Bombardier Iltis replacement in 2016

[Stuart Fedak]

Text removed as information is no longer current

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Too small for moose hunting. Now on the golf course however...

[chris vickery]

Rest assured, by the time they become surplus they will likely be beat to rat s$&t.
ATVs lead hard lives, let alone when put into hard service.
My In laws Bombardier made 10,000 Kms. it still runs but barely and I certainly would not rely on it without a complete and very costly overhaul.
Have you ever bought snowmobile or ATV parts? Outrageous is the only word that comes to mind...

[Wayne Hingley]

I honestly don't see these lasting very long in military service. They are not tough enough and will be a costly maintenance nightmare. The mining company I work for has tried to use these in several different operations as service vehicles for maintenance crews, and they end up costing more to maintain on a yearly basis than the cost to replace them. They are simply not tough enough.

[rob love]

Perfect in peacetime, but in today's warfare it had best have a V shaped armoured hull if you are going to survive.

We had gators in Afghanistan, and they were not supposed to leave either Kandahar Airfield or the FOBs unless they were in the back of a truck. One Canadian was killed in a gator in eyes view of a FOB when the rule of operating them was stretched.

[Robert Bergeron]

A Jeep Liberty 4X4 with a 10,000 lbs winch in the front is what i use for moose hunting. ATV 's are simply too noisy , underpowered and too light to get the job done. Maintenance on the Liberty is low cost and a breeze.

As far as a tactical replacement for the Iltis , we should of gone for the Hummer instead of the G . ATV's are a logistical nightmare to keep running and offer absolutely no protection , none.

Who was complaining about insufficent heat in the light 1/4 ton trucks ? Imagine an ATV at night in the mountains or even in the desert .. in below zero temp.

My two cents .

[Jon Bradshaw]

I agree with Robs statement about the need for armour and a V hull in an IED environment, but our defense spending is going down. We need a vehicle to just go A to B and the light infantry never goes overseas "light". I would rather ride in one then walk for 6 hours and the vulnerability is about the same.
As a side thought, no mention of how we are supposed to get these to the training area when we go on exercise..... We need trailers to put them on. A highway tractor only goes so many places, recovery when broken down is also a problem.

[rob love]

Jon
I will bow to your knowledge of what an infanteer needs, but what about the old adage "train like you fight". If the DND lets the government reduce their vehicle holdings to these expensive golf carts, you are going to end up going to a peacekeeping mission with them.

I have heard the term "dark days" a few times lately.

[Frank v R]

Hi Guys keep those GP's polished and in good shape they may be the best and only vehicle we will have for some time,

[djulien]

!!
Iltis is a car and the Polaris is a buggy . Why not goes to war with a trotinette ??

[rob love]

Actually, I'll take back what I said about them not being useful for the CF, because we do more than combat roles. For security operations like G-8 summits, aid to the civil power and looking for lost kids, they might well have a role. But 2.3 million would buy a lot of regular ATVs and a couple gun mounts for personal weapons.

[Robert Bergeron]

Rob,

Rent them for those specific missions and then get rid of them just like grandparents do with grandchildren on sunday afternoons !

No maintenance, no hassles...

[rob love]

Thats fine for things lik ethe G8 summit when you know it's coming. When you are searching for lost kids, crashed airplanes, etc, by the time the DND could rent a gator, it would all be over.

As to maintenance, these days the DND sets up maintenance contracts for more and more of the green fleet as they are procured. They had one for overseas on the B vehicles as well as commercial vehicles(CANCAP program), they had it back here for the B vehicles (Calian), they had them for the BV206, the Leopards, the Milcots, the MSVS, and they are talking about having it for the MLVW replacement. Even the oil changes are done downtown.