2015 August – Tank and AFV News

Tank Chats #9 Whippet – Medium A

August 31, 2015 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

The ninth in a series of short films about some of the vehicles in our collection presented by The Tank Museum’s historian David Fletcher MBE.
While the heavy tanks were designed for direct attacks against enemy trenches the Tank Corps also wanted a lighter, faster tank to work with the cavalry over open country. Designed by Sir William Tritton and built by Fosters of Lincoln the Medium A, or Whippet, was the only such tank to see service with the Tank Corps, starting in 1918.

Also, here is a video of the Whippet in use.

Filed Under: Historical Vehicle News Tagged With: David Fletcher, tank chats, Tank Museum, Whippet Light tank

From the Vault: College Fraternity buys Sherman Tank circa 1957

August 31, 2015 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

While browsing through some old newspaper articles, we stumbled across this amusing headline from the Reading Eagle, Dec 22, 1957, “College boys Buy 33-Ton Sherman Tank.” The article states that a fraternity in Madison WI, some of whom were Korean War veterans, bought the tank for approximately $600 in a scrap auction. Considering what an operational Sherman tank is worth these days (well into six figures), $600 seems like quite a good investment.

Filed Under: From the Vault Tagged With: Fraternity, Sherman tank

T-72 cracked up after hitting brick wall

August 31, 2015 by tankandafvnews 5 Comments

At some point during the recent Tank Biathlon event in Russia a T-72B3 tank hit a concrete wall while travelling at high speed. The tank suffered serious damage, including cracks to the front hull armor plates.

Filed Under: Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: Tank Biathlon, Tank hits wall

The Graveyard of Patton Tanks

August 30, 2015 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

The Times of India has posted an article commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1965 war between India and Pakistan with a focus on the defeat of Pakistani M48 Patton tanks by Indian forces.

Excerpt:

The brave men who had demolished Pakistan’s feared Patton tanks in 1965 are a part of village lore in Asal Uttar, Punjab.

The landscape surrounding the memorial of Abdul Hamid is pretty as a picture postcard. Paddy fields sway in the easy breeze and ashen clouds play hide and seek with the sun. It’s impossible to imagine that 50 years ago the region was the theatre of one of the most intense and decisive tank battles in history.

Asal Uttar and neighbouring villages — Bhura Kuhna, Chima, Amar Kot, Valtoha and Bhura Karimpur — had turned into a battleground for four days. The desperate, do-or-die battle between Pakistan and India began on September 7, 1965.

By the time it was over, Pakistan’s General Ayub Khan’s dream of capturing Amritsar had turned into a nightmare. The combat zone had also become a graveyard for the feared Patton tanks. Pakistan lost 97 tanks in all, including 72 Pattons. Enough to create, for a brief while, an open-air showroom called Patton Nagar in nearby Bhikkiwind.

Read the full article here.

Video of this particular Pakistani M48 on display can be seen in this youtube clip (warning, this clip features some rather poor grammar as well as some inaccurate tank ID)

For those interested in the armored clashes between Indian and Pakistan in the 1965 war, be sure to check out the upcoming book “M48 Patton vs Centurion: INdo-Pakistani War 1965 (Duel)” by David Higgins scheduled for a January 2016 release.

Filed Under: Historical Vehicle News Tagged With: Asal Uttar, Indo-Pak war 1965, Pakistani M48

Book Alert: Tip of the Spear

August 30, 2015 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

Stackpole Publishing has announced a November 1, 2015 release for the upcoming book ‘Tip of the Spear: German Armored Reconnaissance in Action in World War II” by Robert Edwards. This is a 528 page hardcover volume with 500 black and white photos as well as a 32-page color insert. This book follows Edward’s “Scouts Out: A History of German Armored Reconnaissance Units in World War II” published in 2014. Robert Edwards is a retired U. S. Army armor officer who has translated numerous books from German to English. Most notably for armor fans, he translated Otto Carius biography “Tigers in the Mud.”

Publishers Description:

During World War II, German armored reconnaissance laid the groundwork–often through small-unit actions–for the stunning tank and infantry operations that made the German military famous. Robert Edwards’s follow-up to Scouts Out, the first extensive treatment of the subject in English, focuses on the battles and personalities found in ranks of the Waffen-SS, Luftwaffe, and other divisions.

