New facility to produce TAPV armored at 4 Canadian Division Support Base.

Official opening of the new Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle (TAPV) facility at 4 Canadian Division Support Base Petawawa by the Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjanon, Friday December 1, 2017. Following that, Sajjan will visit to the construction site of a new complex for the Canadian Special Operations Regiment.

Textron Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle at Ottawa City Hall (Picture source Wikipedia)

Construction of the new TAPV facility was completed in Petawawa in June of this year, and two new facilities were completed in November 2016 in Valcartier, Que., according to the Canadian Forces news release.

Construction of a facility in Edmonton, Alta., began in November 2016. Existing facilities in Shilo, Man., and Valcartier, Que. will be renovated. A TAPV facility at 5 Canadian Division Support Base (5 CDSB) Gagetown was opened in September.

The TAPV (Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle) is an armoured vehicle wghich was developed and designed by the American Company Textron Systems according a request of the Canadian Army. It is based on the M1117 Armoured Security Vehicle, developed for use by the military police of the US Armed Forces. The first vehicles xere delivered to the 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown on 12 August 2016.

The fleet of 500 vehicles, bought in June 2012 for C$603.4M (€416.2M), should all be delivered by January 2018 and will be distributed across seven bases and 24 units. There will be two variants: 300 General Utility and 200 Reconnaissance. The latter will be fielded to armoured reconnaissance squadrons, infantry reconnaissance platoons and the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps School.

The TAPV is powered by a six-cylinder Cummins QSL 365 turbo diesel engine developing 365 hp. coupled to an Allison MD3560 six-speed automatic transmission.

The TAPV is armed with Kongsberg’s advanced M153 Protector dual remote weapon station equipped with electro-optical sights and two mounted weapons, operated by both the vehicle commander and gunner from within the vehicle. The TAPV offers superior safety and blast protection for the soldiers against direct and indirect firing of small arms, mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).