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See my thoughts above as to what I would propose, but it really is problematic isn't it to put out a requirement for 80 - 98 guns. With a difference of 18 are you saying we might form an additional regiment? Or are you saying we might send 6 each to three regional schools? Effectively that means...

There are some interesting points coming out of this RFI: 1) Anx A discusses the requirement for a bty of six howitzers and time required to come in and out of action - this settles the angst that the concept of a four-gun bty has taken hold. IMHO, six guns per CS bty is absolutely the right...

Are you suggesting to weaken the left flank to secure the right? IMHO, Reassurance needs to stay put. This needs to be a new commitment from NATO. . . unless we can find a way for the UN to step up. 🤣 🍻

Absolutely. The army used to (maybe still does) have a concept of FFR "Fitted For Radio" which simply indicated that a certain vehicle might not be equipped with radios but had the necessary battery, alternator and cabling to support one later if desired. The British WMIK Land Rover (Weapon...

I'm generally against European kit. That's going back to when my people were going into war with kit that was finely machined so as to freeze up in Russia and jam with sand in North Africa and in vehicles built for the Autobahn and not Russian mud. Plants for building Korean kit in Canada are...

That's a good thing to have and its mostly worked to our advantage. As is ours. I don't think we have a national strategy that extends beyond the next election cycle. It's the burden that a democracy bears. I tend to agree albeit that the public has tremendously short-term memory. We tried...

You won't find me disagreeing with that at all. Kevin. I'll agree right off the top that not reaching 2% is problematic especially we agreed in 2014 that we'd be there by this year. Trudeau is an ingenuous little bitch who'd lie through his teeth if it helps his political position. Remind you...

You're not wrong. Note the below chart shows Canada's mobilization stages. View 1 is major conflict, View 2 is lesser operations which might involve minor conflict and OOTW. If one looks at all the capabilities, equipment and full-time manpower in the four brigades, then Stage 1 involves those...

That happened on 1 July 1970 when 4 CMBG was reduced by one battalion and other odds and sods and moved to Lahr. It lasted until 1973. The term "battalion group" was in vogue at the time. Incidentally I think that the CanadianSoldiers site (as well as the odd Government of Canada sites) is...

All pardons set criminals free. That's essentially the nature of the beast. It's been done for generations by people of all political stripes. This, however, was the mass pardoning of a mob of people who attacked democracy itself and did it at the instigation of and on behalf of the guy who is...

Kevin. Until last month I was in full agreement. However, when you're the smaller partner in a bigger conglomerate then you better have trust in your bigger partner that at some point he won't pack up his IP or divert the critical parts supply coming from his subs to your plants or start...

Boy. I thought I was the guy that looked at everything with a cynical, glass half-full basis. I concede. I kind of looked at this in the same way as when ADM(Mat) kept a regiment's worth of M109s in preservation for several years while the army staff at the time was yelling "Divest! Divest! It...

I tend to think of army equipment in manufacturing classes that ought to be domestic: a) Wheeled logistics vehicles including weapon launcher chassis b) Tracked and wheeled light to medium armoured vehicles including APCs, ACSVs and IFVs including related RWS weapon systems c) Heavy armoured...

They weren't the only ones. Concurrently much of Mobile Command went to a Combat Group structure which one could easily have called a brigade group minus. It was a funny time where we downsized losing thousands of soldiers so that we could no longer man four brigades. Instead kept one reduced...

Every defence project in a democratic society has an element of pork barrelling to it; that doesn't mean it can't be a strategic project. Canada thinks tactically. We need to replace 2,000 logistics vehicles; we give a contract to do that to some foreign country and a small maintenance side...

You and half of the world "called it." What were the chances, eh? :(

I've just done a quick concordance of the Wiki page and the Italian MoD page and the Italian army has the following key elements: a) an Alpini command with two mountain bdes, b) a northern command with a cavalry bde, an armoured bde and a para bde; c) a central command with 4 mechanized bdes...

I don't recall Italy ever having M109s. They currently use PzH2000, FH70 and still some L5s. The M578 light recovery vehicle (LRV aka LARV) for M109s batteries in the past used the same tracked carriage as the 175mm M107 and the 203mm M110 howitzers. The current recovery vehicle within the ABCT...

Translation: "Someone just pointed out to us that national defence and security is important. Who knew? Mind you, we're still trying to figure out how to make it look like we're spending more without really doing it." ;)

Well, I for one am happy that he has a new shiny thing to play with. 🍻