[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Canada will spend up to 750 million dollars (641 million US) to design, develop and build 33 new army vehicles for use by its forces in battle, Defence Minister Bill Graham said.

The armoured "Multi-Mission Effects Vehicles" or MMEVs will provide Canadian soldiers "with the latest in combined ground and air defence technology," Graham said.

"We are also achieving an increasingly capable, modern combat force, one of our commitments in the new defence policy," he said.

The armoured vehicles will be deployed across the country, replacing existing anti-tank systems and aging Leopard tanks.

They will be capable of engaging both air and ground units, including armoured vehicles and bunkers, helicopters, unmanned surveillance planes and even cruise missiles, with long-range precision-guided munitions and non-line-of-sight weapons systems, making it possible to engage targets hidden behind hills or buildings.

Canada is negotiating with Zurich, Switzerland-based Oerlikon Contraves to design and develop the vehicle.

They forgot "...and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound"...

It'll be another fatcat contract let out to some Quebec firm and royally screwed up. :