Ottawa asks defence industry for options on replacements for aging tank fleet

File photo — Canadian Armed Forces Leopard 2A4 tanks are shown at CFB Gagetown in Oromocto, N.B., on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Smith

OTTAWA — The Canadian military is formally asking the defence industry to identify what companies can offer to either upgrade or replace Canada’s aging fleet of tanks.

The federal government published a request for information from potential suppliers so Ottawa can analyze options available on the market and start to draw up plans for future armoured land vehicle fleets.

A Canadian Army document published last year called “Inflection Point” warns that decades of fine tuning the military for counter-insurgency and peace operations had the side-effect of creating serious gaps in the military’s store of heavy arms.

The army’s armoured regiment has been left with a single squadron of decades-old Leopard tanks.

Modern warfare, as demonstrated by Russia’s war against Ukraine, has led to rapid advances in anti-tank drones and tank armour.

The procurement projects in the request for information are listed under “heavy direct-fire modernization,” which would include tanks, recovery vehicles and combat-support vehicles, as well as “medium cavalry vehicles” for a common light-armoured vehicle fleet.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2026.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press