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Canadian Forces Armour
— Expedient Route-Opening Capability |
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EROC – Expedient Route-Opening Capability
DND's new Expedient Route Opening Capability system is
a direct equivalent to the US IVMMD
( Interim Vehicle-Mounted Mine Detector) MKII. Indeed, CF
EROC teams will directly replace US Army IVMMDs being withdrawn from southern Afghanistan. EROC teams will
attempt to detect, uncover, and neutralize mines and IEDs. Three different EROC vehicle types are
required – one detects, another uncovers, the third neutralizes.
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RSD Husky – Detection and (Maybe) Detonation
The South African-made Husky uses metal detectors and
X-rays to find buried landmines and IEDs. Small, anti-personnel mines are detonated by driving over them.
Larger mines are marked for later neutralization or, if missed, can be triggered by special, detonation trailers
which have higher ground pressures than the tow vehicle. Canada purchased six Husky vehicles in May 2006 with the first tow vehicles and detonation trailers
deployed to Afghanistan in August of 2007.
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The FPI Buffalo MRV – Have Claw, Will Travel
The American-built Force Protection Buffalo uses an
extensible, hydraulic arm tipped with a "spork" or claw to uncover and manipulate any suspicious objects.
This remotely-controlled arm is operated by an operator protected inside the armoured cab. The object is
not to detonate the uncovered mine but to determine its type and leave it exposed for neautralizing
by an accompanying EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) team in another EROC vehicle.
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FPI Cougar – Claws of Another Sort
The third EROC vehicle is the Cougar which
transports the EOD team and its gear (including bomb disposal robots). In the fall of 2007, Cougars for
training drivers were in Canada but only began appearing in Afghanistan in early 2008. In the meantime, RG-31 APVs filled this third role (appropriately, since the original
Nyalas were bought for route- proofing). But the lighter RG-31s suffered some casualties in this
period.
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Photo Credits —
EROC Cougar sideview: Stephen Priestley/CASR , bottom right: MoD (UK)
, all other
images: DND / Canadian
Forces.
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