#Canadian tank battles portable#

'As part of their mentoring role they were expected to be able to train the Ukrainian forces on the proper employment of anti-armour weapons against modern tanks. Operation Unifier is the Canadian Forces mission to train Ukraine's armed forces. 'The lack of expertise in Infantry Battalions to employ Direct Fires was highlighted during the 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment's recent deployment on Op UNIFIER to the Ukraine,' says the paper. The result, said Hawco, is that Canada lacks 'a sufficient quantity of modern anti-tank weapons today.' Relying on older soldiers' memoriesĪs Canada's infantry lost its anti-tank weapons, they also lost the skills to use them, which in turn affected their ability to train the Ukrainians, according to a 2016 service paper presented at Canadian Forces College. Blowing up Russian tanks wasn't a priority. 'Countries like Canada said that the likelihood of massed armour-on-armour Cold War-type warfare is extremely low, and so many countries de-prioritized these kinds of weapons in favour of enhancing self-protection measures,' said Hawco.Ĭanada's military planners preferred instead to invest in armoured vehicles that can withstand roadside bomb attacks, or counter-battery radar that can pinpoint the source of incoming mortar rounds. It was the era of asymmetrical warfare, of fighting groups like the Taliban which lacked aircraft and heavy armour and had few beyond-line-of-sight weapons. 'Many countries, Canada included, saw a change in the kind of conflict they would be involved in from the mid-90s through to the mid-2010s,' says retired vice-admiral Darren Hawco, who was head of force development for the Canadian Armed Forces.Ĭanadian soldiers help a comrade, center, get on a helicopter after he was injured in an IED blast during a patrol outside Salavat, in the Panjwayi district, southwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan on June 7, 2010.

It wasn't replaced in part because the Taliban didn't have an air force.

#Canadian tank battles portable#

Once, Canada possessed more guided anti-tank missiles and had stocks of shoulder-launched guided anti-aircraft missiles.Ĭanada's last portable surface-to-air missile was retired in 2005. Canadian forces possess very few guided anti-tank missiles and none of the shoulder-fired variety that have been used so successfully by small mobile teams of infantry hunting and ambushing Russian armour in Ukraine.Ĭanada also lacks the shoulder-launched Stinger missiles that have been used to down Russian aircraft. The audio looks to be an intercept of a Russian officer calling superiors to report the ambush and death of regiment commander /Fyk3jao7mL- is the first major war between developed countries in a long time, and war planners everywhere are studying it closely.įor Canada, one lesson stands out. Incredible drone video of a Russian tank column ambush reportedly from 6th regiment near Brovary Region, Kyiv oblast.