Bad tires force 2,700 military trucks off road
Rusted vehicles three years past 15-year service life

Charlie Gillis
National Post

(photo) Vehicles such as this medium logistic truck, the backbone of the Canadian army's logistical support, have been parked.


The crumbling state of Canada's military hardware reared its head again yesterday, as rusting, corroding wheels compelled the Canadian Forces to park all 2,700 of the trucks that fulfill its most basic transport needs.

The Department of National Defence announced the shutdown after discovering widespread corrosion and structural damage in the wheels of its medium light trucks and trailers, which perform the lion's share of troop, equipment and weapon transportation.

"These trucks are the backbone of the military," said Dennis Umrysh, director of support vehicles program management for the department. "We're going to replace the wheels on all of them.

"This fleet is entering its 18th year of service and its intended life was 15 years. The age is starting to show."

The decaying rims and locking rings are not yet believed to have caused any accidents.

But the decision to pull the trucks off the road is based primarily on safety concerns, Mr. Umrysh said; a broken wheel could result in a fatal crash, and some of the assemblies were so corroded that the locking rings would pop off during tire maintenance.

Military officials insisted yesterday the replacement program will not interrupt peacekeeping and military operations and that the effects on domestic activities will be "manageable."

Trucks and trailers being used by Canadian troops in the former Yugoslavia, for example, have been inspected and repaired, the department said yesterday in a statement.

DND has also launched an inspection program aimed at certifying as many of the wheels as it can, and will rent vehicles and trailers to try to make up the difference. But the impact on day-to-day operations here in Canada promises to be significant.

Until further notice, trucks on bases across the country may not be used for troop transport, exercises or the movement of supplies on public highways, which means activities on military sites could be limited or cancelled over the next few weeks due to lack of transportation.

The trucks -- with 2.5-tonne carrying capacity and often characterized by high, caravan-style canopies over their beds -- have been in service since 1982.

They were assembled by Bombardier Inc., but the Montreal-based giant no longer provides the parts necessary to keep them running. In Bombardier's stead, DND has contracted the manufacture of new wheels to Western Star Truck Ltd. of Kelowna, B.C.

All told the replacement program is expected to cost $12-million and could take months to complete, because the new wheel assemblies are not expected to be available until next summer.

The corrosion was first detected during inspections last October, and a wider sampling revealed that almost all were stricken with some degree of decay.

"It's the same old story," said Jim Hanson, associate executive director of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies. "There's a real problem in the Canadian Forces today because of ageing equipment, and the lack of resources with which to replace it."

Mr. Hanson, whose 30-year military career included stints in charge of land equipment maintenance, found little comfort in the repairs to the small fleet of trucks now in Yugoslavia.

The country will be poorly equipped, he says, should it ever send a larger contingent overseas.

1st of all the "do not" transport troops, ammo or POL came out at the end of Oct before the election. The gounding came in mid-November. And what is not stated is the gounding includes any thing that moves that has a split ring wheel assembly - ie 105mm How and most trls. (The extent of the problem can be seen in the fact that of all the MLVWs in Shilo only ONE tire passed - for a time 3 out of our 4 guns were down.)

As to the horseshit the effects are mangeable, someome tell me how an artillery units gets its guns to the field and supply it with ammo with no MLVWs. As it was we had to flatbed our guns to fire a salute. We may have no transportation but our tasks don't change. I know other units are in the same boat.Come Jan we will attempt to run a dvrs crse ( beacuse WATC won't run one and we are running out of gun tow qual dvrs). It will also be interesting how the summer trg will be run with no MLVWs.

Talking to people in the know (not some mouth piece PAFFO - the fastest growing MOC in the Forces), the goundings could last up to 2 yrs before the fleet is back on the road. First most vehs need the wheel assemblies which don't exist at this time (and of all things will be manufactors by the creators of the LSVW - White Star). Armed Forces contracting being what it is means that the wheels won't be coming out until the fall at the earlyist. This will cause the fleet to sit idle for an extended period of time. causing seals to dry etc. So the vehs will need to be 1134ed before going back on the road. Couple this with the limited amount of veh techs and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see where this is going. It seems to me inexcusable to be in this state of affairs. As far as I know there even isn't a program to relace the ML so this must of been forssen because as far as I can see the trucks will bwe around another 10-15 yrs.

Thats enough ranting for now. I love to here from all of you to see if this an isolated incident or systematic of the forces (both the actual problem and how the mouth pieces deal with it). I already know the answer but I want to see if there is an optomist out there.

Ubique

(from today's Sun)

Halt! Rust puts the brakes on military movement

By STEPHANIE RUBEC AND DAN PALMER, EDMONTON SUN

More than 300 trucks at Edmonton Garrison have been ordered off duty in a national action against potentially dangerous army vehicles.

Across Canada, Canadian Forces have parked more than 5,400 of its vital military trucks after discovering dangerous rusting in the wheels.

"We will only use them if there's an operation emergency," said Capt. Ken Bloom of 1 Area Support Group, posted at Edmonton Garrison yesterday.

The Sun has learned that the problem is far more widespread than the Defence Department initially announced last month, when it said only 2,764 trucks and "several trailers" were affected.

Dennis Umrysh, defence director of support vehicles program, said that in addition to the trucks, 2,542 trailers and 103 towed howitzers have been taken out of service.

The price of repairs may also be steeper than the projected $12 million the military initially estimated.

Umrysh said that if taken on the road, the corroded wheels could "release violently."

"We haven't killed anyone with these vehicles and we don't want to," he said, adding that commanders could still order soldiers behind the wheel of the dangerous vehicles if there's a national emergency similar to the Manitoba floods, or an uprising in Bosnia where a number of the trucks were sent for Canadian peacekeepers.

"They can all be used in operations, accepting the risk involved," Umrysh said.

Umrysh said the rusting was found by chance in a small-scale inspection called after the military learned that Bombardier, which manufactured the wheels, no longer makes them.

About 70% of the wheels on the trucks inspected were dangerously corroded and in urgent need of replacement.

Umrysh said that if the rusting rate holds for the trailers and gun-haulers, then the cost could be steeper than the projected $12 million.

"We're probably going to replace most of them," he said.

The 2.5-tonne trucks and trailers were slated for replacement in 1998 but Defence Minister Art Eggleton delayed it and won't spend the $700 million to replace them for about six years.

The fleet is expected to be back on the road by the fall.

This now affects this summers trg and possible next summers. The arty is the most affected as now we have no trucks or guns which means we will have to bwe really creative when it comes to QL3 trg this summer or have it cancelled.

Any ideas out there.