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The news tonight had a story that Canada was buying ten new vehicles, 4 (?) Cougars and 6 (?) Buffalos from the US manufacturer. The story showed an RG31 and asked why we weren't getting more of them. Any comments?

Hi ML! Hi Folks!

- Maple_Leaf_Eh

The story showed an RG31 and asked why we weren't getting more of them. Any comments?

If both those vehicles are new to the Canadian Forces, then maybe the 4/6 buy is a test to see how the vehicle does with current operations.

If the vehicles prove themselfs, then my guess would be that more will be ordered.

Even at only 4 and 6, the total cost is going to be very high and that maybe a major factor with how many are being bought at this time. Remember that a LOT of money is being spent on Leo IIs and renting a batch of Leo IIs. There is only so much money to go around.

My 2 cents worth of comments.
Sgt, Scouts Out!

As per the paper this morning, the buy is 5 and 5. The RG31 are well liked by the troops, but they are victims of their own success. It seems every country wants them too, and the manufacturer can't keep up with orders or spares. If the Cougars and Buffalos are US built, maybe there will be a better spare parts pipeline (hopefully with Canadian manufacturers too).

A Cougar in AFV terms is the 6x6 Mowag-pattern AVGP with a 76.2mm pumpkin gun in a Scorpion turret, and a Water Buffalo is the common nickname for any water trailer. A Bison is technically the same critter as a Buffalo, but the CF name for the first Canadian 8x8 LAVs.

You are right about the Leopards costing a bucket of cash. Another story last week had the Air Force standing in line for money to buy fixed wing SAR aircraft to replace Herc and Buffalos, and being told to postpone the contract for a year.

As for rotary heavy lift, I read that the contract for the maritime helicopter (Sikorsky S92 I think) contract had been quietly amended to permit land operations as opposed to exclusively shipborne and shorebased. Just our luck the Chinooks and the "green" Cyclones will arrive as the Afghanistan mission is winding down for Canada.

Canada buys 10 more armoured vehicles from U.S.
Updated Sun. May. 6 2007 4:19 PM ET
Canadian Press
OTTAWA -- The Defence Department has quietly signed a deal with a U.S. defence contractor to acquire 10 heavily armoured patrol vehicles.
The US $8.8 million deal was announced by Force Protection, Inc., (NASDAQ:FRPT) of Charleston, S.C., on its website late last week.
The company will manufacture 10 Buffalo and Cougar mine-protected vehicles -- five each -- for the Canadian expeditionary force command.
The trucks, which have a V-shaped hull meant to deflect the blasts of roadside bombs, are expected to be delivered in August and are destined for duty in Afghanistan.
"This initial, urgent order will go . . . for immediate deployment,'' Damon Walsh, a vice-president at Force Protection, said in a statement.
"Based on past performance, we know it will save Canadian lives.''
Defence has not commented on the purchase, nor explained why the vehicles are necessary after last year's acquisition of 75 RG-31 Nyalas from a South African subsidiary of British-owned BAE Systems Inc.
The Nyala, although loved by the troops for the protection that it affords from improvised explosives, went through a series of teething pains.
The vehicle, which has seen service all over the world, was specially modified for Canada's needs in Afghanistan. Rather being fielded tested to work out the bugs, the Nyalas went straight from the South African assembly line on to the explosive-strewn streets of Kandahar.
Last summer, at the height of fierce fighting with the Taliban, more than a quarter of the fleet was in the shop with maintenance problems, army records show.
Most of the problems were either electrical or software glitches, many relating to the roof-mounted, remote-controlled machine gun.
The alternators in the Nyalas could not handle the combined load of the remote-controlled machine gun and newly installed Canadian radios and jammers. The electrical system had to be beefed up to handle 280 amps.
It's unclear if those problems convinced the department to shop elsewhere -- or whether the new vehicles will have a defined role with specific types of troops.
For example, since 2003, American forces have assigned Cougars and Buffaloes to engineering and explosive-disposal teams.
Unlike, the Nyala, the new trucks have no windows and are capable of carrying more troops and equipment.

www.ctv.ca/servlet/Art...hub=Canada

Note that it is not the same Cougar as is currently used by the Canadian Forces.

www.forceprotection.ne...s/buffalo/

www.forceprotection.ne...ls/cougar/