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  • Combat vehicles for army on hold, document shows

    Combat vehicles for army on hold, document shows
    Combat vehicles for army on hold, document shows
    Multi-billion-dollar purchase was part of Tory promise to re-equip military

    By David Pugliese, The Ottawa Citizen January 21, 2010

    OTTAWA — With the Defence Department already looking to reduce spending, the Harper government has quietly put on hold a multi-billion dollar purchase of new armoured vehicles for the army, according to a document leaked to the Citizen.

    The Close Combat Vehicle was announced in the summer by Defence Minister Peter MacKay as one of the army's top priorities and an example of the government's commitment to re-equip the military.

    But on Friday, Public Works and Government Services issued a letter to defence industry officials informing them that the project was now on hold. "The Close Combat Vehicle (CCV) project has been delayed to ensure that resources are geared towards key procurement priorities of DND," Kristen Ward of the Public Works CCV project wrote in the letter. The document was leaked to the Citizen Wednesday.

    Ward wrote that the statement of requirements for the project, which was to be issued this month, will not be sent out. She gave no indication of when the CCV program might restart, sparking suggestions from defence industry representatives that the project will ultimately be cancelled.

    Although details on the cost of the project haven't been released, some estimates have the price tag at as high as $2 billion. According to the CCV schedule, a contract was supposed to be in place by September.

    The top priorities for the government now are to upgrade the army's fleet of light armoured vehicles and to purchase what the military is calling a tactical armoured patrol vehicle, according to Ward's letter.

    The letter did not mention whether a plan to buy armoured recovery and engineering vehicles, also announced by MacKay in the summer, would proceed. The upgrades and proposed purchases of various armoured vehicles, including the CCV, was estimated to cost a little more than $5 billion.

    The Citizen reported last month that government officials were questioning the need to buy more than 100 Close Combat Vehicles. At the time, industry representatives and military officers said the delay was caused by an internal battle in government and the Defence Department.

    The army had argued that the vehicles, which would accompany its Leopard tanks into battle, were a priority for future missions.

    But others at DND questioned whether the CCV project was the best way to spend defence dollars when other more important equipment is needed. Some in government have also questioned whether the vehicles were still a priority since the military mission in Afghanistan finishes in July 2011.

    The decision by government to put the CCV project on hold has angered some in the defence industry because companies had begun investing millions of dollars in what they had been told was a DND priority program.

    The department, however, is still suggesting the CCV might go ahead.

    "The CCV is not being cancelled," said department spokeswoman Annie Dicaire. "The project can resume at any time."

    She did not, however, have details on when it might resume.

    The news about the CCV follows a review that will see the Defence Department finding $423 million in savings to be shifted to priority projects. Those savings have to be found by the end of March.

    As a result, the navy has cut training for its reserve forces and will reduce infrastructure maintenance and repairs, while the air force will scale back on non-operational training and cut some of its flying time as well as non-essential repairs.

    The army is also reducing planned activities and training for soldiers not currently preparing for operations, including non-essential exercises and adventure training. It is also delaying some non-essential maintenance and repair of infrastructure and equipment as well as purchases of items, such as commercial pattern vehicles used on bases. Spending on computers and cellphones is also being cut.

    The army, navy and air force are also reducing travel and attendance at conferences.
    To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway
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