of Canada’s largest training area west of Medicine Hat covering nearly 27-hundred square kilometres dates back over half a century.

In the early 1970s, the British Army started sending troops for armour training and exercises, but the U-K’s ministry of defence announced in 2023 it would wind down operations.

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Still, the U.K. government has said it plans to spend money on maintaining British Army Training Unit Suffield and to host training there.

Wright says the British Army is planning to increase its use of the base.

The base is also used by Canadian Forces reserve units for training, with some soldiers joining the NATO mission in Latvia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2026.