Made

Canada's skill at making armoured vehicles is largely a legacy of the country's 40-year squeeze on military spending

Seven months after they were first promised by Ottawa, fleets of Canadian-made armoured vehicles have been spotted reaching the Ukrainian frontlines.

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At the close of a NATO summit in June, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the surprise announcement that 39 armoured vehicles originally intended for the Canadian Armed Forces would instead be diverted to Ukraine.

The vehicles are ACSVs (Armoured Combat Support Vehicles); eight-wheeled, 30-tonne mobile units that can be used as anything from scout cars to ambulances to troop carriers.

Canada ordered 360 ACSVs back in 2019 and they were intended to replace the military's aging fleet of Coyote and Bison armoured vehicles. This is why the new ACSVs are often referred to as a "Super Bisons" by Ukrainian media.

The vehicles have reportedly been arriving into Ukraine as early as October, where they were handed over to rear-area units for training and familiarization. Only in recent weeks have the vehicles been spotted near the front lines. Late last month, video emerged of a Super Bison moving through thick mud at an unidentified section of the Ukrainian front.

The arrival of the Super Bisons is in addition to several hundred Canadian-made Senator armoured vehicles that have been trickling into Ukrainian service since the spring.

Unlike the combat-ready Super Bisons, the Senators are little more than armoured trucks similar to the tactical vehicles used by the RCMP; they’ll deflect bullets and small explosions, but are vulnerable if put up against mines, rockets or mortars.

It's why the Senators are generally being used by law enforcement and border guards operating outside of major combat zones. Although, a recent post by Defence Blog credited the Senators with supporting recent counteroffensives in the country's east and south.

Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted an Instagram video which featured the Senator. The segment praised the work of Ukrainian border services, and featured a glimpse of a convoy featuring Senators painted in olive green.

"Not only reliably guarding the state border of Ukraine, but also fighting on all fronts, being an example for others," wrote Zelenskyy in an English-language caption.

Border guards now driving the Senator in the Chernihiv region have told Ukrainian media that the Canadian vehicles are more spacious and manoeuvrable than the Ukrainian-made Kozaks they previously used.

Unlike most of the heavy equipment used by the Canadian Armed Forces, armoured vehicles are almost entirely manufactured domestically. The Super Bisons were made at a General Dynamics Land Systems plant in London, Ont. The Senators were made by Roshel Defence Solutions outside Toronto.

"GDLS armoured vehicles are top of the line and we want to provide vehicles that are readily usable, easily accessible and able to be repaired if damaged. Ukraine asked for these," Defence Minister Anita Anand said during a July visit to the General Dynamics Land System plant.

Canada's skill at making armoured vehicles is largely a legacy of the country's 40-year squeeze on military spending. While the Americans have focused their defence sector on building big ticket items such as tanks and aircraft, Canada has focused instead on mastering the much cheaper task of bolting armour and machine guns to truck chassis.

Notably, Canada even supplies armoured vehicles to the U.S. military. As of 2022, there are approximately 5,000 Ontario-made Stryker armoured vehicles in U.S. service.

Canada has consistently ranked as one of the larger contributors to the Ukrainian war effort since Russia's full-scale invasion on Feb. 24.

According to a Ukraine Support Tracker maintained by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Canada is the fifth largest contributor of military aid to Ukraine, behind the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Poland.

Canada's own limited stockpiles of military kit have generally prevented Ottawa from sending anything particularly flashy to Ukraine, such as British-supplied HIMARS rocket artillery, or American-supplied Javelin anti-tank rockets. As per a tally from August, Canadian contributions had disproportionately focused on basics such as bullets, artillery shells, backpacks and meal kits.

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