– Covers armored reconnaissance in Poland, France in 1940, the Balkans, North Africa, the Eastern Front, Italy, and the Western Front

– Numerous firsthand accounts and after-action reports

– Analysis of recon operations, from tactics and doctrine to vehicles and commanders

Filed Under: Book News, New Book Alerts Tagged With: German Armored Reconnaissance, Robert Edwards, Stackpole, Tip of the Spear

Overlord’s Blog on Chobham armor

August 30, 2015 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

Over at Overlord’s Blog, contributor David Lister has written a nice summary of the history of Chobham armor. Here is a brief excerpt:

First things first, Chobham armour isn’t an accurate term, it’s like a family name for modern composites. It’s often used by the Press to describe the concept if not the exact detail to its readers, nearly all of whom couldn’t tell a Tiger from a Sherman reliably. Composite armours are nothing new. In the 1930’s Vickers designed some of its tanks with thin layers of high quality armour plate over thicker layers of much softer quality armour. Or in World War One some British tanks were tested with oak planking as backing to their steel armour. If you push back as far as the medieval period, chain mail and the padded jacket was technically a composite armour. However the post war composites were generally designed to defeat warheads, such as siliceous-core armour, which was great against HEAT warheads but was pretty useless against kinetic energy rounds.

Read the entire article here.

Also, be sure to check out this article that Lister links to in the piece. This is a rather amusing newspaper clip from 1980 showing how wildly inaccurate some of the criticisms of the XM-1 were at the time of it’s entry into service. It should be noted that Robert Icks, the first person quoted in the article, was one of the most knowledgeable tank experts in the US at the time this article was written.

Filed Under: Historical Vehicle News Tagged With: Burlington armor, Chobham armor, david lister, Overlord's blog

Video: China’s T-99 battle tanks at V-day parade

August 29, 2015 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

CCTV recently posted this video of Chinese T-99 tanks on parade as part of the Victory Day celebration. According to the video description, “China’s T-99 main battle tanks will be one of the main attractions at the September 3 military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the victory of China’s war against Japanese aggression and the world anti-Fascist war.”

Full Article here.

Filed Under: Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: china, T-99

Spotlight on: Oryx Blog

August 29, 2015 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

For those looking for images and information on armored vehicles in current battle zones such as Syria, Libya and Iraq, be sure to check out the Oryx Blog. While the blog is not exclusively devoted to armored vehicles, there is quite a bit of content there on the topic. Here are some posts that will be of particular interest to the AFV enthusiast.

Syria’s Steel Beasts: The T-62

Syria’s Steel Beasts: The T-72

Syria’s Steel Beasts: The T-55

Iranian fighting vehicles

The Republican Guard’s armour upgrades: Products of a Four Year War

From Russia with Love, Syria’s BTR-82As

Syria’s TURMS-T equipped T-72s

Filed Under: Historical Vehicle News, Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: ISIS, Libya, Oryx blog, Syria

Oshkosh Defense wins JLTV program

August 28, 2015 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

Big news while we were away for a few days! It has been announced that Oshkosh Defense has been awarded by the US Department of Defense the highly coveted Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program. JLTV is intended to partially replace the HUMVEE that has been in service with the US Army since the 1980’s. Oshkosh beat out competitors AM General and Lockheed Martin for the contract, reported to be worth 6.7 billion dollars. The Army and Marine Corps is are expected to buy 16,901 vehicles as part of this initial contract, with a potential for 49,000 vehicles purchased by 2040. Production is expected to start next year and the first vehicles are expected to enter service with the USMC in 2018.

For more information on this story, we recommend this article from Defense News.

Here is the link to the JLTV page on the Oshkosh website.

Promotional video from Oshkosh showing their JLTV:

Filed Under: Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: JLTV, Oshkosh

From the Vault: PS Magazine article on M56 Scorpion

August 28, 2015 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

For those that watched the “Inside the Hatch” video in the post previous to this one, you may have heard Nick Moran read a quote from a PS Magazine Article on the operation of the M56 Scorpion. We figured that was as good an excuse as any to hunt down the original article and post it here for everyone to read. This article comes from issue # 76 published in 1959. For those interested in the M56 Scorpion, rumor has it that next year Osprey will be releasing a New Vanguard series book titled “M-50 Ontos and M-56 Scorpion 1956-1970, US Tank Destroyers of the Vietnam War” by Ken Estes.