Twenty were upgraded to 2A4M standard, including modifications based on experience with earlier 2A6Ms. In the first phase, 80 surplus Leopard 2A4’s were purchased from the Netherlands. The procurement system caught up with events in June 2009 with the approval of the Tank Replacement Project. By September 2007, 20 Leopard 2A6’s on loan from the German Bundeswehr, upgraded to 2A6M standard of enhanced mine protection, were in service in Afghanistan, along with two Leopard 2 Büffel armoured recovery vehicles.
Canadian tank battles upgrade#
These were the then latest versions of the Army’s aging Leopard 1 that had entered service in 1978.įollowing an initial assessment of their performance in Afghanistan, the Army decided to upgrade to next generation Leopard 2. In the fall of 2006, the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) deployed to Afghanistan with 15 Leopard 1C2’s with enhanced MEXAS appliqué modular armour and they quickly demonstrated their effectiveness.
Canadian tank battles how to#
“Right now, the Canadian commander has tanks from Poland under his command and he knows how to use them effectively because he learned those skills here.” Leopard 2A4 tanks from the Royal Canadian Dragoons, C Squadron travel in the Wainwright Garrison training area during Exercise MAPLE RESOLVE on May 15, 2017. “Because we have tanks in Canada, and because of the way the international missions in which we participate are structured, it means we don’t have to deploy our tanks,” he observed. A case in point is the enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battle Group in Latvia. Kirstein commanded some of the initial Leopard 2s deployed to Afghanistan in 2006, and his experience there and on operations since has underscored the continuing importance of retaining tanks, even if they are not always used. “Armour lets people get places where they wouldn’t be able to get to, destroy things that other assets can’t destroy, and survive things that allow the combat team to do the things they need to do.” “We are part of the brigade groups, the battle group and the combat teams and we are a force enabler to the infantry as much as they are to us,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Vincent Kirstein, commandant of the Royal Canadian Armour Corps School in Gagetown. American combat experience in Baghdad and Canada’s experience in Afghanistan made it clear the mix of enhanced armour protection and heavy firepower only available in tracked armoured vehicles were essential to most combat operations. Some suggested that tanks would be obsolete with the end of the Cold War, but recent low intensity operations have muted those comments.
With the exception of a short period in the early 2000’s, when General Rick Hillier recommended replacing them with a wheeled gun system, main battle tanks have been seen as a key part of the Army’s combat mix.
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