The LAV II is the second generation of the Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) family. The LAV II is an 8×8 vehicle unlike the 6×6 Armoured Vehicle General Purpose, which is a LAV based on the Piranha I. The United States Marine Corps was the first user of the LAV II, which it calls the LAV-25. Canada procured two main variants: the

Coyote Reconnaissance Vehicle The LAV II Bison and Coyote are armoured cars (or armoured personnel carriers) built by General Dynamics Land Systems Canada for the Canadian Forces. It is based on the Mowag Piranha 8x8. Bison vehicles have also been used (to a lesser exten ...

and the Bison armoured utility vehicle. LAV IIs in Australia are known as the

ASLAV The Australian Light Armoured Vehicle (ASLAV) is an eight-wheeled amphibious armoured reconnaissance vehicle of the LAV II family used by the Australian Army. It was built by General Dynamics Land Systems Canada, and developed from the U.S. Mar ...

LAV-25

During the 1980s, the U.S. Marine Corps began looking for a light armored vehicle to give their divisions greater mobility. They chose the Light Armored Vehicle design from

General Motors Diesel General Motors Diesel was a railway diesel locomotive manufacturer located in London, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1949 as the Canadian subsidiary of the Electro-Motive Diesel division of General Motors (EMD). In 1969 it was re-organiz ...

. The LAV-25 was partially based on the 6x6 Armoured Vehicle General Purpose (LAV I) of the Canadian Army that was also produced by General Motors Diesel. It entered service with the Marines in 1983. The U.S. Army was interested in these vehicles at the time but did not order any (however they did later adopt similar vehicles with the introduction of the

Stryker The Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III. Stryker vehicles are produced by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C) for the United States Army in a plant in London, Ontario. It ...

family). The Army did, however, borrow at least a dozen LAV-25s for use by the

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...

, 3-73rd Armor for a scout

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may range ...

during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. These LAV-25s were returned to the Marine Corps after the conflict. The USMC ordered 758 vehicles of all variants. LAVs first saw combat during the

Invasion of Panama The United States invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause, lasted over a month between mid-December 1989 and late January 1990. It occurred during the administration of President George H. W. Bush and ten years after the Torrijos� ...

in 1989 and continued service in the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

, and the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see al ...

. A USMC light-armored reconnaissance battalion includes 56 LAV-25s, 16 LAV-ATs, 12 LAV-Ls, 8 LAV-Ms, 4 LAV-Rs, 4 LAV-C2s, and an unknown number of LAV-MEWSS vehicles.

Bison

The Bison is an armoured vehicle based on the 8x8 LAV-25 platform and was originally designed as an armoured personnel carrier. Entering service in 1990, it was used mainly as an armoured utility vehicle having a number of different sub-variants throughout its years of service.

Design

By starting with a basic LAV-25, the Bison design process took only seven days. The Bison differs from the baseline LAV-25 by raising the height of the roof, removing the turret ring, placing a commander's cupola behind the driver, and incorporating a rail mount system in the cargo/passenger compartment to quickly change mission specific equipment. The driver is seated in the front-left of the crew compartment. The commander has a slightly raised position directly behind the driver with access to his own hatch and mounted machine gun. The engine is to the right of the crew compartment. The

Canadian Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

began upgrading the Bison between 2002 and 2008. The upgrades include improved engine power, new

torsion bar A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end termi ...

s, fittings for add-on armour,

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

, and the VRS respirator system for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

defence.

Sub-variants

The Bison's rail mount system allows it to be adapted to a variety of roles without any major modifications. Bisons used by the

have been adapted for use as armoured personnel carriers (original configuration, mostly replaced in this role by the

LAV III The LAV III, originally named the Kodiak by the Canadian Army, is the third generation of the LAV (Canada), Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) family of armored personnel carriers built by General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada (GDLS-C), a London, O ...

), 81mm mortar carriers, ambulances (32), Mobile Repair Team (MRT) vehicles (32),

Armoured recovery vehicle An armoured recovery vehicle (ARV) is typically a powerful tank or armoured personnel carrier (APC) chassis modified for use during combat for military vehicle recovery (towing) or repair of battle-damaged, stuck, and/or inoperable armoured f ...

s (32),

electronic warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...

vehicles (25), and

reconnaissance vehicles (4).

Current operators

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

– 97 (See ASLAV Type II) *

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

– 199 (being phased out and replaced by LAV VI variants) *

US National Guard The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force when activated for federal missions.

