Today we present another article from ARMOR, this one from the May-June 2000 issue. This article is titled “The Merkava Mk.3 Defies its Critics” by David Eshel. Eshel is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the IDF and wrote several articles for ARMOR, a few of which focused on the Merkava. Last month we posted an article by Eshel on the Merkava Mk.4. Back in April we posted an ARMOR article on the Merkava Mk.2 by Richard Ogorkiewicz.
Issue #3 of The Armor Journal released
August 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Issue #3 of the online magazine The Armor Journal has been released. This issue features articles on the BTR-152, the Flakpanzer IV, The Lima Locomotive Works, the Mark VIII Liberty tank, book reviews and part II of an article on the Chieftain tank by Rob Griffin. All in all, a very nicely done magazine that is getting better with each issue. Check out their website here. They have also launched a kickstarter campaign to take the magazine from the digital realm into the world of print.
Russia wins Tank Biathlon
August 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Russian hosted “Tank Biathlon” concluded this past week and perhaps not unsurprisingly, the Russian team took first place. NBC News is reporting that Russia won in all 13 categories to remain undisputed champions in the two-week competition.. The host has also won every single challenge since the event’s inception in 2013. Seventeen countries participated this year, including China, India, Venezuela, Angola and Nicaragua. No Western nation participated and the tanks used in the competition were exclusively T-72B3 tanks with the single exception of China who brought their own Type 96A tank.
Below is a video from RT showing the final relay race event at the Alabino military training grounds.
From the Vault: Snickers, Mr T, and a T-55
August 19, 2015 by 1 Comment
Usually in the “From the Vault” section we post pretty serious stuff, old articles, archive documents or government videos. Today we present something on the lighter side of things. We ran across this British TV advert for Snickers candy bars featuring Mr T and a T-55 tank. We thought it mildly amusing and worth sharing. Enjoy.
T-90A tanks reportedly spotted in Ukraine
August 19, 2015 by 4 Comments
Ukraine Today is reporting that T-90A tanks have been identified operating near Luhansk in east Ukraine. If true, this would be evidence of Russian involvement in the fighting in Donbas. According to the article, Ukrainian activists on August 14-15 published photos of the Russian armor on their facebook page.
Frankly, we are not experts on modern Russian armor so we will leave it to others to correctly identify the exact model of the vehicles in these images. We are not vouching for the accuracy of this article, however we thought it was news worthy and will let the reader make up their own mind. Tank and AFV News is an apolitical site. We do not take any stance in regards to the situation in Ukraine, we are only interested in reporting on news relating directly to tanks and AFVs. Please be advised that comments of a political nature will not be approved.
Article on Lt. Zvika Greengold, Hero of Yom Kippur War
August 19, 2015 by 1 Comment
The site Armored Warfare has posted an article about the exploits of Israeli Yom Kippur war tank commander Lt. Zvika Greengold. Greengold was the commander of a Centurion tank in the Golan facing off against Syrian tank forces. In a series of battles over a 24 period, Greengold and his crew engaged and destroyed numerous Syian vehicles while completely outnumbered. According to the article, it is not known exactly how many tanks Greengold destroyed but the estimates range from 20 to 40. He was awarded with the highest Israeli military award, the Medal of Valor, for his actions. He survived the war and left the military in 1974 with the rank of Captain. He went on to pursue a political career and today at 63 years old he is mayor of the city of Oakum in Israel.
From the Vault: ARMOR article on Depleted Uranium
August 18, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Today we present an article that appeared in the July-August 2000 issue of ARMOR concerning the use of depleted Uranium in tank ammunition and armor. The use of depleted uranium has been a source of controversy, with varying claims made as to it’s safety and environmental impact. This article gives an interesting look at what the US Army was saying about DU in the period between Desert Storm and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Video: Sakal IFV (upgraded BMP-2)
August 16, 2015 by 1 Comment
This video is from the IDEb 2014 conference last year although it seems not to have been posted to the web until recently. The video shows the Czech Sakal IFV, a substantially upgraded BMP-2. Created by Czech arms manufacturer Excalibur Army, this vehicle features a number of improvements over the original BMP-2, details of which are available here.
Here is a video from Excalibur Army showing the exterior and interior of the Sakal.
The Chieftain’s Hatch: Unmanned Patton
August 15, 2015 by 1 Comment
Over at his corner of the World of Tanks forum, Nicholas “The Chieftain” Moran has posted a new article about an attempt to make a remote control tank back in 1956. The project involved an M48A1 tank equipped with a variety of video cameras, remote control devices and electronics at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. A good number of pictures are included in the report. As could be guess given the state of the technology of the day, the experiment was not all together successful. All in all, a very ambitious project considering how new TV technology was in the mid 50’s.
Be sure to check it out at “The Chieftains Hatch.”
Video: Norwegian Tank joins Bike Race
August 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Here is a short video of a Norwegian Leopard II temporarily joining the second leg of the Arctic Bike race.
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