Foreign Policy.com has posted an article on the rather interesting story of the Ugandan female tankers serving as peace-keepers in Somalia. Hats off to these brave women.
Excerpt:
ARABISKA FORWARD OPERATING BASE, Somalia — It was 9:30 a.m., in a desolate corner of Somalia, and Lt. Cpl. Juliet Uwimana was taking her tank for a test drive. She and the rest of Uganda’s Battle Group 18 had been in the war-torn Lower Shabelle region for only a week, but already the Battle Group was on high alert.
Al-Shabab militants had overrun three similar forward-operating bases in the last year, killing more than 100 soldiers. They had also attacked dozens of other bases, including one just six miles from their post in Arabiska. But this morning was a quiet one — hence Uwimana’s test drive in the T-55 tank. She stood on a metal seat as the machine jerked forward, spewing smoke from its massive treads and rolling through sand so deep it threatened to swallow the vehicle whole.
Uwimana is one of roughly 500 women in the Ugandan contingent of AMISOM, the 17,000-strong African Union force tasked with battling al-Shabab and securing the troubled Horn of Africa nation so that a political process can take root. They serve as drivers, gunners, and technicians in the motorized infantry division — roles that women were barred from in the U.S. military until as recently as last year. But in Somalia, female peacekeepers have been serving in these positions for years.
Female soldiers are to be allowed to join British Army tank crews for the first time.
An interesting article appeared yesterday in 
ANKARA—Turkey’s military and procurement officials are mulling the options of upgrading hundreds of German-made Leopard 2 and U.S.-made M60 main battle tanks.
ROME — Italy’s new tank, the Centauro II, was shown off at a military test range Wednesday, as the country’s Parliament continued to decide whether to fund the vehicle. Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff Lt. Gen. Danilo Errico and Leonardo CEO Mauro Moretti were among guests who gathered Oct. 19 at the Cecchignola Army range on the fringes of Rome to watch a prototype of the wheeled tank being put through its paces. The Army hopes to buy 150 of the vehicles, which is built by a joint venture between Leonardo and Italian truck-maker Iveco.
The 31-year-old was airlifted to hospital in Munich in a helicopter after the crash, police reported on Thursday. The 24-year-old driver of the tank was also lightly injured. The crash happened in the mountainous Tyrol region of Austria, where the soldiers were on exercise on Wednesday evening. The driver reportedly lost his way in thick fog and the tank rolled over several times as it fell down the hill. A recovery crane was brought in to the crash site, and only after it had recovered the tank could the two men be freed.
SHOOT the deranged man driving the stolen tank or risk mass Sydney casualties. That was the strange dilemma facing police officer Ron Mason 30 years ago as he climbed on top of a stolen Army tank parked on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. “There is going to be substantial death — either to motorists or train passengers or even in the harbour — if I didn’t shoot him,” retired detective superintendent Ron Mason told The Daily Telegraph on the incident’s anniversary.
CLINTON Forty-two tons of steel flew through the air Saturday as the Ohio Veterans’ Memorial Park took possession of its newest relic — an M60A1 tank. A crane gently placed the hulking tank onto a decorative rock garden a few paces from the park’s display of a 1963 Cobra AH-1F helicopter. A VFW post in Defiance donated the M60A1 “Patton” tank to the park. “It actually was going to be melted down for scrap because they had no place to put it,” said Ken Noon, president of the not-for-profit Ohio Veterans’ Memorial Park.
came out last month without us doing a book alert on it. This is a 328 page hardcover from Helion and Company authored by Roger Salmon.
Several news sources are reporting that the UK is seriously considering the purchase of 800 German-built Boxer 8×8 multi-role armored vehicle. The deal would be worth 3 billion Pounds, each vehicle costing 4 million Pounds apiece. Reports note that the British MoD are attempting to fast track this purchase by making it a single-source contract, effectively cutting out competitors such as the Patria of Finland, Nexter Systems of France and ST Kinetics from Singapore. The urgency of this purchase is said to be the result of fears of a further drop in the value of the British Pound due to the economic effects of the Brexit. The Boxer would replace the cold-war era FV430 series and the CVR(T) series. Attempts have been made to replace these vehicles several times in the past, resulting in failure due to budget cuts and internal disagreements about requirements. This new plan to purchase the Boxer also has critics. According to 
Tank and AFV News 