May 24, 2003

The Globe and Mail reports that the Defence Minister John McCallum has decided to replace Canada’s force of 140 1970’s vintage German built Leopard I tanks with smaller, lighter wheeled armoured vehicles such as the eight-wheeled Stryker which is being introduced in the US Army. While having less armour, the wheeled vehicles can mount a full size 105-mm cannon and are faster and easier to maintain than tanks.  One other advantage of buying such vehicles is that they are partially built in Canada. Some people claim that replacing tanks with wheeled vehicles is a poor idea preferring tracked vehicles such as the M-113 armored personnel carrier. Others such as US Defense Sectary Donald Rumsfeld and now McCallum have embraced the idea. 8:46:01 PM