The Armoured Engineering Vehicle rats nest

I was going to write a longer piece as to why the gluey-looking Armoured Engineering Vehicle/Armoured Recovery Vehicle (AEV/ARV) acquisition may or may not be worth getting one's knickers in a twist over.

Essentially, most people would be concerned over two things: The amount of money going out the door; and, are we hearing the truth from the political headliners. To the former it can be presumed, (if you can work your way through the mess this project has become), that the costs are close to the budget estimates. To the latter, you need ask no further. MacKay is a serial liar and rather than lay out the Force Mobility Enhancement project in clear terms for parliament and the public, he has allowed the whole thing to become a confusing mess. 

We don't call NDHQ The Puzzle Palace for nothing, you know.

The Sixth Estate has done a lot of heavy lifting on this and, in keeping with the spirit of not duplicating a successful effort, that's where you should read more. For what it's worth I agree with the conclusions there. (If you're past or present armoured crew and the terminology used by T6E makes you're stomach tie up in knots, get over it. Most Canadians don't know a RCEME from a tank transporter).

There is another element to this whole thing and it is related to another issue. That is the subject of a future post.