The Torch: Various Afghan-related things

1) Ranks of civilian police mentors doubled to speed training of Afghan police (via GAP)

Afghanistan's much-maligned police officers - underpaid, ill-equipped and frequently accused of corruption - remain the single biggest wild card in the coalition strategy to allow foreign troops to eventually leave this battle-weary country.

Despite concerted NATO efforts, the Afghan Uniformed Police remains unprepared for the road ahead. Of the roughly 3,000 officers on the books, only about 800 have been suitably trained; experts say 4,000 will be needed to keep Kandahar province's fragile peace.

In an effort to meet that target, the ranks of the civilian police team presence in Afghanistan - also known as CIVPOL - has been doubled to 24 members as the coalition redoubles its efforts to whip the AUP into shape [more here and here].

Those additional 12 mentors have allowed Canada's Provincial Reconstruction Team to deploy fully trained police into all of the province's key regions, including the dangerous Zhari and Panjwaii districts - long-standing hives of Taliban activity.

The program is called Focus[ed] District Development, or FDD [US-origin--background here and here], and comprises an intensive eight-week training program followed by between six and 18 months of hands-on mentoring from experienced Canadian police officers attached to the Canadian Forces.

"When the AUP was trained last time, they were trained and put out in the field and left to their own devices and it didn't work," conceded RCMP Supt. Joe McAllister, who is stationed at PRT headquarters at Camp Nathan Smith, on the outskirts of Kandahar city.

The additional mentoring personnel will go a long way towards solving that problem, McAllister said...

2) Canada Up-Armoring its LAV-IIIs

LAV-III, FOB Robinson
(click to view full)

The Government of Canada recently awarded “EODC Engineering, Developing and Licencing Inc.” of Ottawa, Canada C$ 81.5 million (about $65.5 million ) worth of contracts to provide for add-on-armour kits, modules and spares for its LAV III wheeled armored personnel carriers. LAV-III vehicles are known as Piranha-III in Europe, and are the base platform for the USA’s Stryker family of vehicles. Canadian LAV-IIIs have seen extensive use on the front lines of Afghanistan, where they have both achieved important successes and demonstrated key limitations.

The first, C$ 68 million contract, includes kits, modules, and spares for LAV III supplemental armor, as well as the repair and overhaul of their current modules and kits. An additional contract estimated at C$ 13.5 million was also awarded to EODC to provide “an Improvised Explosive Device Protection Kit.” The government release adds that EODC is the sole-source supplier because it owns the intellectual property rights. As the CASR think tank points out, Engineering Office Deisenroth Canada (EODC) is a subsidiary of Germany’s IBD Deisenroth; and IBD Deisenroth’s site makes it clear that Canadian LAVs have already started to use AMAP-IED armor.

AMAP-IED armor
(click to view full)

Deisenroth makes the MEXAS armoring that has outfitted Canadian LAVs and Leopard 1A5 tanks. Its more advanced AMAP line offers greater protection against medium-caliber small arms fire, fragmentation, and rockets. There’s also a dedicated AMAP-IED product, whose combination of materials and spacings provides good side protection against a range of threats that include land mine blasts and even EFP side-attacks. Under-belly armor is also part of the kit and offers additional land mine protection, though the LAV-III’s base design is not optimized against this threat in the same way as the v-hulled MRAPs. Government of Canada release | CASR...