In one example, late December 2010 witnessed the announcement that Canada had contracted with Rheinmetall to modernize and overhaul Leopard main battle tanks taken over by the Canadian Army from the Dutch armed forces (part of the Netherlands initial post-Cold War tank reductions). By 2013 the Canadian Army plans to have three 19-tank squadrons.
A Leopard 2A6M Can main battle tank from the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) and part of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group, provides over-watch during operations in the Panjwa’i and Zhari districts of Kandahar province. The Leopard 2A6M CAN main battle tank has upgrades including slat and belly armor. DND-MND Canada photo by Cpl. Shilo Adamson, Canadian Forces Combat Camera
In parallel with that tank announcement, Rheinmetall Canada Inc., announced its selection to supply the Canadian Army with grenade launcher systems and the accompanying ammunition under the “Close Area Suppression Weapon” (CASW) project. The award covered more than 300 of the automatic 40 mm grenade launchers deployed under the designation “C16 – Automatic Grenade Launcher System.”
December 2011 saw a Canadian contract award, again to Rheinmetall Group, to provide the Canadian armed forces with BPz 3 Büffel/Buffalo armored recovery vehicles.
The Canadian Army has actually been using the Büffel/Buffalo vehicles in Afghanistan since 2007, drawing those platforms from a Bundeswehr inventory and optimizing them with added force protection features. Under the December 2011 award, Canada is furnishing a number of Leopard 2 tank chassis from its inventory, which Rheinmetall will convert into Büffel/Buffalo. Delivery of the converted vehicles is slated to occur in 2013-2014.
Another aspect of Canadian land force modernization can be seen in the June 2012 announcement that a team led by Textron Systems Canada was selected to manufacture 500 Canadian Forces Tactical Armored Patrol Vehicles (TAPV) with options for up to 100 more. Initial operational capability is projected with the delivery of the first 47 vehicles in 2014, with current production projections slated to run to March 2016.
International Land Force Developments: Russia
Russia is also exploring both wheeled and tracked elements of its land forces fleet.
In late October 2010, for example, a first deputy Russian defense minister used the venue of Euronaval 2010 to announce that Russia would soon start manufacturing Iveco “Lynx” light multirole armored vehicles for the Russian ground forces in the central Russian city of Voronezh. Manufacturing is taking place under a license from the Italian company. The first batch of those vehicles – essentially described as a “semi-knock down assembly” that would eventually grow to more than 50 percent Russian components, was to be completed at the end of 2012.
In July 2012, Russian Ground Forces Commander Col. Gen. Vladimir Chirkin told news services that the Russian Defense Ministry had decided to equip the ground forces mostly with wheeled rather than tracked armored vehicles, adding that the country would soon start research and development efforts on the development of its own wheeled vehicles.
However, Russia is certainly not eliminating tracked vehicle platforms from its land force fleet designs. Just five months after making the announcement reflecting a shift toward wheeled platforms, Chirkin confirmed that Russia would also develop artillery, missile defense, and nuclear, biological, and chemical defense system variants based on a “universal” tracked tank platform dubbed “Armata.” Sources close to the program noted that prototypes of the Armata platform should appear in 2013.
International Land Force Developments: France
Several months after the announcement that Russia would be working on the Iveco Lynx, the Italian manufacturer, a Fiat Industrial group company, announced that it had teamed with French company Soframe, itself a subsidiary of the Alsatian Lohr Group, and had been awarded a contract to supply multipurpose military vehicles to the French armed forces. According to the Iveco announcement, the contract covered an initial order for 200 8×8 special high-mobility military vehicles supplied by Astra, a part of Iveco Defence Vehicles, with potential options for up to 2,400 additional units.
The logistics platforms will be used by the French army, with the platforms supplied with a partially armored driver’s cab, various types of demountable hook-lift body work, trailer towing capability, and cranes for the recovery of military vehicles.
International Land Force Developments: Brazil
An Iveco VBTP-MR armored personnel carrier testing its remote control-operated turret. Brasil Government photo
Mid-2011 also witnessed the establishment of an Iveco Defense Vehicle unit in Brazil, marking another milestone in the program to provide Brazil with VBTP-MR armored personnel carriers that the company is developing jointly with the Brazilian army.
According to program descriptions, the VBTP-MR is a family of armored vehicles weighing more than 20 tons, powered by locally produced FPT Industrial Cursor 9 Diesel engines, 6×6 drive, amphibious capability, and able to carry 11 soldiers. The basic dimensions are 6.91 meters long, 2.7 meters wide, and 2.34 meters in height. The platform can be equipped with a remote control-operated turret for several different applications and can be transported by C-130 Hercules aircraft.
The program covers a total of more than 2,000 vehicles with deliveries anticipated to stretch until 2030.
Coming Full Circle
Coming full circle, Iveco’s participation in land force programs around the world also includes the company’s September 2011 teaming with BAE Systems to participate in early stages of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Marine Personnel Carrier (MPC) program. As described by Iveco, the team offering is a new amphibious armored troop transporter able to carry up to 12 Marines and based on the “SuperAV 8×8,” which was delivered to the Italian armed forces in 2010 for their national landing forces.
This article was first published in Defense: Winter 2013 Edition.