Coyote Reconnaissance Vehicle

The Coyote has been in Canadian service from 1996 and was acquired for use in the light

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

(scout) role, although was also initially used as an armoured fighting vehicle in the role of medium tank trainer within armoured squadrons in the same way as the Armoured Vehicle General Purpose (AVGP) it replaced. In service since 1996, the Coyote is a later generation of the LAV-25 and is of the same family and similar generation as the Bison APC and the Australian

Armament

The Coyote mounts a 25×137mm M242 Bushmaster

chain gun A chain gun is a type of autocannon or machine gun that uses an external source of power to cycle the weapon's action, rather than diverting excess energy from the cartridges' propellant as in a typical automatic firearm, and does so via a cont ...

and two 7.62×51mm NATO C6

general purpose machine gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered f ...

s. One of the machine guns is mounted coaxial to the main gun while the other is pintle-mounted in front of the crew commander's hatch. The main gun is equipped with dual ammunition feeds that allow for separate weapons effects, selectable by the gunner/crew commander; the standard load is a belt of

armour-piercing Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate either body armour or vehicle armour. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armour carried on many warsh ...

sabot Sabot may refer to: * Sabot (firearms), disposable supportive device used in gunpowder ammunitions to fit/patch around a sub-caliber projectile * Sabot (shoe), a type of wooden shoe People * Dick Sabot (1944–2005), American economist and busi ...

rounds and a belt of HE-T explosive/fragmentation rounds. The main gun and coax machine gun are 2-axis stabilized. The turret is equipped with a laser rangefinder, but no ballistic computer; elevation and lead corrections are applied manually by the gunner using multi-stadia reticules in the day, thermal, and image intensification sights. The turret is also equipped with grenade dischargers that can be loaded with smoke and fragmentation grenades.

Mobility

The Coyote is powered by a Detroit Diesel 6V53T engine developing , and can reach speeds of (on road). The Coyote has a maximum road range of . It uses a larger wheel than initially used on the Bison and AVGP (these vehicles were later retrofitted with this wheel). Compared to the later LAV-III family of vehicles, the Coyote is smaller, uses smaller wheels and tires, has a "sharp" rather than "rounded" nose profile, and has a smaller, oval driver's hatch. Like the LAV-III, the Coyote can be fitted with additional ceramic bolt-on armour panels for increased protection. The Coyote can be transported on a Hercules C-130 plane but the turret needs first to be removed.

Sub-variants

Coyotes come in three variants: Command, Mast, and Remote. The Mast and Remote variants have a sophisticated suite of electronic surveillance equipment including

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

, and

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

night vision device A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD), night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The dev ...

s. The mast variant has this equipment mounted on a 10-metre telescoping mast that can be extended to raise the surveillance suite out from behind cover. The remote variant of the Coyote has its surveillance suite mounted on two short tripods, which crew can deploy remotely using a 200-metre spool of cable. When first purchased, the Coyote was designated for service with both the Regular Force and Reserve Force, with the Mast variants earmarked for the Regular units and the Remotes designated for the Reserves. Shortly after taking delivery of the vehicles, but before they were assigned to the Reserve units, all Coyotes were reassigned to the Regular Force.

Service history

Since the introduction of the Coyote to the Canadian Armed Forces, the vehicle has served national interest domestically and abroad. The Coyote served during the United Nations/ NATO missions in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, Macedonia,

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

, and in Afghanistan. Domestically, it has been deployed during "Operation Grizzly" to Kananaskis to secure the 28th G8 summit, the 36th G8 summit, and the G-20 Toronto summit,Barr, Colonel David
"Mosquitoes could be Huntsville weapon against protesters"
''thestar.com'', 22 June 2010. Retrieved: 23 June 2010. in addition to a number of domestic emergency response incidents. The Coyote is currently being retired and is being replaced by a mix of Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicles and

LAV 6 The LAV 6, sometimes written as LAV 6.0 or LAV VI, is the fourth generation of LAV, and is based on the LAV III. The first vehicles were delivered in 2013 and after testing entered service in 2016. The Canadian Army plans to replace its entire LA ...

armoured vehicles.

References

External links

GDLS Canada LAV II website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lav II Armoured fighting vehicles of Canada General Dynamics land vehicles Eight-wheeled vehicles Military vehicles introduced in the 1980s