And another thing!,

It's not the tank, it's the crew.... a punch in the guts with a 105mm at 1500 M is as good as a kick in the teeth at 2500 M with a 120mm! Better crew means more steel on target more times... case in point... our Troopers consistent performance at the CAT.

And besides, before we get into a debate on range.... any tank on open ground with visibility to the max range of any opponents main gun.... better have it's crew in a tree line with a 77 set calling for recovery!

Cheers!

Last I heard, there is a couple squadrons of Leopards being kept in service as Op For at the new NTC at Wainwright. the rest will go into storage.
MLM is working on a conversion kit for the 1A5. (We have to move some early C1s in order to finance the C2.)
The Minister recently spoke openly about buying the Stryker 105 to replace the tanks, calling the Leopards a cold War weapon. This description of a weapon system as being applicable only to the Cold War i the latest attempt by the politcal left to limit the capability of the militayr in Canada. AS far as i am aware, the only true Cold War weapon is a nuclear weapon. We got rid of the last of those in the early 1980s. A recent edition of the Armour corps magazine had an article descibing the utility of a Leopard in the Kosovo theatre, which suggests that that weapon system has great utility in peace support ops.

I recently read a paper on armour that quite clearly said that "the only thing guarunteed to kill a tank is a tank." or words to that effect. It went on to say that the survivability of light armour "tank killer" squadrons equates to about 15 LAVs killed to each tank killed. This certainly lends support to keeping the tanks. The problem is that political factors and not tactical ones will probably have the greatest influence in any decision WRT the Leos.

Hey All,
I might as well throw my hat in the ring as well. I am a Leo driver and gunner here at the Armour School in Gagetown. And I might be able to clear up some of the confusion. The tanks are indeed to be "mothballed" for lack of a better term. The Royal Canadian Dragoons from Petawawa and the 12 RBC of Valcartier have been reconfigured to Coyote regiments. The LdSh(RC) of which I am a member are keeping their tanks and will most likely be fielding at least 2 squadrons. We here at the school will most likely be keeping aproximately 15 tanks.
The majority of the tanks will be located at the new NTC in wainwright AB, to be used for force on force training with the new MAISE system (similar to the American MILES).
As foe the C-2 armour shown in the photos, there was only one set purchased(last I heard, and it was on a Leo hee in Gagetown. The hull armour has been removed, as it was damaged in the field and there are no replacement parts available. The turret armour has been retained for now but will probably be removed in the near future.
As for us losing the tanks permanently........it will be a sad day. The Stryker series of vehicles are good for most peacekeeping roles, but they are no match for the Leo in firepower,and manouverability. Once you lose those attributes you are nothing more than a target.

There was a Squadron's worth of MEXAS bought for the C1. The Hull armour is the same on the C2. Anyone know if they picked up an equivalent amount of Turret armour?

The big issue here is cash. We can only hope that Trudeau's clone will be replaced by someone with a more realistic attitude.

wowand i thought we were stuffed for cut backs! sorry but in this day and age youv'e got to have armour all very well travelling fast but not as fast as a hesh round even our lefty goverment has increased defence spending.......still not got all the army socks I'm entiled too though and still being issued 2nd hand kit but I really feel for you canuks 40 year old tanks and nothing better than an apc to replace them with

We hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I just hope its not the headlight on the oncoming train. The party in power is having a leadership convention soon. the frontrunner is a right of centre politician who has come out publicly in support of increasing our defence spending. However, the wild card is a lady who might just shut us down and spend the budget on daycare.