AVGP
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The AVGP (Armoured Vehicle General Purpose) is a series of three armoured fighting vehicles purchased by the Canadian military in the late 1970s.
These vehicles were based on the six-wheeled version of the Swiss Mowag Piranha. These vehicles mounted propellers for amphibious use, like the eight-wheeled Coyote, but not the U.S. Stryker. The Canadian Armed Forces' LAV III, the United States Marine Corps' LAV 25, and the US Army's Stryker are all variants of the Piranha.
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[edit] Variants
[edit] Cougar
- Used as a tank trainer and fire support vehicle on United Nations missions
- Three-man crew
- Turret of a British Scorpion tank (76mm main gun)
[edit] Grizzly
- Armoured personnel carrier (APC)
- Three-man crew
- Designed to carry a section of infantry
- Mounting a Cadillac Gage turret, armed with a .50 BMG and a 7.62 mm machine gun.
[edit] Husky
- Armoured recovery vehicle (ARV)
- Designed to provide mechanical support for the other two vehicles
[edit] AVGP today
The Cougar is only used for training in Canada as a reconnaissance vehicle. The Grizzly is no longer in front line service but are being converted to support vehicles (i.e., command post). The Husky still serves in its original role.
In June of 2005 the Canadian government announced plans to loan 105 AVGPs to African peacekeepers in the Darfur region. The AVGP were considered sufficiently modern to be useful in this low-intensity conflict. The Canadian government was to arrange for civilian contractors to take care of the maintenance of these vehicles.
As the vehicles contained some U.S.-manufactured or licensed parts, U.S. permission would be required to loan the vehicles. Initially the vehicles were to be shipped without their Cadillac-Gage turrets.
The vehicles arrived in Senegal in the late summer of 2005. The Sudanese government required various kinds of assurances before they would allow peacekeepers to use the vehicles in Sudan. On November 18, 2005 the vehicles started arriving in Sudan, in white livery, with their turrets.[1][2]
[edit] External links
- Canadian army equipment
- SFU site with on the AVGP.
- SFU site on the Canadian Forces ‘Wheeled Light Armoured Vehicle Life Extension’ program.
- Armoured vehicles approved for Sudan: Peacekeepers in Darfur set to receive Canadian APCs after government delay, Globe and Mail, November 15, 2005
- Canadian tanks muscle AU forces, Sudan Tribune, November 22, 2005
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