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The TAPV itself would not make a good mortar carrier platform. Not without extensive modification of the basic vehicle design, anyway. The vehicle is probably too light for such a role. The Swedish and the Finns got together and created a wheeled mortar carrier based on a Patria XA-series...

That would have been an interesting scenario. I suspect that the Scorpions would have been used mainly for recce, possibly airfield defence and flank screening, in the same way that the British used theirs. I agree that they could have been deployed in sabre-type units and used to provide fire...

Pardon me, but I was going by what media accounts, including DND publications, had stated about the condition of the tanks. I remember reading something to the effect that the tanks that were in storage had about 400km on their odometers. I should have qualified what I meant when I said the...

Agreed. The Cougar always struck me as a rather weird vehicle that was neither fish nor fowl. It seemed to be a reconnaissance vehicle and a fire support vehicle and neither at the same time, a cheap alternative for a government that was unwilling to buy modern main battle tanks but was also...

Whether government regulations are at fault or not, it is a messed up system that doesn't operate the way it should. It still amazes me how we managed to get nearly-new Leopard 2 tanks in record time, and all that was needed to break the inevitable logjam in the procurement system was the...

As a thought exercise, I've been toying with the idea of whether a 75mm grenade launcher (as opposed to a standard 40mm AGL) would resolve the dilemma you have noted. The 40mm AGL is already seen as capable of laying down considerable suppressive fire and even providing some limited anti-armour...

Many years ago, I was chatting with a friend who happened to be an ex- Regular Force armoured officer. We were debating about the issue of acquiring new vehicles versus maintaining an existing fleet until it is too old to remain viable in any meaningful sense. He tried to tell me that it made...

It wouldn't have gone well at all. A storm of protest would likely have emerged from the British officer corps, and it wouldn't have been surprising to see them go above George's head and make a direct appeal to the King to have George's decision reversed if what he proposed had come to pass...

Hitler was believed to have said, "Give me British officers, Canadian NCOs, and American technology, and I can rule the world." So perhaps the quality of training and discipline Canadian soldiers get might help explain why Canada's small army tends to punch well above its weight.

Well, one reason, arguably, why some of the Warsaw Pact (i.e. non-Soviet) forces may have had relatively low ratings is due to their potential political reliability in wartime. I remember reading something recently that discussed how Polish forces almost mobilized against the Russians back in...

As others have noted, the current method of saluting is the Navy salute. I sometimes wonder if the salute was changed not because the RCN was the senior service, but to placate Quebecers, who might have seen the former open-palm salute as 'too British' for their liking. Canadians would today...

It was interesting to see how they had to use spacer plates to properly support the Cadillac Gage one-metre turret. It makes me wonder if the contours of the hull itself would have had to be modified to accept the turret so it wouldn't look so odd or like it was just grafted on. The quality of...

Or, how about something like this? It looks like it's not terribly expensive and could probably fit well into PRes artillery units. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y042UlZRxEo

I wonder if the Saudi vehicles are going to be just an extension of the typical MOWAG Piranha design, or something different, an entirely new design. 'Much much larger, bigger than the LAV-UP' seems to suggest something on the same scale as the German-made Boxer APC or even the French Nexter...

Well, for quite a long time now, the German Army have used tanks in a recce role. At the same time, they maintain lighter recce assets like the Fennek armoured car. It seems to me that the Germans have thereby divided their recce resources into two categories: heavy, for use in situations where...

Rather than agonize over what rifle should replace the existing Ranger rifle, why not have a company like Prairie Gun Works design and develop a rifle with an action based on a reliable, rugged and simple Mauser, Mosin-Nagant or even Enfield action, chambered in .338 Lapua and married up with a...

Interesting design. Although the article says that steps have been taken to use composites and other advanced materials to reduce weight, the prototype still looks like it's heavy and bulky. Could you imagine having to parade with one of these things? How would you shoulder arms, or do the...

One of my uncles spent 23 years in the army. He has lost a significant portion of his hearing and also suffers from tinnitus (ringing in the ears) as a result of his service. He traces most of the loss back to the days when, as a young private in the RCOC, he was given the job of running a...

I never meant to suggest that M38 jeeps would make acceptable recce vehicles. I was pointing out the fact that they had speed and small size in their favour against the backdrop that reflected all of their other flaws. There is no question that M38 jeeps are totally inadequate as serious recce...

One of the advantages the M38's had aside from being small and therefore harder to see and hit, is that you could drive them up to a spot where you could observe the enemy without being detected, fix the grid reference, then quickly double back a tactical bound or two and then call in a fire...