Haaretz is reporting that the IDF, after extensive field tests to explore the issue, has decided that female soldiers cannot serve in the tank corps. Among the difficulties identified in the tests were physical discrepancies between the women and men in tasks necessary within the combat compartment of the Merkava tank, particularly the loader position. In addition, evaluators examined the level of intimacy required among soldiers who are forced to spend days at a time locked into a small cabin while on operational duty. The privacy of a female combat soldier could at times be severely compromised under such conditions, the IDF found.
Israeli Defense Forces decides “No women in Tank Corps”
May 18, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Jane’s 360: Russia’s Armor Revolution
May 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
IHS Jane’s 360 has posted a fairly detailed article analyzing the latest developments in Russian AFV design. Declaring the new line of Russian vehicles “a revolution” in AFV design, the article uses photos from the May 9 Victory Day parade to draw some new conclusions regarding some of the technical details of these vehicles.
Paraded uncovered for the first time on 9 May in Moscow, Russia’s new range of armoured vehicles represent not only the biggest change in the country’s armoured vehicle families since the 1970s but also a new design ethos.
While the vehicles’ designs partly involve radical rather than revolutionary innovation, the scale and ambition of the change they embody is nothing short of a revolution. Together, the Armata, Kurganets, Boomerang, and Koalitsiya and other vehicles on show will replace nearly all Russia’s existing vehicle families as, remarkably, Russia is attempting to replace all its main armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) families at the same time.
Armata to have 152mm gun?
May 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Telegraph newspaper is reporting that the Russian T-14 “Armata” tank may be equipped with a 152mm cannon in the future. The Armata made its first public appearance last weekend at the Russian Victory Day parade in Moscow. Thus far the Armata has appeared equipped with a 125mm gun. The news of a potential 152mm armed Armata comes from Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s hawkish deputy prime minister with responsibility for the defence industry. According to the Telegraph article, he told the Izvestiya newspaper that “We have a shell for this tank that will burn through a metre of steel, we’re going to put it on the Armata.”
For those who would like to read more about Armata and can A) read Russian or B) don’t mind trying to read computer generated translations of Russian, here are a couple interesting links:
Tank driving fail: Merkava edition
May 13, 2015 by 1 Comment
This clip was posted to youtube today. It shows an Israeli Merkava being driven over a ledge, causing the tank to roll upside down.
Video: Otokar Altay main battle tank
May 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Jane’s has released a video of Christopher Foss describing the final prototype of the Turkish Otokar Altay main battle tank at the IDEF 2015 conference.
Victory Day Parade causes 4 million rubles worth of damage to Moscow street
May 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Moscow Times is reporting that the recent Victory Day parade in Moscow caused up to 4 million rubles of damage to the pavement of the pedestrian square in front of the Kremlin. Known as Manezh Square, this pedestrian thoroughfare saw 194 vehicles, including the new Armata tank, roll over it multiple times during the parade and rehearsals. It should be noted that while 4 million rubles sounds like an impressive figure, it actually comes out to a about $79,000 dollars.
BMPT a no-show at Victory Day Parade
May 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The blog War is Boring has posted a new article asking the question “has the Kremlin fallen out of love with it’s killer BMPT?” The article notes that the BMPT Terminator was absent in the recent military parade, a sign that it may have fallen out of favor with the Russian Military. The article reports that the Terminator may be superseded by the T-15 Armata. The article quotes tank expert Steven Zaloga who makes some interesting comments regarding the new family of vehicles introduced at the Victory Day Parade.
“The Russians are not leaping ahead” with their new armored fleet either, Zaloga noted. “This is an attempt to catch up.” Zaloga said bluntly. “A lot of this stuff is really stale.”
Read the full blog post here.
Analysis of new Armata and Kurganets vehicles
May 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Defense Update has posted some articles analyzing the new Russian armored vehicles displayed on the May 9 Victory Day Parade. Be advised that these articles are somewhat speculative in nature. Defense Update notes that the analysis will be updated throughout the week as new information comes to light.
New Russian Armor – First Analysis: Armata.
The Russian Ministry of Defense today publicly presented the first members of the Armata family of heavy armored vehicles – the T-14 main battle tank and T-15 armored infantry fighting vehicle. The two vehicles are designated to become the spearhead of the armored formations of the Russian Army – replacing the T-72, BMP-2 and MT-LB-based platforms. In Armata-centered formations, these two combat vehicles will be augmented by additional variants that have not yet been unveiled, which could include a combat engineer and counter-mine vehicle (BREM), support platforms mounting automatic cannons, missiles (Terminator) and thermobaric rockets (TOS), self-propelled guns (Coalitzia), bridge layers (MTU), and armored recovery vehicles (ARV).
New Russian Armor – First Analysis Part II: Kurganets-25
Kurganets-25 family of armored combat vehicles includes two members of a new family of medium- armored vehicles designed to replace the BMP-2 and MT-LB platforms in mechanized formations of the Russian army. Like their predecessors, the new vehicles have amphibious capability, enabling uninterrupted mobility across rivers. The Kurganets is manufactured by Kurganmashzavod, the plant that produced the previous generations of BMP-1, BMP-2 and BMP-3 vehicles.
Victory Day Parade footage
May 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
On May 9, the much anticipated Victory Day parade took place in Moscow, showcasing several new armored vehicles of the Russian Military. Photos and details of these vehicles have been leaking into the press over the past couple months, generating a good bit of speculation and discussion. The official description and pictures of these new vehicles is available here from the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Video of the entire parade:
Here is footage of the T-14 Armata:
Of course, an event as big as the Victory Day Parade is bound to have a few glitches happen. Here is video of a Russian tracked missile carrier briefly catching fire as it parades down the street.
Tank loading fail
May 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment
This video appeared on Youtube earlier this week. It shows what happens when an attempt to load a 2S3 Akatsiya self propelled gun onto a tank carrier goes wrong.
Tank and AFV News 