From the Vault: 1944 British Report on T-34 and KV-1

August 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment

At Scribd there are posted two British 1944 reports examining a Soviet T-34 and a KV-1 tank.  There are several interesting aspects to these reports.  The British report writers seem relatively impressed with the Russian vehicles, stating that:

The design shows a clear-headed appreciation of the essential of the an effective tank and the requirements of war, duly adjusted to the particular characteristics of the Russian soldier, the terrain and the manufacturing facilities available.  When it is considered how recently Russia has become industrialized and how great a proportion of the industrialized regions have been over-run by the enemy, with consequent loss of hurried evacuation of plant and workers, the design and production of such useful tanks in such great numbers stands out as an engineering achievement of the first magnitude.

For those that like to obsess over armor, the reports include fairly detailed diagrams noting the thickness of armor for each vehicle, including Brinell hardness figures.  Click on cover image to go to the Scribd page.

T-34 cover kv cover

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More photos of 80’s era Soviet “Buntar” tank revealed

August 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment

The Russian news source Sputnik is reporting that “the image of a top-secret Soviet tank of the late-1980s appeared on the Web earlier this week, along with a short list of its technical characteristics.”  The article notes that photographs of the Buntar (Rebel) tank have appeared on several online forums, including recently posted pictures of the the vehicles modular armor, an antiaircraft gun placed under the commander’s seat and fiber optic observation instruments instead  of the conventional prism-type ones.  The article goes on to note:

Online forum participants all agree that, back in its day, the Buntar was a major breakthrough in the field of tank design.

The Buntar tank was designed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, as part of an effort to develop a new generation of battle tanks for the Soviet armed forces.

A number of prototypes were built as part of the program, launched in the early 1980s with two-stroke diesel engines, gas-turbine engines, T-64 chassis, electric transmission and two- and three-man crew configurations.

The year 1987 saw the advent of a principally new concept, built around 152mm smoothbore cannon.

Many of the tank designs developed as part of that program are still classified.

Unfortunately, the article does not contain any of the pictures that it mentions.  Combing though the forums, we have been able to assemble a photo gallery of the “Buntar”, also known at Object 490A.

Forum member “LooSeR” at the Sturgeon’s House online forum provides this description of the Object 490A Buntar.

 Object 490A was most likely build in some kind of working prototype, but how far it reached is unknown. Project was not far from Leningrad Kirov factory programm to create new tank of the future – Object 299 / Project “Leader 2000-2005”. New tank had new turret with autoloader in the middle, 2 crewmembers in the low-profile turret, deiver in the front. Gun was mounted externally.

Tank is armed with 152 mm cannon with all 34 rounds in special 2-stage autoloader. 2 stage were 2 mechanized ammoracks with 12 rounds each, while first stage loading device had capacity of 10 rounds. RoF was expected to reach 14 rounds per minute.

FCS “Argus” had multichannel sights with TV, Thermal imager and (possibly) radar channels. Information from all channales was collected by computer, which generated picture for a crew, based on all data from TV, TI and Radar, which was expected to give very good perfomance in bad weather, smoke, dust enviroment + active jamming from enemy. FCS was expected to locate and remember positions of enemy targets, showing them to crew in easy-to-read display/image. On board computer will give information about location of the tank, and status of different systems.

Engine was planned to be 6TD, with later modification to 6TD-3 (1500 HP). Overall, it is rumored that tank would had:

  • Weight of 50 tons

  • Crew of 3

  • 1200-1500 HP engine and ~28 hp/t power to weight ratio

  • More than 75 km/h max speed on road and 50-60 km/h max speed offroad

  • 0.8 kg/sm2 ground pressure

  • 152 mm gun with 34 rounds in fully-mechanized ammorack

  • Protection against APFSDS in frontal projection – at least 1200 in RHA eq. (without ERA)

  • Protection against HEAT in frontal projection – at least 1800 in RHA eq. (without ERA)

If anyone has any corrections or additions we can add to this post, please feel free to contact us or comment.

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“Mephisto” A7V goes on display in Canberra

July 31, 2015 by 2 Comments

6654296-3x2-700x467According to ABC (Australia), Mephisto, a unique weapon of war and the only surviving German A7V tank from World War I, has gone on display at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra as part of centenary commemorations.  Panzerkampfwagen 506, known as Mephisto, was part of the initial German tank detachment which participated in the first German tank attack at St Quentin in France.  In its second and final battle at Villers-Bretonneux, the Mephisto tank was disabled and abandoned on the battlefield.  Now the rare tank has been moved temporarily to Canberra to mark the 100th anniversary of significant WWI battles.

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Russia to host “World Championship Tank Biathlon 2015”

July 29, 2015 by Leave a Comment

The Diplomat is reporting that Russia will host the World Tank Biathlon Championship starting on August 1.  This competition, including tank crews from 17 countries, will take place a the Alabino firing range in the suburbs of Moscow.  Participating countries include Belarus, China, Egypt, India, Nicaragua and Tajikistan as well as others.  All participants save for China will be using T-72B3 tanks.  The Chinese crews will be using their own ZTZ-96A MBT.  Last year, Angola, Armenia, Belarus, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Serbia, and Venezuela participated in the various competitions with Russia coming in first, Armenia second, and China third.  Next to the tank biathlon, there will be a total of 12 other challenges including the “Masters of Air Defense,” “Masters of Artillery Fire,” as well as “Airborne Platoon” competitions. Russia is the only country to participate in all 13 events, according to the event’s website.

