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Old 08-27-11, 04:33 AM   #2
kraznyi_oktjabr
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From article's comment section:
Quote:
This article creates a strawman only to crush it later.

Firstly, the projected image of military conflict is laughable. Canadian military on snowmobiles fighting in the Arctic only to experience the whole things melt by the time might Stealth Snowmobile Calvary (thanks God bears are reserved for Russians!) forms a formidable force is a pure Yankee fiction. It has nothing to do with the reality.

Secondly, let's do a small reality check. Well, what does snowmobile do? Uhm, lemme guess... Goes on snow! Right, that's what it supposed to be doing! And when does snow occur? Uhm, let me think... Arctic, Rockies and.. Yeah, right, I totally nearly forgot! Winter! I clearly remember that there was snow last winter! And loads of it! And I'm not even in Winnipeg, I'm in Toronto! Gee, me smart - guess I'll go pour me a cold one as a reward.

So, what does the Army do? Well, it does a lot of things. It's still in Afghanistan, which is smart. It's not in Iraq, which is also smart. And it somehow manages to do a lot of things in Libya, which is something I'm proud of. But guess where else it is? Yeah, here in the country. It clearly does a lot of things like border patrol. Well, let's try to see who our neighbours are? Hmm, Denmark - that would be one, but we do that with ships and planes. Russia - that would be two, but we also do it with ship in planes. St. Pierre and Miquelon - but I'm not even sure if we do that... Hmmm, sothing is missing! Right! I definitely remember now that we share a border with USA, and clearly a lot of it! I also definitely remember that it is being patrolled on US side by all the departments and that there are promises of increased border security. So, we must be doing it somehow as well.

Let us check the facts:

1. There is snow in Manitoba
2. There is border patrol in Manitoba
3. Snowmobiles go on snow

Right, yeah, I get it now! Maybe, we can use snowmobiles to do border patrol!


Thirdly, actually, the picture on US/Canada border is far from perfect. Yes, it is patrolled, but is it realistic to expect that the border between a state with population of 700k and a province with the population of 1 million, most of them - urban, is waterproof? In particular, considering the fact that east of Winnipeg it's mostly really rocks and trees and water? And, don't get me wrong, but there's quite a number of people interested in moving some stuff between the two without being looked at, most notably - cigarettes, alcohol and drugs. These guys don't normally have any radar equipment, but they typically can hear a snowmobile coming (these machines aren't exactly whispering), so making a "stealth" (low-noise) snowmobile actually makes a lot of sense.

Finally, it has to be remembered that BRP is one of the relatively few companies that still make snowmobile, and, on top of my head, one of the only companies that has military, border and snow in numbers sufficient to justify an all-military stealth model. However, it can be exported to NATO allies, as Finland, Sweden and Norway might use them, and - potentially - to some other countries, like, say, Russia and Mongolia. If there is an ability to match a niche demand with niche supply, why not do it?

In short - this article stinks of US dismissal of Canadian military and Canadian technology in general. I'm pissed. I don't have to explain to paid journalists that Arctic is not the only place on planet where there is snow.
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