Canada's purchase of the Leopard 2 MBT

[old medic]

First batch of used Dutch tanks arrive in Canada
By Murray Brewster, THE CANADIAN PRESS
numerous newspapers online.

OTTAWA - The first batch of used battle tanks that Canada purchased from the Dutch have arrived more than a year behind schedule.

Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, head of the Canadian army, said 40 Leopard 2A-4 tanks rolled off a supply ship and onto the dock in Montreal last week.

"They are in better shape than any of us could have hoped for," Leslie said in an interview Tuesday with The Canadian Press.

The tanks, to be upgraded with extra armour for overseas missions, are being stored at the 202 Canadian Forces workshop depot in Montreal.

A tender for the work, estimated at about $200 million, isn't expected to be issued for a year, say federal documents.

The 50-tonne iron monsters will sit idle while the federal government finds a company capable of the specialized modifications, which will include installing an electric turret drive, a shorter gun barrel and an air-cooling system.

The $120-million purchase of 100 tanks from the Netherlands was announced by former defence minister Gordon O'Connor in April 2007, who said they would arrive within six months. The Dutch government mothballed the tanks at the end of the Cold War.

The deal was part of a two-step process to reinforce Canadian troops battling the Taliban in the hinterlands of Afghanistan.

Fierce battles in the summer of 2006 convinced ground commanders that tanks would be needed to blast enemy fighters from behind thick mud-walled redoubts outside of Kandahar.

The army dispatched nearly 30-year-old Leopard C1s, vehicles with few spare parts and no air conditioning. In the blistering 55 C Afghan sun and choking dust, conditions in tanks were soon unbearable for their crews.

The Defence Department quickly arranged to borrow 20 Leopard A6Ms from the Germans, with the promise that they would be replaced by some of the tanks bought from the Dutch.

The German tanks, with extra armour to resist roadside bomb and mine blasts, are still in service in Kandahar.

A federal tendering document last spring said Canada would have to rely on the borrowed tanks until 2011 because modifications on the Dutch armoured vehicles would take longer than expected.

Part of the problem is that industrial expertise to refurbish the vehicles has been lost over the years because, until Afghanistan, the army was planning to get out of the tank business and rely instead on wheeled big gun vehicles.

Leslie said negotiations are underway with the Dutch to deliver the next batch of 40 tanks, which will not require as much modification because the army intends to use them as training vehicles.

The last 20 armoured vehicles are expected to remain in Europe, where they will be modified and presented to the Germans as replacements for the vehicles being banged up in Afghanistan.

 

[ironduke57]

... a shorter gun barrel ...

Huh?

Regards,
ironduke57

 

[McG]

The 2A6 that we've bought will receive shorter barrels to match the 2A4 that we've bought.

 

[ironduke57]

Ah okay.

Regards,
ironduke57

 

[Lance Wiebe]

But the article is misleading.  We are not replacing the L44 with a shorter gun!  But none of our tanks will have an L55, either.

I see that there is still no mention of modifications to the commander's station.  I don't know if the PMO staff has decided on what to do yet, the last I heard no decision had been made on what commander station we would install, if indeed we even change the A4 configuration.

 

[geo]

THE HAGUE, 14/04/07 - The Netherlands has sold 100 Leopard tanks to Canada. They include 20 Leopard 2-A6s and 80 Leopard 2-A4s. http://www.nisnews.nl/public/140407_2.htm

Well, would imagine the 20 2A6s should be sent back to KMF in order to make them compatible to German Army 2A6M

 

[ironduke57]

That what was what I also thought and what puzzled me in the article. Just hadn´t time to elaborate earlier.

Regards,
ironduke57

 

[Lance Wiebe]

From what I understand, the 20 2A6M that we bought from the Dutch will be given back to the Bundeswehr as direct replacements for the ones we are using in Afghanistan. 

I have no idea what is going to happen to whatever is left of the 20 "leased" tanks, I would presume that we would retain ownership of those. 

 

[Spencer100]

I have no idea what is going to happen to whatever is left of the 20 "leased" tanks, I would presume that we would retain ownership of those. 
[/quote]

What kind of shape will those be in? 

 

[geo]

What kind of shape will those be in? 

Umm... well & lovingly used.
Worse comes to worse, they can always go to the EME & Armoured schools where they can be cut away (if necessary) and used as training aids (as required)

Else, they can certainly become dandy lawn ornaments once they've gone thru the body & paint shops

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Glad they are here, less chance of the contract being cancelled. even if the Libs get in the army can sell the contract as a job creation scheme.

 

[McG]

I see that there is still no mention of modifications to the commander's station.  I don't know if the PMO staff has decided on what to do yet, the last I heard no decision had been made on what commander station we would install, if indeed we even change the A4 configuration.

