We already have Leopard 2s in Latvia, and found have it doesn't work like that. They have to send parts to the Canadian subsidiary, who releases them to the CAF.
That is a 100% self inflicted problem, God didn't descend from Heaven and mandate it, and we can solve it any time we wanted to.
I like the continuous production of LAV rumours, I'd go so far as to extend that to tanks too. Build a few dozen gun tanks and support vehicles a year with surge capacity in the factory keep it running for decades to come and build up an actual reserve of vehicles as newer models keep rolling off the line. Others have said the same thing about support vehicles and they should also be included. We'd have to incur some costs to build out storage facilities and some personnel to keep them in condition that they can be easily returned to service, but that's a lot cheaper than kicking off WW3 without having enough equipment for day to day peacetime requirements or the industrial base to rapidly ramp up production. Gives us a place to park some of our expanded funding while we ramp up recruitment and training.
Rough math:
100 x LAVs a year (estimating $6 million a piece based on ACSV price of $4.2 million in 2020)
36 x Tanks (Based on Korean numbers form 2009 it would be about $15 million a unit for K2s, almost certainly higher for Leopards or Abrams, let's go with $20 million)
20 years of continuous production:
2000 LAVs
720 Tank Hulls (gun tanks and support vehicles)
$1.3 billion a year for several thousand armoured vehicles, donating/selling/storingg our existing vehicles where appropriate, as we'd likely keep most or all our LAVs and ACSVs which are around what, 800 ish vehicles?, so about 2800 LAVs and 720 tanks to full equip deployed troops, units at home, schools, and a war reserve. Back of the napkin math it's about 2% of the total defence spending this year to support a robust defence industrial base.
Partner with South Korea and Poland for a complete AFV renewal - AS21, K2, K9s, and we can share R&D costs, spare parts, and have distributed manufacturing for both the Pacific and Europe. See if they can throw in a Hyundai/Kia factory to help make up some of the auto manufacturing while we're at it.
The army's modernization efforts going forward should focus heavily on building out our industrial base and training capacity (facilities, simulators, ensuring reservists are trained on current service systems, ammunition. It's an easy sell to the public to keep up support for defence spending when the current mood becomes old news and the public loses interest.
@FJAG maybe you should hold off on further revisions to Unsustainable At Any Price and do a defence industry equivalent.
