Armour in Canada: Bison Armoured Vehicle

Bison Armoured Vehicle

(DND Photo)

Bison Armoured Vehicle in service with ISAF in Afghanistan, c 2004.

The Bison Armoured Vehicle is an eight-wheeled armoured vehicle originally designed as an infantry section carrier. Today, the Bison Armoured Vehicle is an adaptable vehicle with variants that support the Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) III. Canada adopted the Bison as a mortar vehicle in the 1990s.

(Author Photo)

Bison Armoured Vehicle, Velika Kladusa, Bosna-Herzegovina, July 1997.

(CF Photo)

Bison Maintenance Vehicle, call sign 88A, Kabul Airfield, Afghanistan, 2003, with a Lockheed CC-130 Hercules in the background.

(DND Photo)

Bison Maintenance Vehicle servicing another AFV.

(Author Photo)

Bison Armoured Personnel Carrier, 5 Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, New Brunswick, 24 Nov 2016.

The Bison is an armoured personnel carrier based on the 8x8 MOWAG Piranha II platform, and was produced by General Motors Diesel Division (now General Dynamics Land Systems Canada) in London, Ontario.  They are primarily operated by the Reserve Force of the Canadian Army, but have been adopted by the Regular Force as well.

By starting with a basic Piranha II, the Bison design process took only 7 days.  The Bison differs from the baseline Piranha II 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 began upgrading the Bison between 2002 and 2008.  The upgrades include improved engine power, new torsion bars, fittings for add-on armour, air conditioning, and the VRS respirator system for NBC defence.

The Bison’s rail mount system allows it to be adapted to a variety of roles without any major modifications.  199 Bisons used by the Canadian Forces, have been adapted for use as armoured personnel carriers (original configuration - mostly replaced in this role by the LAV III), 81-mm mortar carriers, ambulances (32), Mobile Repair Team (MRT) vehicles (32), Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARV) (32), Electronic Warfare (EW) vehicles (25), and Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Reconnaissance vehicles (4). (Wikipedia)

(Author Photo)

Bison MRT, storage compound, CFB Borden.

Author with Bison Armoured Vehicle, Kabul, Afghanistan, 19 May 04.

(DND Photo)

Bison Armoured Vehicle, Kandahar, Afghanistan,