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Rumour has it they will be either US-made Stevenson & Stewart or Mercedes trucks built overseas in Germany or Austria. My bet is that we'll get the S & S trucks because of the proximity of the spare parts pipeline. What's interesting about the big buy O'Connor has planned for the military is...

Looking at the specs of the CV90120, I'd say this would be the almost-perfect replacement for our Leopards. The key features of the 90120 which make this so are the light weight (max 35t), ability to add on armour, capacity to handle all standard NATO ammo, storage capacity for as many rounds as...

Having only had Reserve service under my belt, I can't comment on life in the Regular Force. My wife, however, spent 20-odd years in the Regular Force, and from what she has told me, military life can be demanding. That said, how demanding it is is a matter of perception, and somewhat dependent...

Teddy, Let's not forget that in addition to making a good surveillance and anti-armour platform, the Apache can also be used to great effect against soft-skinned vehicles and troops in the open or who are not well dug-in. An Apache can swing in and strike fast and forcefully, then be gone ...

Before I got out of shooting sports entirely, I used to own a Czech-made VZ52 rifle. It was unusual because it had a folding bayonet which would swing out sideways from a hollow machined in the right side of the forestock. Initial versions were chambered in 7.62 x 45, an oddball round the Czechs...

Ah yes, the sting of finding out that you were rejected on medical grounds. I know it well. When I joined an Army Reserve unit, (back in the days of the Summer Reserve Training Programme) I had a hearing impairment (i.e. basically half-deaf). The hearing test (I kid you not!) back then at the...

There's little doubt we couldn't even begin to field an army the size of China's. However, Canada is wealthy enough to be able to do far, far more than it is doing in the military sphere. Retired general Lewis McKenzie was once quoted as saying that Canada should have a military of about...

Hey, I spent two years in a reserve armoured recce unit (back in the days when the Cougars were 'semi-new') and even *I* know the limitations wheeled vehicles have relative to tracked ones in rough terrain. I'm way too old now to be a tanker, but if I were not, I know I'd far sooner be sitting...

The beauty of a tank buy like this is that even the older 2A4's can be easily upgraded to 2A5/A6 standard - at least as far as the add-on armour is concerned. I have trouble believing that Canada has no use for tanks, considering that every G7 country out there will have them when Canada finally...

Well put. The inability of the MGS to survive encounters with tanks (besides its lack of transportability in a C130) is the biggest objection I have to it. There is one thing that would save the MGS in an encounter with T55's. That is the fact that most Third World T55's are poorly maintained...

Having had maybe two years of service in the PRes, none of it involving an overseas deployment, I cannot call myself a veteran. Even so, I find the provisions of C-45 disturbing in the extreme. On its face, it is blatantly unconstitutional legislation, and it probably would not survive a Charter...

A friend of mine started his career as an officer in the Armoured Corps and then remustered into Logistics. One day, we were debating the utility of the MilCOTS truck purchase for the PRes. He insisted that it was cheaper in the long run to buy a vehicle and keep repairing it until it could no...

Maybe we're not getting the recognition we deserve because: - We've cut and cut and neglected our military to the point where we're barely able to muster more than a token contribution - On the missions that we do participate in, we're constantly leeching rides from our allies because we have...

You're not slow. You and all other Canadians have been sold a bill of goods. The previous government bought the MGS and went whole hog on the current Army Transformation deal, on the assumption that the Canadian Army would never again participate in major combat operations. As was just...

Well said. When I looked at the per-unit cost of the MGS, I was flabbergasted. But I wasn't surprised, because Canada has a long and well-developed history of buying overpriced, deficient kit which is obsolete by the time it actually gets issued. The recent G-Wagen and RG-31 purchases are...

Spent two years (1979-1981) in 'C' Sqn 1st Hussars as a crewman (most of the time as a rad op, OR clerk, and all-around housecat or some combination thereof). Shouldn't have been there (and that's a whole 'nother story) but I did my two years, had a good time and learned something. At least I...

I think it's great that the military is working on a system that might enhance crew protection regardless of what kind of vehicle they're stationed in. On the other hand, the news release seems to be a blunt admission of how deficient the MGS is in terms of armour and how risky it will be...

You could probably expect to see police chiefs (and wannabe chiefs) squawking about this big time. Most of them are basically politicians in uniform who have staked their careers on the gun registry and its continuance. Not only that, they have budgets to defend because considerable money has...

The operative sentence in your post is, "... the MMEV (whenever it comes to life) or ADATS provides the long range punch that a 120mm would have given us." For what it's costing us to develop the MMEV (and I think this has been pointed out by someone else in the army.ca site), we could have a...

As for your prediction, "no tanks... for the next three years" you might be right. Still, I like what I'm seeing in Harper when it comes to defence matters. He really seems to care about the military and its welfare, so even if he has other priorities, I could see him at least getting a start on...