Yes that is good news on many fronts.   I beat you to this one though Griffin, I posted a link to the story I got it from in the operation Medusa thread below. It says they will be sending up to 20 Leo's and 300 personnel from the Strathconas. I think that the main battle tank is making a comeback in the CF.  If all goes well and these tanks do well on this mission there is no way they can be replaced  with anything but a newer tank, fingers crossed. Good luck and stay safe to the troops heading to the sandbox.

I just hope that Harper supports the troops and his MND O'Connor, and gets the USAF to transport the Leo's over there ASAP!  Had we had the Leo's there in the first place, we may have avoided those 4 KIA last week and others before them, and shortened these firefights with overwhelming gunfire, mobility, etc.  I'm glad to see the Netherlands are also sending over their heavy armour in the way of some PHz2000 155mm SP Guns,  and hope that other NATO allies including the US Army does likewise for combat in areas that support light and heavy armour.

 

You have got to love our CDS, an ex-tanker himself, when he was interviewed about the 15 Leo's going to Afghanistan, he said it was like the old Yellow Pages Advertisement that went "reach out and touch somebody" referring to our tanks hammering the Taliban if they dare mass once the Cdn. tankers are on the scene.  For more info see the news story at:

 

 Just watching the news and it shows the first Leopards arriving in Kandahar.  It showed an engineer variant (badger?) unloading from a C5 galaxy.

All kinds of vehicles will be needed including recovery vehicles.  It was interesting that the newsies referred to the first 'tank' arriving, not understanding the difference from the standard Leo MBT.  Par for the course, but 'tank' sounds more 'sexy' to the media. 

 

 

 Just to clarify I have seen two pics. One showed a Taurus armoured recovery vehicle off loading from a C-17 and the other showed a Leopard MBT (on steroids) loading on to a Ukranian Antanov in Edmonton. 

I don't mean to say the deployment of the Leopard is a bad idea, however (I can't speak for he C2 varient) the Leopard 1 is an equivilant to the T62, of which the USSR deployed hundreds of to Afghanistan, and as far as I understand with little success.

 

The Canadian Leo C2 is a whole different animal than the legacy Leopard . I suggest you check out the official Canadian army page for better info than I can give you, you will be surprised I think.
http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/lf/English/2_display.asp?product=55

The Canadian Leo C2 is a whole different animal than the legacy Leopard . I suggest you check out the official Canadian army page for better info than I can give you, you will be surprised I think.
http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/lf/English/2_display.asp?product=55

To me it looks like a baseline Leopard 1 with improved fire control, thermal vision and perhaps some bolt on armour. Maybe not to the same standard, but the Soviets fielded similar upgrades on their T62's when they were there, especially where ERA is concerned.

 

The basic armour on both tanks is still just hardened steel isn't it? Does this armour provide enough protection against the numerous basic AT rocketry to be found in Afghanistan?

 

Also, I understand only between 15-20 tanks are being deployed, while Afghanistan is a very big place with many natural land barriers, how are the tanks to be disperesed on the ground?