(Ottawa) The Canadian Armed Forces will deploy 15 Leopard 2 main battle tanks and approximately 130 of their personnel to Latvia by next year to join a NATO battle group.
National Defense Minister Anita Anand made the announcement Friday from Brussels, Belgium, where she was meeting with her counterparts from other countries involved in efforts to support Ukraine against the Russian invasion.
Armor and support vehicles will be brought in from New Brunswick and Alberta.
“There will be 15 Leopard 2 A4M tanks, two armored recovery vehicles, and then a variety of maintenance, fuel, supply and transport vehicles,” Mr.me Anand, adding that the deployment will consist of a total of 50 vehicles, including tanks.
The Leopard 2 A4M is one of Canada’s main battle tanks. They have been deployed to Afghanistan in the past and have demining capabilities.
The equipment is expected to arrive in Latvia in the fall, with the full group of personnel in place next spring.
How many more soldiers?
Canada already leads a 10-nation multinational NATO battle group in Latvia, with approximately 700 Canadian soldiers.
“We are continuously deploying assets there as part of our role as the framework nation of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup on NATO’s eastern flank,” said Mr.me Anand.
The military alliance has battlegroups in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Members agreed at the 2022 summit in Brussels on a new model that will involve more high-readiness troops and combat-capable brigade-sized units in the region.
At this time, M.me Anand announced that she had signed an agreement with Latvia to transform the 2,000-person battle group into a deployable-ready brigade of around 4,000 personnel. The details of these contributions have not been finalized, more than a year later.
Canada aims to procure and deploy anti-tank weapons, anti-drone and air defense systems, ammunition and explosives as part of its commitment, but with the Armed Forces facing severe personnel shortages, it is unclear how many additional soldiers the country can send.
Under a separate program announced last month, Canadian troops in Latvia are now providing leadership development training for junior officers to the Ukrainian Armed Forces as part of continued support to the country.
Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Kyiv and announced additional military aid of $500 million, as well as donations of 288 AIM-7 missiles and 10,000 rounds.
This is in addition to donations from the Canadian Armed Forces inventory of dozens of air defense missiles; eight Leopard 2 tanks and ammunition; an armored recovery vehicle; four M777 howitzers and 33,000 rounds of associated ammunition; 100 carbines Carl Gustaf m2 and accessories; 4200 rocket launchers and 1800 rounds of tank training ammunition.
Canada has also donated winter clothing and other personal protective equipment, 640,000 packed lunches and more than 10 million small arms, including sniper rifles, machine guns, pistols, anti-tank rockets and carbines.
A procurement process to review in Canada
Many pieces of equipment were purchased directly — and quickly — for the Ukrainian forces, bypassing Canada’s general procurement process.
David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, says these efforts are necessary, but he wonders when the government will focus on replacing what was sent to Ukraine.
“If I was wearing a Canadian Army uniform, I would notice that we are outfitting the Ukrainian Army, in some cases within months, with pieces of equipment that the Canadian Army has been waiting for years or decades,” said he declared.
Mr. Perry points out that the typical Canadian procurement process is complex, unlike what the government did to buy equipment for Ukraine, a bit of a “hassle-shopping”.
Although she stressed that the Latvian deployment is not a donation, Ms.me Anand acknowledged Friday that Canada’s efforts to support Ukraine continue to strain the resources of the Armed Forces.
She said efforts to replace donations and purchase new equipment for Canadian troops are guided by Canada’s 2017 defense policy, which is under review.
“Threats have changed since 2017, when we put in place our defense policy,” she said.
“For example, we are seeing an increase in threats related to climate change, an increase in threats from a cybersecurity perspective. And so what our defense policy update will do is exactly that: update our outlook on defense in terms of how we grow, in terms of human resources and capabilities.” added the minister.
The Ministry of Defense has not yet said when the updated policy will be released, but Ukraine’s defense minister told a group of industry leaders last month that he expected this happens in July.
Mr. Perry said he hoped for fundamental changes in the procurement process.
Mme Anand said his NATO counterparts were excited for Ukraine to join the military alliance at the appropriate time.
“As for Canada, we support Ukraine’s membership when the conditions are right,” she said.