Tanks for the Lesson: Leopards, too, for Canada

Leopard 2A6M CAN

Canadian Forces took some of the lessons re-learned during Operation Medusa in Afghanistan, directly to heart. Canada’s DND:

“The heavily protected direct fire capability of a main battle tank is an invaluable tool in the arsenal of any military. The intensity of recent conflicts in Central Asia and the Middle East has shown western militaries that tanks provide protection that cannot be matched by more lightly armored wheeled vehicles… [Canada’s existing Leopard C2/1A5] tanks have also provided the Canadian Forces (CF) with the capability to travel to locations that would otherwise be inaccessible to wheeled light armoured vehicles, including Taliban defensive positions.”

In October 2003, Canada was set to buy the Styker/LAV-III 105mm Mobile Gun System to replace its Leopard C2 tanks. By 2007, however, the lessons of war took Canada down a very different path – one that led them to renew the very tank fleet they were once intent on scrapping, while backing away from the wheeled vehicles that were once the cornerstone of the Canadian Army’s transformation plan. This updated article includes a full chronology for Canada’s new Leopard 2 tanks, adds information concerning DND’s exact plans and breakdowns for their new fleet, and discusses front-line experiences in Afghanistan.

Insurgents Target Oil Infrastructure in Northern Iraq

• Insurgents and the Iraqi military have been fighting over the control of Iraq’s largest oil refinery in Baiji, as well as waging an information war in parallel over their alleged accomplishments.

• This brings to mind recent events in Libya, where the crumbling of the central government is not going to make Europe’s immigration problems any easier.

• US Army special forces captured Ahmed Abu Khattala, a suspect in the attacks against the US consulate in Benghazi that killed 4 Americans in September 2012. Libyan diplomats protested this as an “infringement on Libya’s sovereignty”, which apparently they somehow think they are still exercising despite ongoing developments being evidence to the contrary.

• The US is considering selective airstrikes in Iraq according to the NYT, but immediate strikes have been ruled out says the WSJ, as congressional support seems tepid at best.