FormerHorseGuard
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here isthe link tothe story i was metioning
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=960bb9c5-9625-425e-a330-46b9d10185a9
Army getting new, 'mine-proof' vehicles
Armoured car in which four soldiers were killed to be phased out
Chris Wattie, National Post
Published: Tuesday, April 25, 2006
The Canadian army's G-wagons, the vehicle in which four soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb this weekend, is due to be phased out in the dangerous mountains and foothills of southern Afghanistan in favour of a better, "mine-proof" armoured car.
Liz Hodges, a spokeswoman for the Department of National Defence, said the first 25 of the new Nyala armoured vehicles arrived this month in Kandahar from the manufacturer's South African production plant.
The remaining 25 vehicles are to be delivered "by the end of May," she said.
"They were selected because they provide a high level of protection to soldiers against IEDs [improvised explosive devices] or mines," she said. "They are highly resistant to mine blasts."
Sources in the Canadian task force said the new vehicles will begin replacing the more lightly armoured G-wagons in patrols north of the main coalition base, a mountainous region where Taliban insurgents still operate.
Corporal Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Lieutenant William Turner and Corporal Randy Payne died after their convoy was struck in that patrol area, while their G-wagon was driving through a dried-up riverbed.
The bodies of the four men were carried aboard a Hercules transport plane yesterday in an emotional farewell ceremony on the tarmac at Kandahar Air Field, home base of coalition forces in southern Afghanistan.
More than 3,000 Canadian, U.S., British, Dutch, Romanian and other soldiers lined the runway as the four flag-draped coffins were carried into the waiting plane.
Brian MacDonald, a senior analyst with the defence lobby group Conference of Defence Associations, said the soldiers may have been targeted because they were travelling in the most lightly armoured vehicle in their convoy.
"The G-wagon is really only a light-utility vehicle ... it's pretty lightly armoured," he said. "It's a perfectly good vehicle for what it was designed for, but it can't survive a mine strike or a [roadside bomb] like this."
Mr. MacDonald, a former army colonel, said it "makes perfect sense" to replace the smaller vehicle with the Nyalas in the region the soldiers call "Taliban country."
cwattie@nationalpost.com
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=960bb9c5-9625-425e-a330-46b9d10185a9
Army getting new, 'mine-proof' vehicles
Armoured car in which four soldiers were killed to be phased out
Chris Wattie, National Post
Published: Tuesday, April 25, 2006
The Canadian army's G-wagons, the vehicle in which four soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb this weekend, is due to be phased out in the dangerous mountains and foothills of southern Afghanistan in favour of a better, "mine-proof" armoured car.
Liz Hodges, a spokeswoman for the Department of National Defence, said the first 25 of the new Nyala armoured vehicles arrived this month in Kandahar from the manufacturer's South African production plant.
The remaining 25 vehicles are to be delivered "by the end of May," she said.
"They were selected because they provide a high level of protection to soldiers against IEDs [improvised explosive devices] or mines," she said. "They are highly resistant to mine blasts."
Sources in the Canadian task force said the new vehicles will begin replacing the more lightly armoured G-wagons in patrols north of the main coalition base, a mountainous region where Taliban insurgents still operate.
Corporal Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Lieutenant William Turner and Corporal Randy Payne died after their convoy was struck in that patrol area, while their G-wagon was driving through a dried-up riverbed.
The bodies of the four men were carried aboard a Hercules transport plane yesterday in an emotional farewell ceremony on the tarmac at Kandahar Air Field, home base of coalition forces in southern Afghanistan.
More than 3,000 Canadian, U.S., British, Dutch, Romanian and other soldiers lined the runway as the four flag-draped coffins were carried into the waiting plane.
Brian MacDonald, a senior analyst with the defence lobby group Conference of Defence Associations, said the soldiers may have been targeted because they were travelling in the most lightly armoured vehicle in their convoy.
"The G-wagon is really only a light-utility vehicle ... it's pretty lightly armoured," he said. "It's a perfectly good vehicle for what it was designed for, but it can't survive a mine strike or a [roadside bomb] like this."
Mr. MacDonald, a former army colonel, said it "makes perfect sense" to replace the smaller vehicle with the Nyalas in the region the soldiers call "Taliban country."
cwattie@nationalpost.com
. Seems like someone is using their heads, does this mean the procurement problem may be finding some solutions?
)
