Keep'em kicking dust! Throughout history, logistics have proven to form the backbone of any military deployment. This is the reason why, for modern land operations, vehicles play a vital role to keep the supply chain intact. The loss of a single link can have dire consequences for the men involved.

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Keep'em kicking dust! Throughout history, logistics have proven to form the backbone of any military deployment. This is the reason why, for modern land operations, vehicles play a vital role to keep the supply chain intact. The loss of a single link can have dire consequences for the men involved.

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The logistic vehicle has all too often been the poor child of military fleets. Generally, they are basic lorries merely adapted to carry the required supplies. However, while they may prove suitable for road and reasonably surfaced trail use, they often reach their limits on disrupted surfaces. Moreover, they lack the protection now required: in peacekeeping operations the enemy is no longer behind a 'red line', it is everywhere and can catch a vehicle unawares, even if it is still behind one's front line in what would normally be a safe zone. Up-armouring is always a possibility, but it is detrimental to the vehicle's payload.

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Reviewed here are the country-by-country situations.

Canada

The backbone of the Canadian Army's combat service support capability is the Percheron ten-tonne 6 x 6 Heavy Logistic Vehicle Wheeled (HLVW) fleet. Since 1212 Percherons, a derivative of the Steyr 1491.310/040 6 x 6 M truck, were delivered between 1989 and 1991. The army has used them in Canada, Germany, the former Yugoslavia and, more recently, in Afghanistan. During operations in the Balkans in the 1990s the threat of small arms fire, grenades and land mines led the army to develop an armour protection system using steel, ceramic and ballistic glass. It is the same armour kit that is fitted to the Percheron fleet supporting the Canadian contingent in Afghanistan. >, noted the Department of National Defence.

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On 10 May 2007 DaimlerChrysler was awarded a C$ 87 million contract to provide an Armoured Heavy Support Vehicl...

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