The military acquired Leopard 2 tanks in the hopes of replacing its aging fleet of Leopard 1s. (Cpl.David Cribb/Canadian Forces)

The Canadian Forces struggled to find parts for its new tanks deployed in Afghanistan, the auditor general says.

The parts shortage was so severe, the military was forced to strip parts off of some tanks in order to keep others operating in the field.

In March 2007, the military borrowed 20 Leopard 2 tanks from Germany and deployed them to Afghanistan as part of an urgent operational requirement, while it waited for a larger order of 100 tanks to arrive from the Netherlands.

The military said it needed the modern, heavily-armoured tanks to replace its aging fleet of Leopard 1 tanks, built in the 1970s.

But in a report Tuesday, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said the military failed to order enough spare parts for those German tanks, forcing it to cannibalize some tanks in order to keep others running.

The auditor general said the military was also unable to fit mine-clearing equipment and bulldozer blades on the front of those new tanks, and was forced to keep some its old Leopard 1s in service as a result.

In her report, the auditor general examined the urgent purchase of four different military vehicles, worth more than  $1.1 billion.

Fraser says the military broke its own purchasing rules in order to acquire the vehicles quickly, but she says that's okay, given the urgent nature of the military's requirements.
In three of the four cases studied, the vehicles purchased have turned out to be an overall good buy for the military.

But that wasn't true in the case of one project: an ill-defined requirement for new Light Armoured Vehicles, with a special remote machine gun turret on top.

The military ordered 33 of the new vehicles for a cost of $118 million, as an "urgent operational requirement."  But 36 months have passed and the vehicles have not yet been delivered.