Canadian government chooses GDLS–C for strategic partnership

An example of GDLS-C's Armoured Combat Support Vehicle for the Canadian Army. (Canada's Department of National Defence )

The Canadian government has announced a strategic partnership with General Dynamics Land Systems–Canada (GDLS–C). Under the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) released earlier this year, such partnerships are intended to create industrial champions for key Canadian defence capabilities.

Through the partnership, GDLS–C is expected to receive nearly USD2 billion in government investment over four years to manufacture an additional 190 Armoured Combat Support Vehicles (ACSVs) for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), which would expand the fleet from 360 to 550 vehicles, according to a statement from Prime Minister Mark Carney's office on 16 July.

There are also plans to build another 35 ACSVs for Ukraine, GDLS–C said in a statement on 16 July. Canada previously donated 89 of the vehicles to Ukraine, the Prime Minister's Office noted.

There are eight ACSV variants — ambulance, command post, troop/cargo, electronic warfare, maintenance and recovery, mobile repair team, fitter/cargo, and engineer — all based on GDLS–C's Light Armoured Vehicle 6.0 platform, the statement indicated.

“There is no financial commitment associated with this arrangement,” a Department of National Defence (DND) spokesperson told Janes on 28 July, adding that “any related work will be completed through separate contracts”.

“This agreement streamlines the process for the joint development of future armoured combat vehicle technology, for integration of solutions to address existing and future threats on fielded fleets, and introduction of new capabilities for upgrades,” the GDLS–C statement noted.

GDLS–C did not respond to Janes queries in time for publication.

Active need

There is an existing requirement for the additional ACSVs, the spokesperson told Janes