Full article here.

Video from Tank Biathlon 2014.

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Armata to be showcased at arms expo

July 29, 2015 by Leave a Comment

rae2015International Business Times is reporting that the new Russian T-14 Armata tank will be showcased in September at the Russia Arms Expo in Nizhny Tagil.  The expo will run from September 9 through 12, with the Armata being on display on the second day.  According to the article, the manufacturer of the Armata noted “As for the demonstration of the Armata, we’ll certainly show it. This will be either a closed show or Armata will be placed behind a glass anti-glare contour.”  The expo will run Sept. 9 to 12. Previous expos have featured 20,000 visitors, 470 exhibitors and delegations from 40 countries. The Armata tank, which had long been cloaked in secrecy, will likely be a major draw.

Full Article here.

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Michael Wittmann’s headstone stolen

July 29, 2015 by Leave a Comment

11665542_905219942870076_8661211230239328796_nThe Times of Europe is reporting that the headstone of Nazi SS Panzer ace Michael Wittmann has been stolen from a German cemetery in Normandy.  According to the Times, the theft was discovered by an unnamed German national living in the town of La Cambe, where the unsecured cemetery is situated, “a few days ago”.  The website Argunners had more information on the story.  They note that there has been a series of Nazi headstone thefts.  Walter Model’s headstone was also recently stolen.

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USMC set to pick two bidders from field of five ACV options

July 27, 2015 by Leave a Comment

iveco_superav1Jane’s is reporting that the USMC will soon select two designs from the current field of five options for the AVC (Amphibious Combat Vehicle) program.  According to the article, the five proposed designs for ACV have come from Advanced Defense Vehicle Systems (ADVS), a relatively small company from Michigan; BAE Systems and Iveco with a version of the Superav; General Dynamics with a variant of its Piranha; Lockheed Martin offering a yet-unknown bid (it originally teamed with Patria Land Systems to offer a variant of the AMV called Havoc but separated earlier this year); and STK and SAIC with a version of the Terrex.  All of these options are 8×8 wheeled vehicles, as opposed to the tracked Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle which was cancelled in 2011.  These wheeled options also feature slower in water speeds than the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.  According to the Jane’s article, the qualifications for the ACV as far as water speed are “the capacity to achieve water mobility performance on par with or greater than the existing assault amphibian (the AAV7A1 Assault Amphibious Vehicle.)”

Full article here.

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Canadian War Museum: “Awesome Tanks” event

July 27, 2015 by Leave a Comment

On Sunday July 26 the Canadian War Museum hosted an event called Awesome Tanks.  This event included the running of several of the museums tanks, including an Scorpion light tank and an M4 Sherman (Grizzly.)  Also involved in the event were the Ottawa Valley Amour Modellers Association, who provided over 100 models to display for the event.

Footage of a Grizzly tank being run at the event:

Here is an video showing some of the tanks and armored vehicles on display at the Canadian War Museum

And here is a video showing the restoration of a Panther tank at the Canadian War Museum.

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From the Vault: ARMOR Magazine article on Merkava 4

July 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Today we present an article by Lt. Col David Eshel from the Jan-Feb 2003 issue of ARMOR on the Merkava 4.

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Book Alert: Reprint of ‘Firepower” by Hunnicut is planned

July 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Nicholas “The Chieftain” Moran has posted on his facebook account that his employer WarGaming is planning a World of Tanks reprint edition of the book “Firepower” by R. P.  Hunnicutt.  This book is long out of print and typically commands several hundred dollars for used copies in good condition.  Here is the post:

11755787_988543301185451_5192717826878223814_nOK, so we’re suffering from a bit of a dilemma. We’re hoping to release a WoT Edition of a book. Improved on the original a bit, we’ve sent them recent scans of photos from the archives, foreword and some addenda by myself, and so on.

The idea is that we do a single print run, and pass on the economy of scale to you guys. So, the more that are sold, the cheaper it is for everyone. (We also don’t care much about the book profit, so that’s a cost reduction too. The bottom line is that it’ll never be cheaper). Fine in theory. The catch: Usually these low-volume books are made ‘print-on-demand’, which may be a slightly lesser quality, is certainly more expensive in volume, but is decidedly faster.To do this right, highest quality printing, lowest cost, etc, has a long turnaround time from the printer. In theory, if we went by “Announce on Day 1. Close orders Day 30. Tally number of orders. Print that many”, it could take up to three months between when someone clicks “Checkout, take my credit card info” to when the book is shipped. I don’t understand the technology/process, that’s just what the publisher has told me. In effect, it’s a pre-order. For ease, we may go with a fixed price, and then add gold codes of a value to make up the difference.

The alternative is that we take a wild guess as to how many might be sold, order that many in advance, and hope not too many people get disappointed (and that we didn’t wildly over-estimate). Those X many people will get their books pretty much immediately. We have absolutely no idea how big a number “X” should be, we don’t really have a basis for comparison.

So, on the basis that we want to get the most people to benefit for the least cost, the question becomes “Just how patient are you guys? Are you willing to wait several months for this?” My personal opinion is that anyone who’s willing to pay dollars for this particular book is also willing to wait, but you never know, especially when our customers are used to clicking ‘purchase’ and having their goods deposited in their account within a few minutes.

Photo is prototype. Expect the final product to look a little different (Author’s name on spine, etc)

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