Canada's plan to donate refurbished armour to Ukraine is still spinning its wheels
A plan to rebuild and mod‐ ernize two dozen decom‐ missioned Canadian light armoured vehicles for do‐ nation to Ukraine is stuck in bureaucratic limbo more than nine months after the defence department hand‐ ed the vehicles over to an Ontario company that spe‐ cializes in restoration, CBC News has learned.
Defence Minister Bill Blair signed off on the transfer last
January. He said negotiations between Armatec Survivabili‐ ty in Dorchester, Ont., and the Canadian Commercial Credit Corporation (CCC), an arm of the federal govern‐ ment, are still ongoing.
News of the holdup comes after Canada an‐ nounced earlier this month that it would send Ukraine al‐ most 100 retired armoured vehicle chassis, which can on‐ ly be used for spare parts.
Ukraine has been quietly pushing Canada to complete the deal with Armatec. It hopes that U.S. interest in the company's restoration techniques can open up ac‐ cess to thousands of retired American military armoured vehicles.
Blair declined to identify the obstacles that are pre‐ venting the deal from going forward, citing the confiden‐ tiality of contract talks.
"I am told that it's very much a work in progress, that there are some unre‐ solved issues that need to be addressed, but I have shared with them a sense of ur‐ gency," Blair told CBC News.
Last year, the Department of National Defence (DND) acknowledged it has 195 LAV II Bisons and 149 Coyote ar‐ moured reconnaissance vehi‐ cles that are in the process of being taken out of service.
Some of the chassis ear‐ marked for spare parts in Ukraine were sourced from of that pool of vehicles, as were the troop carriers now awaiting conversion at Ar‐ matec.
Karl Pfister, president and CEO of Armatec, said he couldn't discuss the issues that are holding up the work.
Pfister said the company is using a revolutionary - but proven - restoration process. He said his engineers have literally taken armoured vehi‐ cles off the scrap heap and rebuilt them to standards of safety and armament that are higher than those for the
original vehicle.
"It's not just a rebuild to its old capability it originally had. It's a new capability, which we need on the battle‐ field today," Pfister said.
He said Armatec has built a demonstration vehicle for the Ukraine project that fea‐ tures an improved cannon and a remote weapons sta‐ tion that helps to protect the crew.
Pfister said that since re‐ ceiving the two dozen retired light armoured vehicles in January, his company has had to turn aside other projects while it waits for the federal government to live up to its verbal commitment.
"We can't take on any oth‐ er work because that would take capacity away for this Ukraine project," he said. "So we counted on this project very much."
Blair said he couldn't state when an agreement will be reached. He highlighted how the federal government re‐ cently expedited delivery to Ukraine of brand-new ar‐ moured vehicles manufac‐ tured by General Dynamic Land Systems-Canada (GDLS) in London, Ont., which has been the federal governmen‐ t's go-to source for troop car‐ riers for decades.
"There are 40 additional LAVs that we have ordered for Ukraine," Blair said in ref‐ erence to the GDLS contract. "We've been able to move forward the production schedule by about eight months, and I'm told that early in the new year they'll get them. And I've shared that information with the Ukrainians."
He was more cautious about the Armatec proposal, saying Canada, the United States and other allies rou‐ tinely discuss Ukraine's tank and troop carrier needs through a NATO coalition.
Blair was asked directly whether GDLS-Canada op‐ posed the Armatec bid.
"They've never mentioned to me any opposition to that, but the only thing I talk about with GDLS is the delivery of the things that we're buying from them," he said.
"They have never suggest‐ ed to me any concerns about any other approach to this is‐ sue that the Government of Canada may take. It's never come up in conversation, and, quite frankly, I've never sought their opinion."
Over the last several months, lobbyists for GDLSCanada have been meeting with government officials, in‐ cluding senior members of Blair's staff and opposition members of Parliament. The federal lobbyist register iden‐ tified 14 separate meetings since January on a range of procurement issues.
General Dynamics Land
Systems Canada was asked for comment on the Armatec proposal and declined to an‐ swer. Instead, it referred to a written statement about its long-standing relationship with the Canadian govern‐ ment.
"General Dynamics is a strategic industrial partner for the Government of Cana‐ da and has, for over 47 years, proudly worked in close cooperation with the Canadian Armed Forces," said spokesperson Jay Hancock, GDLS-Canada manager of corporate affairs.
"General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada is proud to support the Government of Canada in its efforts to pro‐ vide military aid, including Ar‐ moured Combat Support Ve‐ hicles (ACSV)."
Canada donated new 39 ACSVs to Ukraine and is in the process of procuring and delivering an additional 50 of the troop carriers, including ones that can be used as am‐ bulances.
The Canadian Commercial Credit Corporation was asked for comment. It said that it's "bound by certain confiden‐ tiality obligations" and could not disclose much about the project, or the reasons for the delay.
"Based on instructions from the Department of Na‐ tional Defence (DND), CCC is currently in discussions with
Armatec Survivability Corp. regarding a potential pur‐ chase by the Government of Canada for donation to Ukraine," said Susannah Den‐ ovan-Fortier, senior director of marketing and communi‐ cations at CCC, in a written statement.
"CCC is an executing agency for the delivery of Canada's in-kind aid to for‐ eign governments. For all projects, CCC balances the need to work as quickly as possible while ensuring we respect our due diligence process and government guidelines."