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Old 17-03-11, 14:56
rob love rob love is offline
carrier mech
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Shilo MB, the armpit of Canada
Posts: 7,592
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I would suggest that your estimates on the numbers released would be low. As bad as those gaveyard shots may look, I would venture to guess they only amount to batches of a few dozens of vehicles. And with regard to accident victims here in Canada, they have to be very bad to get condemned. The repair of most vehicles in Cdn service is governed by the REL (repair expenditure limits). However, owing to the impossibility of going out to buy Cdn SMPs off the shelf to replace damaged vehicles, the RELs are usually waived by the LCMMs and the vehicles are repaired.

There were 2500 Iltis procured for the CF. I was in Cypress in 89 when we replaced the Iltis there with Pajeros. The Iltis were suffering badly from their in theater experiences, especially with frame and body cracking. I expected a later roto to have the job of cutting them up, but surprisingly these Iltis surfaced a year or two later in Shilo to be mixed and matched and rebuilt into serviceable vehicles, and issued to various units or to log stocks.

As to the quantities restored, like so many recently surplussed vehicles, they are often considered as non-important until later, when the available quantities get low. I doubt you would find 300 of any Cdn military vehicle fully restored in Canada. In the case of the Iltis, any still fully in mlitary livery are likely that way because it's the easiest.
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