Canadian troops recieve Leopards in Afghanistan

[GAP]

Armor Discussion Board
http://www.strategypage.com/militaryforums/2-22313.aspx
Subject: Canadian troops recieve Leopards in Afghanistan (photos)
Nasty German Idiot    2/5/2011 1:07:02 PM
Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan received five of twenty upgraded Leopard 2 A4M CAN (Leopard 2) tanks between December 2010 and mid January 2011. The new tanks arrived freshly off the production line of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) as part of the tank replacement project by the Director General Land Equipment Program Management to replace some of the Leopard 2 A6M CAN tanks that have been deployed in theatre since 2007.

 

[lethalLemon]

such a beauty!

 

[PuckChaser]

Good thing we got the tanks there now.... get 6 months of mileage on them before they're back on an Antonov.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Good thing we got the tanks there now.... get 6 months of mileage on them before they're back on an Antonov.

Don't count your chickens. A lot of things can happen in six months.

There are likely a lot of contract details we are not privy to also.



edit: spelling

 

[Nfld Sapper]

And I doubt they would be shipped back to canada via air.......

 

[GAP]

And I doubt they would be shipped back to canada via air.......

There's no crying need to airlift them back....

 

[VIChris]

Stupid new guy question: What's all the bar grating that is on these tanks, and many other vehicles I've seen photos of overseas? My moderately educated guess is that it would help defeat some forms of RPG.

 

[PuckChaser]

Slat Armor, and I believe you're almost dead on with your guess. One of the Tango types here can better explain it.

 

[brihard]

Stupid new guy question: What's all the bar grating that is on these tanks, and many other vehicles I've seen photos of overseas? My moderately educated guess is that it would help defeat some forms of RPG.

Yup. It prematurely detonates shaped charge warheads so that most of their explosive power is wasted. There are some charges with tandem warheads to defeat this. Slat armour technology actually dates back to WW2, but has recently made a resurgence.

 

[HavokFour]

Shiny!

We're going to bring this back with us once we're done, right? It would be a crying shame to leave such a beauty behind.

 

[VIChris]

Thanks, gents.

 

[George Wallace]

There's no crying need to airlift them back....

I would hate to see them held for Ransom in Pakistan or on some ship at sea.  Or has that memory faded into the abyss?

 

[GAP]

If it takes 3 months by sea vs 1-2 weeks by air....compare cost vs immediate need. The basic economics kinda jump out at you.

As for being held for ransom.....I would hope the CF/Government would have solved those niggling little problems by now....

 

[The Bread Guy]

A bit more on this from the CF:

Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan received five of twenty upgraded Leopard 2 A4M CAN (Leopard 2) tanks between December 2010 and mid January 2011. The new tanks arrived freshly off the production line of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) as part of the tank replacement project by the Director General Land Equipment Program Management to replace some of the Leopard 2 A6M CAN tanks that have been deployed in theatre since 2007.

Click to enlarge The new Leopard 2 A4M tanks replace some of the Leopard 2 A6M CAN tanks that have been deployed in theatre since 2007. The new Leopard 2 A4M tanks replace some of the Leopard 2 A6M CAN tanks that have been deployed in theatre since 2007.
The deployment of the upgraded tanks will ensure Canadian soldiers continue to sustain ongoing combat operations and fulfill Canada’s commitment to its coalition partners until the end of the mission in Afghanistan.

Key upgrades on the Leopard 2A4M CAN include a general overhaul of the complete vehicle and 360 degrees of protection afforded by add-on armour. Other modifications include an all-electric digital turret, a digital central logic/main distribution system, a new commander system control unit, enhanced service brakes, an upgraded suspension and driver viewing aids. Environmental enhancements include chilled cooling vests for the crew and new camouflage nets.

The new tanks undergo a commissioning process when they arrive in Kandahar before they are loaded for battle. Some of them have already been pushed forward in support of combat operations.

 

[JSR OP]

I would hate to see them held for Ransom in Pakistan or on some ship at sea.  Or has that memory faded into the abyss?

I'm willing to bet they will be flown out of Afghanistan by antonov or IL 76 (assuming IL 76 can carry one)  to an intermediate staging area in Germany or Cyprus, cleaned top to bottom to get all the Afghan dirt off them, and then loaded on a ship to sail back to Canada.

 

[George Wallace]

I'm willing to bet they will be flown out of Afghanistan by antonov or IL 76 (assuming IL 76 can carry one)  to an intermediate staging area in Germany or Cyprus, cleaned top to bottom to get all the Afghan dirt off them, and then loaded on a ship to sail back to Canada.

A possibility, however, I highly doubt that these vehicles, or any equipment, will be allowed out of country without a total cleaning top to bottom.  The idea is to do that before they leave, otherwise contaminants will be brought into another nation.  There are strick regulations for transporting equipment, even between provinces here at home, reference the cleaning of that equipment so as not to transport seeds or other biological entities across borders.

 

[JSR OP]

A possibility, however, I highly doubt that these vehicles, or any equipment, will be allowed out of country without a total cleaning top to bottom.  The idea is to do that before they leave, otherwise contaminants will be brought into another nation.  There are strick regulations for transporting equipment, even between provinces here at home, reference the cleaning of that equipment so as not to transport seeds or other biological entities across borders.

I'm not sure what has happened in the past, just before they leave Afghanistan, but I do know that they have been cleaned top to bottom in a third country before they are loaded onto a ship to be returned to Canada.

 

[REDinstaller]

That might be a secondary cleaning, but not the primary. Try telling your mother that you cleaned your boots at home before you walk all over her carpet with them. Good Luck with that.

 

[JSR OP]

That might be a secondary cleaning, but not the primary. Try telling your mother that you cleaned your boots at home before you walk all over her carpet with them. Good Luck with that.

Like I said, I don't know what kind of cleaning they had in Afghanistan before they got on the plane.  I wasn't there.  I can tell you that the guys who did conduct the wash-ops in the third country did so to CFIA standards, then loaded them on the boat. 

Now that was a few years ago, so things very well might have changed since then.

 

[REDinstaller]

A Leo of any type will take quite a while to have cleaned to CFIA standards. I was on 1-07 in the Tank Sqn so at that point they had only been in theater for almost 4 months. And there was inches of dust and dirt in the hulls, not all of it in reachable spots either. Hopefully the rains are good this year to build up the rivers so we can clean all of the heavy kit.