Canada's purchase of the Leopard 2 MBT

[Franko]

When I left Gagetown in late OCT 09 there was still no 2A4's in Gagetown.... there was still some rolling stock of Leopard C2's though.....

Maybe DerPanzer can comment on if there are any LEO2 A4's at the school now.....

There are 4 Leo2A4s at the school. They won't be rolling around any time soon due to lack of parts, recovery and qualified pers to work on them.

The replacement / refurb program is underway, it's just going to take some time.

Regards

 

[Nfld Sapper]

There are 4 Leo2A4s at the school. They won't be rolling around any time soon due to lack of parts, recovery and qualified pers to work on them.

The replacement / refurb program is underway, it's just going to take some time.

Regards

Thx for the update!

 

[The Bread Guy]

...according to attached amendment document obtained by Milnet.ca.

 

[The Bread Guy]

....according to an official speaking to Jane's:

Canada is to field its upgraded Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks (MBTs) in Afghanistan later this year, according to military officials.

Lt Col Alan Bolster, Director Land Requirements 3, Armoured Fighting Vehicle Systems, revealed the information during a briefing at the IQPC International Armoured Vehicles conference held in London in February.

Canada has leased 20 Leopard 2A6M MBTs from the German Army, of which 19 were deployed to Afghanistan and one retained by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann in Germany as a reference model ....

 

[ironduke57]

How much will be send? Will they replace the tanks already there?

Regards,
ironduke57

 

[Franko]

....according to an official speaking to Jane's:

Hmmm....one question: and we're pulling out when?

I think someone in Jane's neck of the woods quoted him incorrectly.

Regards

 

[SeanNewman]

Sorry I haven't read the rest of this thread, but there are few things that reassure you as much when looking out the LAV3 air sentry hatch and seeing this behind you:

 

[mariomike]

Awesome machine in the pic above. Imagine seeing that in your rear-view mirror!

 

[MaDB0Y_021]

Awesome machine in the pic above. Imagine seeing that in your rear-view mirror!

Oh yeah, that tank's sweet!

 

[vonGarvin]

That pic says it all!  I mean, seeing the "danger: curve ahead" sign is probably saving dozens of lives a year! ;D

(just kidding: awesome pic!)

 

[SeanNewman]

Why thank you.  I took it myself when I probably should have been covering my arcs a little better.

I didn't want to post it in high res and jam up everyone's bandwidth, but it makes it hard to see the awesome crew commander cam net umbrella.

That was moving east on a very well-known route named after a foreign beer and has a giant moutain range that skirts the road on the north.

Before going there I was very COIN-centric that we were going the wrong way with tanks (damaging farmers' fields, more admin supply, less boots on the ground, etc), then I had two IEDs go off beside me triggered by a guy behind a mud wall.  The tank that was just hit traversed and blew a 3m x 3m hole in the wall.  Trigger man gone, Petamocto lives on to say how awesome tanks are, and to annoy all of you fine people.

 

[PanaEng]

Awesome machine in the pic above. Imagine seeing that in your rear-view mirror!

"WARNING: IMAGES IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR"

 

[Franko]

Sorry I haven't read the rest of this thread, but there are few things that reassure you as much when looking out the LAV3 air sentry hatch and seeing this behind you:

Would you mind throwing it up? That panzer looks rather familiar......

Regards

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Would you mind throwing it up? That panzer looks rather familiar......

Regards

Yours DP?

 

[SeanNewman]

Would you mind throwing it up? That panzer looks rather familiar......

Sure, I have tons.  For OpSec reasons I can not really give any details that go along with these photos, since they show defensive structures. 

Added:  Even though this is not the L 2A6, it's still my favourite tank photo from the tour.  It's not out of focus, it's the dust/haze from my LAV and him.

 

[Franko]

Yours DP?

I think so, can't make out the fume extractor marking though. It looks like it could have been another troop's.

Now the second one in Petamocto photos was mine. Trying to remember which OP that was on just for shits and giggles.

Regards

 

[1feral1]

WRT the cam-net shade shelter thingo, on our tour in Baghdad we learned that in MOUT, with Murphy's Law, that thrown grenades, incendiairies, and other similar devices could end up hung up in the cam net or support structure, causing unfortunate incidents over open hatches.

Also, if there was POL jerry cans on the outside, near these shelters, when a nasty was detonated, they too could start the cam net thingos on fire, along with other equipment and material,  and I remember quite vividly a similar shelter on a Stryker, placed over the crew area, which indeed did catch on fire after an indendiary incident (along with other equipment), severely burning several soldiers as they tried to escape.

Hence all Australian shade shelters were removed from Type 1 (turret w/25mm M242 configuration) ASLAV under the orders of our ASM, to some rather unhappy blokes that their 'LCF shade shields' were indeed coming down no matter how hard they fought, that being said, only after the news of the burns from the Stryker broke, they humbly changed their minds.

I know an ASLAV is not a MBT, but just a thought

OWDU

 

[Jammer]

As a general rule we aren't rolling pz though a MOUT type environment...much too large to manouver effectively through...thus the sunshades really aren't exposed to that type of threat... excellent point though for crews of TLAVS and the sort.

DP...OP-2

 

[Franko]

WRT the cam-net shade shelter thingo, on our tour in Baghdad we learned that in MOUT, with Murphy's Law, that thrown grenades, incendiairies, and other similar devices could end up hung up in the cam net or support structure, causing unfortunate incidents over open hatches.

Also, if there was POL jerry cans on the outside, near these shelters, when a nasty was detonated, they too could start the cam net thingos on fire, along with other equipment and material,  and I remember quite vividly a similar shelter on a Stryker, placed over the crew area, which indeed did catch on fire after an indendiary incident (along with other equipment), severely burning several soldiers as they tried to escape.

Hence all Australian shade shelters were removed from Type 1 (turret w/25mm M242 configuration) ASLAV under the orders of our ASM, to some rather unhappy blokes that their 'LCF shade shields' were indeed coming down no matter how hard they fought, that being said, only after the news of the burns from the Stryker broke, they humbly changed their minds.

I know an ASLAV is not a MBT, but just a thought

OWDU

We never operated in areas where that was a concern at all. Never carried jerry cans of fuel either. A couple 100 liters of fuel doesn't make a dent in a vehicle that takes over 1100L to fill.

Regards

 

[SeanNewman]

Yes that is the impression I got as well (that the manouevre area is the open desert for the most part).

The "one" city is rarely traversed by the Leos, but I do see some merit to what he's saying in the populated area just to the east of where they have been parked.

If you've driven through there you've likely been pelted with rocks like I have with kids ducking in alleys or lobbing them over the tall walls.

I suppose it's not that much of a stretch to think it could be a grenade, but I'm sure it's just a matter of taking them down for those 5 minutes.  If I'm a tanker and know I'm going to be in the open desert for several hours then I think it's a great idea.

MarioMike,

Thank you for the kind words, but I'm certainly not in the crowd who risked the most.  Yes IEDs are killing more than anyone else, but the BG rolls with LAVs, tanks, engineers, and more layered air cover than has ever been seen in war.

The guys who really deserve the back pats are the OMLT troops who rely on good old fashioned soldiering day in and day out on their feet and living among the people.