

The Canadian government wants a stealth snowmobile. Just, apparently, because.

It's not as if Canada has any alpine enemies to sneak up on with shadowy, frigid cavalry. But that's not going to stop the Canadian Department of National Defence from spending a half million dollars on a prototype.

The secret to the intended stealth capabilities of the snowmobile: a hybrid engine and a quieter electric motor. According to a solicitation from the department, the vehicle has to be able to travel 15 kilometers in its electric mode at an average speed of 20 kilometers per hour. Alas, hybrid snowmobiles aren't commercially available yet, but the department wants a prototype model by March 31.

Why Canada needs a stealth snowmobile is a question best not asked. The solicitation laments that current snowmobile engines are too loud for "missions where covertness may be required," but doesn't bother to list any.

Maybe it shouldn't come as much of a surprise. The Canadian government has been bolstering its military strength in its arctic regions – which must come as a jarring contrast for Canadian veterans of Afghanistan. While there's been breathless media hype about a Coming Arctic War, that hypothetical conflict is a naval struggle borne of new northern sea lanes, created by global warming. Snowmobiles need not apply.

Indeed, a historian interviewed by the Canadian Press declared himself "at a loss to know" why Canada needed silent alpine cruisers. "Someone within the Canadian Forces perceives the need to actually have substantive capabilities, rather than simply acting symbolically in the region," said the historian, Whitney Lackenbauer of the University of Waterloo. Why these capabilities would be more than symbolic in the face of a non-existent threat went unexplored.

So let this be a warning. Any invaders on the sacred tundra of Canada will be routed before they even know Canada's valiant sons have zoomed up on them. And chances are, the first Canadian forces to drive the stealthmobiles will be from Alpha Flight.

Photo: Flickr/Sonnysideup

See Also:- How the U.S. Wins the Coming Arctic War