Ottawa unveiled a plan on Tuesday to spend $1.2 billion on the acquisition of 2,300 new medium-sized logistics trucks and associated equipment for the Canadian military.

"Without this, the Canadian Forces cannot accomplish their tasks at home or abroad. We must make the Forces self-reliant by giving them the tools they need to succeed," Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said at the Canadian Forces Base Val Cartier near Quebec City on Tuesday.

"It is only in this way that Canada can be more secure at home and have a greater impact abroad," he said.

The new vehicles, which will replace a fleet of trucks that came into service in the early 1980s, will be used by the regular and reserve forces.

The project aims to procure approximately:

• 1,500 standard military pattern vehicles with up to 300 trailers;
• 800 commercial vehicles adapted for military use;
• 1,000 specially equipped vehicles kits, such as mobile kitchens, offices and medical or dental stations;
• 300 armour protection systems.

"The introduction of these modern and reliant vehicles will dramatically improve the capability of our land forces," O'Connor said.

The defence minister was also quick to stress that Ottawa would follow a competitive procurement process to select the contractor for the new truck fleet.

"The entire procurement process will be fair, open and transparent and will be in line with the federal Accountability Act that was passed by the House of Commons last week," he said.

Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais of Commander Canada Command welcomed the plan, which is the second of $15 billion in planned military spending announcements this week.

"These new trucks will ensure the lifeline of supply for front-line troops will continue," Dumais said. "This fleet will continue the extremely important support role when the current MLVW fleet reaches the end of its life cycle."

The Defence Ministry also added that for every contract dollar awarded, the contract will commit a corresponding dollar in economic activity in Canada.

"We expect contractors to deliver one dollar in high-quality economic activity in Canada for every dollar they are awarded as part of this project," Industry Minister Maxime Bernier said in a written statement.

"This economic benefits package will mean billions in long-term business activity in Canada."

Defence analyst Scott Taylor believes the acquisition is long overdue.

"The existing truck fleet is now up into its 24th or 25th year of service," said Taylor, editor in chief of military magazine Esprit de Corps.

Taylor told CTV Newsnet some of the aging trucks in the existing fleet underwent upgrades costing $35,000 to $80,000 so that they could remain in service.

"No one in their right mind puts 80,000 into a 25-year-old truck, knowing that you're about to replace it, so of course finally we've got a bit of common sense."