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Canadian Forces Armour
— EROC Cougar Route-Opening Vehicle |
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Update Dec 2011: Two EROC Cougars are on loan to the Australian Army for use in Afghanistan
(along with an EROC Buffalo and four Huskys). Two other Cougars are being converted into
blast-resistant ambulances for Op Attention, the ANA training mission in Kabul.
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The Force Protection Cougar
The third EROC vehicle is FPI's Cougar. The Cougar (not to be confused with the CF's
recently retired AVGP of the same name) carries Explosive Ordnance Dis- posal personnel. The EOD team clear
any IEDs not set off by the Husky mine-detecting vehicle
or its mine-detonating trailers. The Cougar itself takes no part in demining, it simply transports the team
and its gear.
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Force Protection Cougar
Route-Prover — Specifications
| Powerplant: |
7.2 liter, 243 kW, 6-cyl. Caterpillar C7 diesel |
| Transmission: |
Allison HD-4560 P five-speed automatic |
| Size: |
length x 7.08 m, width x 2.74 m, height x 2.64 m |
| Weight: |
13.61 t, max (curb) 13,635 kg, GVW 15,900
kg |
| Payload: |
maximum payload up to 1,820 kg (4,000
lbs) |
| Crew: |
2 (driver, vehicle commander ) + 8
troops |
| Range: |
Operational range 965 km (600 miles) |
| Performance: |
road speed: 105 km/h (65 mph), ford: 1m (39") |
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As received by Canada, the FPI Cougar is a JERRV (or Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal Rapid Response Vehicle),
part of the large family of US blast-resistant MRAP trucks (and originally known as the HEV Hardened
Engineering Vehicle by the US Marines). The FPI Cougar is built in 4x4 and 6x6 versions. All of the
CF Cougars are of the longer, 6x6 type. The 6x6 was designed to carry up to 16 troops but much of the
interior space of CF Cougars will be filled with EOD gear including mine-protected suites, bomb-
disposal robots, etc. The Cougar itself is almost as well protected against blast as the Buffalo and better than an RG-31.
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Rooms with a View and Mastiff Confusion
When a CF Cougar was first announced, emphasis was laid on better protection by reducing
window area. From that, we took it that the new CF EROC vehicle would be closely related to the
British Army Mastiff. Not so. No extra armour panels are in evidence. Deployed CF Cougars are
simply late-model JERRVs with extra stowage where rear windows would be. Nor is there a RWS, just the manual
gun mount. [2]
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[1] MRAP, the US Mine Resistant Ambush Protected program has been hugely expanded. A staggering 17,700
blast-resistant vehicles of various types are on order for the US Army and Marines. Among others, MRAP orders include
Buffalo, Cougar, Husky and RG-31 Nyala.
[2] Since the EROC Cougar delivery, Rheinmetall Defence announced that it's mounted an unnamed remote weapon
system on a Cougar which "is expected to destroy IEDs at very short range". It's not clear whether that
RWS mounting is experimental or a fleet-wide upgrade.
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Photo Credits —
Cougar/mount sideviews: Stephen Priestley , centre: Force Protection Inc. , middle left: MoD (UK) , all
others: DND/CF.
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