New deployment leaving for Kandahar base

[Ani_Ibi]

New deployment leaving for Kandahar base

…on Thursday, Canadian Forces in Afghanistan foiled what could have been a horrific suicide attack… a car packed with artillery shells and explosives was discovered about three kilometres from the Canadian base. The soldiers dismantled the explosives, which were strong enough to kill anyone within 75 meters…

There are currently about 685 members of the Canadian Forces working in Afghanistan, and about 450 are stationed at the Kandahar base. … Between now and the end of February, about 1,200 soldiers will depart from Edmonton and Winnipeg for tours lasting six to nine months… According to the Department of National Defence, Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan will be:

• In March 2006, Canadian Brigadier-General David Fraser will take over leadership of the multinational brigade from its headquarters at Kandahar Airfield.
• The majority of headquarters personnel will be Canadian and they will deploy for a nine-month period.
• Canada will also field a battle group for two successive six-month rotations, and will deploy a new rotation for the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) at Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar. Canada has committed to maintain the PRT for at least another year.

Violence in Afghanistan is at its highest level since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001… At the end of the month, Britain will co-host an international meeting to deal with the upsurge in violence, and speed up reconstruction in Afghanistan, according to The Guardian newspaper. The meeting will be chaired by Karzai, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to attend, the newspaper reported.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

Canada develops new reconnaissance vehicle to strengthen light force capability

The Canadian Army is developing a new reconnaissance vehicle to fill the gap between the Mercedes Benz G-wagons and the Coyote Light Armoured Vehicle - Reconnaissance (LAV-Recce)…

“I guess what we’re talking about is a vehicle somewhere around the size of a VBL [Panhard Vehicule Blinde Leger] or a Humvee or a RST-V [Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Targetting Vehicle],” said Maj Lozanski.

The LARV will carry a crew of three (maximum four), with common crew stations “allowing anybody in the vehicle to have access to any of the subsystems that are required to do any of the jobs anybody else is doing”.

Maj Lozanski said: “Obviously you can’t drive the vehicle from the gunner’s station, but there’s no reason why, in theory at least, in an emergency that the driver couldn’t fire the gun from his position.” He added: “We’re thinking about that for the Coyote as well.”