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(sorry, but I have to shake my head at the eventual price tag for the Bombardier Iltis ... and the close family connection between Bombardier and Papa Doc Crouton ...)
Cash-strapped army buys off-the-shelf trucks
Jim Farrell, CanWest News Service
July 8, 2004
EDMONTON -- The Canadian army is buying more than 1,000 non-military, diesel-powered pickup trucks, slightly modified for army use as part of a new cost-saving policy to purchase off-the-shelf items.
Each of the 1,061 one-tonne Silverados costs $65,000.
The Edmonton-based Land Force Western Area will receive 337 vehicles and will supply them to reserve units and military police across Western Canada.
The trucks' diesel engines carry the standard GM five-year, 160,000-kilometre warranty.
There are other savings, said Capt. John Vintar, the logistics officer with Land Force Western Area.
"One of the cost savings is the result of having much of the work performed by local dealerships," said Vintar. "That means we won't have to stock any of the parts."
Servicing overseas won't present a problem because the vehicles will never leave Canada, Vintar said. On foreign assignments, soldiers will use the new diesel-powered Mercedes Benz G-Wagen jeep.
"The G-Wagen fits the bill for foreign service," Vintar said. "It can carry add-on armour. There's no armour available for the Silverado."
The $150,000 G-Wagen and the $65,000 Silverado both serve as replacements for the much criticized Iltis vehicle, widely used by the Armed Forces.
In the past, the military paid what might strike civilians as outrageous prices for purpose-built trucks and jeeps. A made-in-Canada purchasing policy didn't help. In the mid-1980s, the army wanted to buy small German-built Iltis jeeps at a cost of $26,500 each, but the Liberal government demanded the vehicles be built in Canada.
Quebec-based Bombardier, which was having financial difficulties at the time, got the contract to build the Volkswagen Rabbit-engined Iltis in Canada and the cost skyrocketed to $84,000 apiece.
It was left up to the Canadian Forces to pay the hefty bill and the vehicles were delivered between 1984 and 1986.
The Silverado's cab provides room for gun racks and a large military radio, as well as four "captain's" seats.
The Silverado represents another departure from routine military purchasing policy -- country-of-manufacture. The truck is assembled in Flint, Mich., but contains many Canadian parts.
Cash-strapped army buys off-the-shelf trucks
Jim Farrell, CanWest News Service
July 8, 2004
EDMONTON -- The Canadian army is buying more than 1,000 non-military, diesel-powered pickup trucks, slightly modified for army use as part of a new cost-saving policy to purchase off-the-shelf items.
Each of the 1,061 one-tonne Silverados costs $65,000.
The Edmonton-based Land Force Western Area will receive 337 vehicles and will supply them to reserve units and military police across Western Canada.
The trucks' diesel engines carry the standard GM five-year, 160,000-kilometre warranty.
There are other savings, said Capt. John Vintar, the logistics officer with Land Force Western Area.
"One of the cost savings is the result of having much of the work performed by local dealerships," said Vintar. "That means we won't have to stock any of the parts."
Servicing overseas won't present a problem because the vehicles will never leave Canada, Vintar said. On foreign assignments, soldiers will use the new diesel-powered Mercedes Benz G-Wagen jeep.
"The G-Wagen fits the bill for foreign service," Vintar said. "It can carry add-on armour. There's no armour available for the Silverado."
The $150,000 G-Wagen and the $65,000 Silverado both serve as replacements for the much criticized Iltis vehicle, widely used by the Armed Forces.
In the past, the military paid what might strike civilians as outrageous prices for purpose-built trucks and jeeps. A made-in-Canada purchasing policy didn't help. In the mid-1980s, the army wanted to buy small German-built Iltis jeeps at a cost of $26,500 each, but the Liberal government demanded the vehicles be built in Canada.
Quebec-based Bombardier, which was having financial difficulties at the time, got the contract to build the Volkswagen Rabbit-engined Iltis in Canada and the cost skyrocketed to $84,000 apiece.
It was left up to the Canadian Forces to pay the hefty bill and the vehicles were delivered between 1984 and 1986.
The Silverado's cab provides room for gun racks and a large military radio, as well as four "captain's" seats.
The Silverado represents another departure from routine military purchasing policy -- country-of-manufacture. The truck is assembled in Flint, Mich., but contains many Canadian parts.
At some point our government missed the concept that a bit of communication can save a lot of money and effort.
