LordKipferl

No.
 
Nope, it's not. It's good against hard cover as well as light AFVs though. And remember that  a few AFVs other than "light APC"s have some aspects/plates that are as thinly armoured as the best halftrack armour. Sides and rears of light armoured cars may be vulnerable.

No there is no unlicensing needed. In fact it will remember that you already activated after your reinstall.

Sometimes OOB issues (at least at the editor/force picker end of things) are borked by incorrect upgrade sequences (not patching before upgrading, say). You shouldn't get that sort of thing with the master installer though.

Horror stories like this have put me off upgrading which is a shame.

Are you playing with a fully upgraded and updated game?  If so then this may be an issue with the campaign itself due to it being designed with CMx2 1.0.  There have been a number of changes to CMBN's TO&Es from the various patches and upgrades that have unfortunately created "bugs" such as missing or extra equipment/vehicles and OOB issues in older campaigns/scenarios. 
 
Since all the scenarios/campaigns for CMBN (and other CMx2 games) are user "donated," BF doesn't fix them when it patches or upgrades the game.  It leaves the decision to update a scenario/campaign to the campaign designer and/or the players.  Sadly, a number of the earlier released campaigns have some TO&E issues due to their not being updated.  The campaigns are particularly problematic as to being updated due to how they are structured.  Apparently, it would require a lot of work.