Upgrade of tanks threatened due to a worldwide shortage of tempered armour.

[retiredgrunt45]

This is interesting...

OTTAWA -- A world-wide shortage of specially-tempered armour could delay next year's deployment to Afghanistan of newly-purchased Dutch Leopard tanks -- unless the Canadian army moves quickly to finalize an upgrade contract, says a defence industry executive.

It may take up to 18 months to get the steel necessary to reinforce the hulls of as many as 40 Leopard 2A4s, says an official with Rheinmettall Canada, the Montreal company vying for the about $200-million improvement contract.

"Armoured steel today is very difficult to get fast," said Jean-Claude Rollier, who oversees the company's land defence arm. "You might be ready to do the work and have prepared your vehicle, but you won't have the steel you need in order to put additional armour on the vehicle."

He said it's critical National Defence decide within a couple of months precisely what upgrades it wants to make to the tanks and to have a contract in place.

Improvements on the slightly-used Dutch tanks are required in order for them to withstand increasingly powerful Taliban roadside bombs. That, and installing some form of air conditioning are considered the key priorities of the upgrade plan.

The army is borrowing 20 Leopard 2 A6M tanks from the Germans -- vehicles that have built-in mine protection. It hopes to swap those tanks with the upgraded ones by the end of next year.

The war in Iraq and the widening conflict in Afghanistan have led a number of countries to either purchase new armoured vehicles or buy armoured plating kits to upgrade their existing tanks and troop carriers.

"There is such a demand today world-wide for armoured steel that they're just not able to supply," said Rollier.

Canada's planned purchase of 16 CH-47 Chinook helicopters from Chicago, Ill.-based Boeing is facing a similar problem. A scarcity of titanium used in constructing airframes, combined with a glut of orders, created an assembly line backlog that means the new choppers likely won't arrive until 2012.

Last week, a National Defence official said one of the biggest hurdles facing the tank refurbishment project is there is no one company with the capability to quickly carry out the work.

Dan Ross, the assistant deputy minister of materiel, said the department has been focused primarily on getting the borrowed tanks into Afghanistan and would soon turn its attention to the upgrade project.

Link: http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/International/2007/08/03/4390327-sun.html

Link: http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/International/2007/08/03/4390327-sun.html

 

[LordOsborne]

Do we know for sure what sort of standard the Dutch 2A4s will be brought to? I would hope it would be at least 2A5 standard, but I haven't seen anything concrete on the subject. Can anyone enlighten?

 

[Franko]

It will be 2A5 standard.

Again, this is a non issue and was very well known prior to the purchase. 18 months for the upgrade armour add on package is still pretty fast.

The rental tanks will stay in situ until the other tanks are ready for deployment, if we're still there by that time.

Regards

 

[Docherty]

My question is, where am I going to sleep? The pioneer tools are in the way  :threat:

 

[Franko]

My question is, where am I going to sleep? The pioneer tools are in the way  :threat:

LOL....I was thinking the same thing when they made the purchase announcement.

Regards

 

[Docherty]

It's tragic... I am going to have to get one of those family camping mattresses now.