News for all things related to Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles
TAJ (The Armor Journal) has posted a few new photo galleries in their “Walkarounds” section. These include the the T28 Super Heavy Tank at Ft. Benning, the T-55AM at Kubinka Tank Museum and the T-35 at Kubinka. Also they recently updated the gallery for the Kubinka located Panther Ausf.G.
Click on the photos below to go to the gallery at the TAJ website.
From the youtube channel of The Tank Museum:
Part Two of the Matilda Diaries explores the sub-assemblies which power the turret, cooling system, drivers sight and hydraulics system. Throughout the course of this series The Tank Museum aims to lift the lid on the overhaul of its Second World War Matilda II tank. Viewers will have a chance to see the challenges involved with the project overall, as well as the nitty gritty of dismantling and reassembling a 70 year old vehicle.
Our photo of the day comes from a listing on RELICSWW2 of a Panzer V Panther motordeck set of ventilation grills and maintance hatch with armor plate. You can purchase this lovely item for the Panzer lover in your life for the bargain price of only $19,999!
This video appeared on youtube yesterday showing a T-34/85 moving out at Saumur Tank Museum for the Concours International de Maquettes 2016.
Task and Purpose.com posted an interesting interview today with a former US Army M1A2 SEP Abrams tank commander:
World War II was arguably the heyday of tank warfare; however, tankers have continued to serve on the frontlines in the Global War on Terror, particularly during the early years of the Iraq War.
While infantry provides the boots on the ground for combat operations, armor, and in particular, tanks, bring the muscle.
In addition to the main gun, which is a devastating cannon that can level a city block with ease, the M1 Abrams boasts a host of other weapons, including a coaxial machine gun, the loader’s machine gun, and the tank commander’s .50-cal.
The Army’s M1 Abrams is typically crewed by four men: the driver, the gunner, the ammunition loader, and a tank commander. Because of the confined quarters of a tank, its crews are notoriously tight knit, and like any unit that spends endless hours together in a small space, they develop their own unit rituals, traditions, and have unique outlets for dealing with the day-to-day stressors of military life.
In 2006, while deployed to Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah, east of Baghdad, Iraq, Army Capt. Aaron Doft was in charge of 15 other soldiers and four M1A2 SEP tanks — SEP meaning systems enhancement package.
Task & Purpose spoke with Doft about what it’s like to have the awesome power of a tank at your fingertips and what exactly goes on inside while you’re out on a mission.
To read the interview, click here to go to the Task & Purpose site.
This photo of a Matilda I was taken last month at the Tiger Day event at Bovington Tank Museum. The photo comes from the Flickr page of Massimo Foti, who has amassed a fantastic collection of quality photos of tanks and armored vehicles, primary from around Europe. He regularly posts his photos at the AFV News Discussion Board, a forum we recommend to anyone that is interested in learning about the many tanks and vehicles on display at museums and other locations.
IHS Jane’s reporter Christopher Foss at SOFEX 2016 showcasing the Mbombe 4 6×6 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC).
According to Amazon, as of May 15 a paperback edition of the The Rockenbach Report: Operations of the Tank Corps A.E.F.
is available.
Publishers Description:
The Rockenbach Report: Operations of the Tank Corps A.E.F.” is widely cited and quoted by historians but only a few typed copies are known to exist. It has never been published—until now. Here is the verbatim transcript of that famous document, written by the Father of the American Tank Corps, Samuel D. Rockenbach. In it he details how he designed, organized, manned, trained and finally deployed American Tank forces into the Western Front of 1918 Europe. Appended to the original Rockenbach Report—and reprinted here—are supporting documents with even more information on those early Tank Corps days. These include after-action reports on the St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Le Catelet-Bony offensives by: Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton, Jr., Commander of 304th Tank Brigade; Colonel Wahl, Commander of French Tanks assigned to American forces; Major Sereno E. Brett (who assumed command of the 304th after Patton was wounded at St. Mihiel); and Major R. I. Sasse, Commander of the 301st Battalion fighting with the British E.F. Also included is an organization chart of 1st Army Tank Corps as of September 10, 1918 listing its units and names of officers assigned. This report may be 100 years old, but it is still relevant today. The lessons learned then—how to wage a war, even while fundamentally changing the way that war is fought—are even more valuable in today’s constantly changing and ever more dangerous world. For too long the Rockenbach Report has been available to only the lucky few able to travel to one of the rare sites where it is stored. With this reprint, Rockenbach’s exhaustive treatise on the development of early tank warfare is available to the larger public. So save yourself the trip. Here is the Rockenbach Report.
The The Rockenbach Report: Operations of the Tank Corps A.E.F.
is available on Amazon here.
Here are a collection of videos taken from the recent Militracks 2016 event at Overloon.
This video was taken by mounting a Go Pro camera on the barrel of a “Hetzer.”
Here is a mix of articles from the past two weeks from various news sources. Click on the headline to go to the full article.
South Korea’s military has decided to build an additional 100 K-2 Black Panther tanks. Seoul’s defense ministry already had planned 200 of the tanks, but is to turn out another 100 tanks of the same model in response to North Korea, local news service Newsis reported. Pyongyang has been stepping up production of its armored fighting vehicles, and South Korea must be prepared, an unidentified military official told local press.
The Russian Airborne Forces (Vozdushno-desantnye voyska Rossii—or VDV) are set to form six armored companies equipped with newly modified T-72B3M (also known as the T-72B3 biathlon) tanks in the second half of 2016. Over the next two years, those six companies will be expanded to battalion strength.
The Royal Thai Army (RTA) has signed an agreement with China to procure the MBT-3000 main battle tank (MBT) produced by China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO), RTA officials confirmed to IHS Jane’s on 16 May. The contract to procure the MBT-3000, which is also referred to by NORINCO as the VT-4, features an initial 28 units, with deliveries expected to commence before the end of 2016 and conclude within two years. The deal, thought to be valued at about USD150 million, makes Thailand the first known export customer of the type.
The head of Iran’s ground forces said Wednesday that the country has quipped its M60 tanks with anti-TOW missile jamming systems. Brig. Gen. Ahmadreza Pourdastan said in an interview with the army magazine Saf, as reported by the semi-official Fars News Agency, that the new system will also disrupt other anti-tank missiles.
Egypt has received on Thursday its first batch of Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles from the United States, the state-run Ahram Online reported the US embassy in Cairo as saying in a statement. “Today’s delivery is the first batch of a total 762 MRAP vehicles that the United States will transfer to Egypt,” said the statement.
An Army vehicle took the wrong road in the dark and was making a U-turn when it tumbled 250 feet off a cliff at a Colorado training range last year, killing one soldier and injuring five, according to a newly released investigative report. The soldier who died had an unspecified medical condition at the time of the February 2015 crash at Fort Carson, and a physician assistant had recommended that he not go on the training exercise, investigators said.
The first mock-up model of a new Russian assault armored vehicle for use during training is already in production, according to Russian Airborne Troops chief Vladimir Shamanov.
Shamanov told RIA Novosti that as part of the development work, specialists dealing with the Typhoon family of mine-resistant, ambush protected vehicles have worked out a new Typhoon 4х4 armored personnel carriers for use during reconnaissance and by special units of the Russian Airborne and Special Operations Forces.
The organization of modern armed forces is an extremely complicated objective. Russia’s experience with the operation in Syria clearly demonstrates how serious this challenge is. However, in this case Russia is learning from its mistakes – 75 years ago these errors almost led the USSR and its army to ruin.
Tank and AFV News 