Same story here. Everything will have the same commander's station, but no decision if that will be based on the A4, the A6, the Pz 87 WE, or something else.

 

[Infanteer]

God - we never do anything the easy way, do we....

 

[Franko]

Hopefully it'll be the A6 variant.

The CC's station is very user friendly (once you get used to it) and allows for more freedom in how to actually engage targets.

Mind you anything is better than nothing.

Regards

 

[GAP]

Hulking Leopard 2 tanks a boon for Canadian troops in Afghanistan
Bill Graveland, THE CANADIAN PRESS December 25, 2008, EDT.
Article Link

Canadian Leopard C2 Tanks conduct a road move on the camp at the Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. ?DND/For Editorial and Educational Use Only"
BAZAR-E PANJWAII, Afghanistan - After more than a year of rumbling across the bomb-scarred roads and dusty plains of southern Afghanistan, positive reviews are coming in on the 62-tonne Leopard 2 tanks used by the Canadian Forces.

The Canadian army borrowed 20 Leopard A6Ms from the Germans in the summer of 2007 to quickly replace its own nearly 30-year-old Leopard tanks which were not suited for use in Afghanistan.

The military has since completed a deal to buy an additional 100 surplus tanks from the Dutch, and will return the loaners once the newer tanks are delivered.

The Leopard 2 tanks offer more firepower, better landmine protection, longer range and better mobility.

"We're dealing with the best main battle tank in the world right now," said tank troop leader Capt. Tim Day, from the Lord Strathcona's Horse armoured regiment based in Edmonton.

"We've got more mobility due to the size. We've got less concerns of damage to the equipment. It's a big beast and can go where it wants to really," he added.

Although it's not ideal for a lot of the terrain in southern Afghanistan, the tank's size and power offer an intimidation factor in skirmishes with the Taliban.

In Kandahar province, insurgents have rarely targeted tanks with roadside bombs - the biggest threat facing Canadian troops.

Instead, the Taliban have more frequently used improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, against lighter armoured vehicles - troop-transport vehicles that are more vulnerable to such attacks.

"It's the demonstration of force that we can provide that is just talking without having to talk," explained Day, who operates out of a Canadian forward operating base in the Panjwaii district.

"We roll in with a big tank and it sends a pretty powerful message. We don't have to fire any shots, don't have to make any threats, just have to drive a tank into a village and the bad guys get the idea."

It also gives some added safety to those riding inside the tanks - called "superbeasts" by the Taliban. The extra armour better protects occupants in an explosion, Day said.

Cpl. Joel Ribert from Montreal spent three years driving the Leopard 1 and switched to the Leopard 2 on this tour of duty. He said the difference is like night and day.

"Driving it is awesome. Usually its about 18 hours in the tank a day when we are out there," he said.

"The Leopard 2 is like a car. The steering is smooth. It just follows the road."

But the Taliban have been building bigger and bigger IEDs over the past couple of years and that still poses the biggest risk.

"It's more of an infantry problem, so we try to be like the protection for the infantry," Ribert said.

"The IEDs? We've been lucky because we have good teams for EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) who try and find the IEDs, and locals are helping us as well."

The most glaring deficiency in the design of the Leopard 2 is lack of air conditioning - a key drawback in a country where high temperatures regularly reach well into the 40s Celsius and tank crews have suffered dehydration.

To avoid wilting in the extreme heat, the four crew members - pilot, gunner, loader and crew leader - wear cooling vests to circulate chilled water over their bodies.

"Both models (Leopard 1 and Leopard 2) have now been outfitted with a refrigeration unit so the crews will wear a chiller vest which gets plugged into a refrigeration unit which chills the water and flows through the vest. It makes a huge difference," Day said.

Content Provided By Canadian Press.
More on link

 

[Fishbone Jones]

To avoid wilting in the extreme heat, the four crew members - pilot, gunner, loader and crew leader - wear cooling vests to circulate chilled water over their bodies.

pilot? crew leader? What happened to driver & crew commander?

 

[geo]

pilot? crew leader? What happened to driver & crew commander?

Would venture to think that these are the words of the reporter and NOT those of the crew
Driver,
Loader,
Gunner, and
Crew commander

 

[Trooper Hale]

Would venture to think that these are the words of the reporter and NOT those of the crew
Driver,
Loader,
Gunner, and
Crew commander

Nope, if anyone asks, from now on i'm a pilot!

 

[geo]

OK.... will have to inform our Airforce pilots that they are now "tank drivers"... this is just gonna FLY !!!  >

 

[Yrys]

OK.... will have to inform our Airforce pilots that they are now "tank drivers"... this is just gonna FLY !!!  >

Can we have a video of theirs reactions, please  ?