News for all things related to Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles
This video of a T-90 cardboard target tank showed up on youtube a few days ago. These target tanks are being used by the US 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment and their Bulgarian allies as they practice firing main gun rounds and small arms and crew-served weapons in Bulgaria at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria, June 25.
Edit: Several views have pointed out that this vehicle resembles a T-72M1 much more than it does a T-90. We agree with them.
The Tank Museum at Bovington has posted another installment in their “Matilda Diaries” video series chronicling the restoration of the museum’s Matilda II infantry tank. Museum staff Bob Darwood talks about the tank’s complex but practical epicyclic gearbox, how it works and what its restoration involves.
Overlord’s Blog has a new article about a WW2 US Army private in the pacific campaign that engaged and destroyed a platoon of Japanese tanks by himself. For this action, PFC Dirk John Vlug was awarded a Medal of Honor.
Article excerpt:
In the afternoon five Type 95 Ha-Go tanks approached the roadblock. The lead tank was spewing out smoke in an attempt to conceal the other four. As they approached the roadblock they began to rake the US positions with their machine guns and the 37mm main guns. PFC Vlug grabbed his M9 Bazooka and charged the Japanese tanks.
Halting a short distance away from the lead tank he fired his first round. The missile streaked into the tank and soon it began to spew out black smoke as it burnt. PFC Vlug must not have been taking concealment as both the Japanese and his own side could see him clearly. The crew of the second tank began to dismount to deal with this anti-tank threat. PFC Vlug ripped out his pistol and opened fire, killing the tank commander. The fact he was engaging with his pistol gives you an idea how close he was to the enemy. The remaining two tank crew remounted their vehicle, but before they could move PFC Vlug fired his second rocket, killing the crew.
An article from the Turkish Daily Sabah is calming that Turkish civilians protesting the attempted coup attempt were able to stop Turkish army tanks by stuffing their clothes into the exhaust outlets of the vehicles. From the article:
A chef at a restaurant in Istanbul, Danyal Şimşek, and the restaurant owner, Mehmet Şükrü Kintaş, told Anadolu Agency in Istanbul Thursday that they stopped almost 10 tanks this way.
The duo firstly set up a barricade with their cars to halt the tanks, and then stuffed the exhausts with their clothes.
Civilians brought many soldiers who were in the tanks to the police, as the soldiers had to leave after the exhaust gases filled the interior.
Kintaş added that the pro-coup soldiers had been headed to the airport.
“How can we stop this tank?” he said he asked the chef. A nearby mechanic then told them, “If you fill these exhausts, the tanks will stop.”
Kintaş continued, “We took our clothes off. Everyone gave us their clothes and t-shirts. We plugged the exhausts with them and covered the top of the filters. So the tanks had to stop in two or three minutes.”
Yesterday we posted video of a Stryker with a 30mm gun turret being demonstrated at Ft. Benning. Here is an unclassified document showing the layout of such a vehicle.
This video from the Fort Benning Youtube channel shows two new 30mm weapons systems being demonstrated. These cannons are part of the Army’s efforts to boost firepower in it’s reconnaissance units.
Last week we had posted about a T-34 that was recently recovered from the Don River in Russia. Here is a video showing the recovery operation.
Here we see a T-62 that didn’t quite make it onto a bridge. Opps.
Here is a round up of AFV related news stories. As always, click on the title link to go to the full article.
“So what do you think of France’s new super tank, the Leclerc?” a retired colonel in the French army’s logistical brigade jokingly asked me in 2002. “You know, the one we paid a fortune for and that we’ll never use in battle.”
So far his prediction has proved true. The French military has deployed light armored vehicles and air power in its combat missions in Afghanistan, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Central African Republic and Mali.
Do you need a Soviet-designed surface-to-air missile defense system to deter your neighbors? If so, a small U.S.-based arms broker named the Redfish Trading Company is offering to sell a complete Buk-MB complex—a Belarusian modification of the original Soviet-era SA-11 Gadfly air defense system—to a paying customer. The emailed sales pitch came with a detailed brochure outlining the technical characteristics of the weapon and an animation from Almaz-Antey showing off the capabilities of Russia’s layered integrated air defense system.
STUTTGART, Germany — U.S. Army Europe will occupy a base in northwestern Germany to store tanks and other combat-ready equipment, which is flowing into Europe as part of a Pentagon plan to position more firepower on the continent. In October, USAREUR will move into the Tower Barracks facility in Duelmen, where for years a small British unit was stationed. With the United Kingdom’s plan to vacate the post this year, USAREUR requested access to the facility from the German government, which obliged.
Russian Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) scientific-research corporation has halted the deliveries of armoured vehicles to Iraq due to delayed payments last year, according to the UVZ`s 2015 annual report. “In 2015, the UVZ Corporation stopped the shipping of the defense production to the No.356 customer (Iraq) due to delayed payments. The contracts signed with the No.012 (Algeria) and the No.356 (India) customers were implemented in strict accordance with the terms of the signed documents. The export sales of the UVZ’s defense production increased by 35% last year (compared to 2014),” TASS reported, citing the UVZ document.
Senior U.S. Army maneuver officials recently took part in a firepower demonstration of reconnaissance vehicle prototypes less than two months after the service killed the Light Reconnaissance Vehicle effort. Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, along with leaders from the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, attended the June 15 live-fire event at Benning’s Red Cloud range to demonstrate the firepower potential of mounting 30mm cannons on different recon vehicle prototypes.
The U.S. Army’s M-2 IFVs (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) fighting vehicle proved to be the workhorse of the 2003 Iraq campaign. But that came at a cost that was not anticipated. Like most armored vehicles, the M-2 runs on metal tracks that have rubber pads attached to save wear and tear on roads and give better traction. Naturally, the rubber pads, as well as the entire track, wears out. Normally, a heavily used M-2 might need a new set of tracks once a year. In 2003 there were nearly 700 M-2ss in Iraq, and many needed a new tracks every few months. A set of tracks is normally good for 1,300-1,600 kilometers of travel. To keep the M-2ss in Iraq supplied with replacement tracks, the army’s only depot that refurbishes worn tracks (about 80 percent of the track is reused) has had to go from one shift a day, five days a week, to 24/7 production.
In April 2011, the appearance of heavy armor indicated that a violent crackdown had become a full-fledged war.
First use: April 24, 2011. Syrian Army troops drove tanks into dissenting neighborhoods in the southern city of Dara’a, killing about 25 on the first day. By this time, unrest had spread to about 20 cities in Syria, and the appearance of heavy armor indicated that a violent crackdown had become a full-fledged war.
Three days ago we posted a picture of a Turkish man laying down in front of a Turkish Army Leopard I tank during the failed coup attempt in that country last week. At the time, we had no information about the man in front of the tank. We now know, thanks to an article by the Daily Mail, that the man in the photo is Metin Dogan, a 40 year old medical student. Those interested can read the Daily Mail piece here. Here is another picture of Metin Dogan refusing to let the tank pass.
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