Feds’ rush vehicle purchase will do little to boost CAF’s battle readiness

OTTAWA—It was recently announced that the Liberal government has purchased 90 new vehicles for the Canadian Army at a cost of $36-million. This fleet of light tactical vehicles is earmarked to equip Canada's forward deployed battle group in Latvia as part of NATO's Operation Reassurance. As the contract was awarded to General Motors Canada in Oshawa, this would seem on the surface to be a win-win-win story for all involved. A responsible federal government investing in vitally needed equipment for the Canadian Army and creating jobs in Canada's defence sector—who could argue with that? Well, it did not take Ottawa Citizen reporter Davived Pugliese long to look under the hood of this vehicle purchase only to find that the warning light was on. In an Aug. 2 story headlined "Concerns raised about new Canadian Army trucks," Pugliese noted that United States officials have already reported that these light tactical vehicles lack protection, are too cramped, and have had problems with cracked engines and steering loss. Following a series of tests in 2020 and again in 2022, Pentagon evaluators noted that these vehicles were not operationally effective against a near-peer threat. For those unfamiliar with that term, "near-peer" means if our soldiers were to engage in combat with a modern military equipped with weaponry similar to our own capabilities. Given that these 90 new tactical vehicles are to be based in Latvia as a deterrent to Russian military aggression, the Pentagon tests would indicate that this is a useless purchase. Despite having the word "tactical" in the title, these new vehicles offer no ballistic protection and mount no heavy weaponry. The Pentagon test report actually states "personal weapons were not easily accessible on the move, degrading the ability of the squad to quickly react to enemy actions and ambushes." On social media, Canadian troops familiar with conditions in Latvia noted that, in addition to having no ballistic protection, these new vehicles also appear to offer the crew no protection from nature's elements. The design is that of an open-topped, open-sided vehicle based on the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 pickup truck. It is essentially an over-sized dune buggy, so the troops might wonder how they will fair in the frigid cold of a Baltic winter. In defending the purchase of this fleet of vehicles, National Defence spokesperson Frédérica Dupuis told the Ottawa Citizen that the vehicle had a proven record with NATO, and that an off-the-shelf design was needed by Canada to ensure quick delivery to soldiers. To recap, then, something which has no place in a near-peer conflict needs to get into the hands of our troops in Latvia in a hurry? Has no one in National Defence headquarters been watching the conflict in Ukraine for the past two years? If they were, they would note that the weapon systems in the highest demand are drones, counter-drone technology, low-level air defence systems, self-propelled heavy artillery, and artillery ammunition. Loads and loads of artillery ammunition. The Canadian battle group forward deployed along the Russian border currently need all of the above on a "quick delivery" basis. What they do not need—ever—is a fleet of unarmoured dune buggies that would be nothing but a mobile coffin on a battlefield dominated by first-person-view drones. Instead of remaining silent on the subject, Canadian Army Commander Lt.-Gen. Michael Wright praised this purchase of 90 new light tactical vehicles. He claimed that the investment in the new trucks would improve the Army's operational readiness, and then baselessly claimed that this fleet of dune buggies would be "enhancing its deterrence posture on the eastern flank of NATO." For those familiar with the normal snail's pace of Canadian military procurement projects, the "rush" on this one will be clearly evident. The announcement was made on July 23, delivery and training will start sometime in August, and they expect to have wheels on the ground in Latvia by October. That, my friends, is shit-through-a-goose quick. As for boosting domestic defence industry, well, that turned out to be a bit of a bait-and switch. While the contract was awarded to GM Canada of Oshawa, the vehicles are actually made by GM Defense LLC of the United States and will come from Concord, N.C. Scott Taylor is the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine. The Hill Times