Can see him struggling to equip with armoured vehicles (9)
I believe the answer is:
mechanise
'equip with armoured vehicles' is the definition.
(as in mechanising a military force)
'can see him struggling' is the wordplay.
'struggling' is an anagram indicator (the letters struggle or wriggle into a new form).
'can'+'see'+'him'='canseehim'
'canseehim' is an anagram of 'MECHANISE'.
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for mechanise that I've seen before include "Automate" , "Change from manual to machines" , "Motorize" .)