US Army female tank mechanics

April 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment

The Fort Hood Herald has posted an article about female US army soldiers serving as tank mechanics in South Korea as part of the 1st Cavalry Division.

56fae082a5356.imageThe Army job of “M1A1 tank system maintainer” — also known under its military occupational specialty as 91 Alpha — opened up to women in 2013.

It was previously closed to women; not because it’s a front-line job that involves shooting directly at the enemy, but rather because it involves being in a front-line unit, repairing the tanks in quick fashion so they can return to the fight.

Pfc. Evelyn Gomez and Pfc. Kelley McKeon are both tank mechanics in 1st Brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment — a combat unit outfitted with battle tanks. Years ago, women in the unit were unheard of.

“I was the only female in my platoon,” said Gomez, 23, recalling when she arrived to the unit last year.

Now, Gomez and McKeon, 19, are both part of the battalion’s Charlie Company, which has about a dozen tanks, dozens of tankers to operate the vehicles and a handful of maintenance personnel. That’s where Gomez and McKeon fit in.

Read the full article here.

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Sweden to upgrade Leopard 2 and CV90

April 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment

strv122-cv9040IHS Jane’s is reporting that the Swedish Army  has ordered upgrades to 350 of its Leopard 2 main battle tanks and CV90 infantry fighting vehicles.  According to Jane’s the cost of the upgrade work is worth nearly USD300 million.  Under the work both vehicles will have their existing Tactical Command and Control System (TCCS) replaced with a new Battlefield Management System (BMS).

Under the first contract, worth EUR92 million (USD105 million), Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) will provide renovation and refurbishment kits for 88 of the Swedish Army’s Stridsvagn 122 MBTs (analogous to the Leopard 2A5) and 8 Bärgningsbandvagn 120 (Bergepanzer BPz3 Büffel) armoured recovery vehicles. Besides the addition of the BMS, work will be undertaken to replace obsolescent parts.

After the upgrade, due to be completed in 2023, the 77 Stridsvagn (Strv) 122A MBTs being modified will be designated Strv C, with 11 upgraded Strv B MBTs being renamed Strv D.

The second contract, worth SEK1.55 billion (USD190 million), will see BAE Systems conduct work to upgrade 262 CV90 IFVs between 2018 and 2020. Alongside replacing the TCCS with the new BMS, this work is to include the replacement of the CV90’s existing Ksp m/39 (M1919A4) coaxial machine guns with the Ksp m/59 (FN MAG) and refurbishing their chassis.

All five of the Swedish Army’s CV90 variants will go through the upgrade, namely: 172 Strf 9040 IFVs, 40 Stripbv 90 command vehicles, 22 Epbv 90 forward observation vehicles, 16 Lvkv 90 air defence vehicles, and 12 Bgbv 90 armoured recovery vehicles.

Besides the generic upgrades across all the variants, the Epbv 90 and Lvkv 90 variants will have their thermal imagers replaced by the same one used by the Strf 9040C IFV. The Strf 9040s will also receive a software update to their fire control systems.

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C&Rsenal on the T-Gewehr Anti-Tank Rifle

March 30, 2016 by Leave a Comment

For those with an interest in historic anti-tank weapons, we strongly recommend this video by C&Rsenal on the German T-Gewehr anti-tank rifle.  C&Rsenal hosts Othias and Mae do a very good job of explaining the history of this rather unique and unusual rifle and also provide a live fire demonstration.  We generally try to keep a pretty neutral tone in our posts here at Tank and AFV News, but we have to admit to being big fans of C&Rsenal.  We don’t typically have reason to link to their videos since small arms are not our subject matter, so we were rather pleased to see them cover something related to tanks in the form of the T-Gewehr.  If you like this video, please check out their other videos on WW1 small arms at their website.

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Photo of the Day: Bat Tank

March 30, 2016 by Leave a Comment

We found this fun picture over at Tank-Net.com.  It seem’s the Batman craze of the 1960’s made it all the way over to tankers in Vietnam.

bat tank

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Video: DefExpo 2016

March 30, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Here are a few videos from the recent DefExpo in India featuring combat vehicles including Arjun Mk I, Arjun Mk II, Kestrel 8×8 armoured vehicle and Tata Motors MPV.


For further details about the vehicles featured in the video, check out this article.

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Tank Talk: Tiger and King Tiger

March 29, 2016 by 2 Comments

Here are a couple new episodes of “Tank Talk” featuring Len Dyer of the National Armor and Cavalry Restoration Center.

 

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Photo(s) of the Day: Sentinel Tank

March 29, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Since the Australian Sentinel tank has been in the news quite a bit lately, we put together this small gallery of public domain photos from the Australian War Memorial website.

A metal worker watches carefully, as the enormous chuck and cutting tool on a Scott Lathe, machines out the turret ring on the cast hull of an Australian Cruiser (AC) tank at Hadfields Australia Ltd
A prototype Australian AC1 Sentinel Cruiser Tank MkI negotiating a gully during trials at the Villawood test track in Sydney.
AN AUSTRALIAN CRUISER TANK MK III (AC3).
Australia. c 1942. An Australian AC1 Sentinel Cruiser Tank.
Australian metal workers at the foundry company, Bradford Kendall Ltd, (Government Annexe 89), working in the fettling and dressing bay on recently cast hulls of Australian Cruiser (AC) tanks.
FORT GELLIBRAND, WILLIAMSTOWN, VIC. 1943-01-26. AN AUSTRALIAN BUILT AC 4 (17 POUNDER) TANK AT THE PROVING GROUND DURING A DEMONSTRATION OF NEWLY INTRODUCED WEAPONS.
PUCKAPUNYAL, AUSTRALIA. 1943-03-01. THE DRIVER OF AN ALL-AUSTRALIAN CRUISER TANK STANDING UP IN HIS COCKPIT.
PUCKAPUNYAL, AUSTRALIA. 1943-03-01. TWO ALL-AUSTRALIAN MADE CRUISER TANKS (ACI) UNDERGOING TESTS AND TRIALS.
1941-04. AUSTRALIAN MADE 2 LB. ANTI-TANK GUNS AT THE MAJOR CO. ORDIN. CONTRACTORS
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T-90 vs TOW missile

March 29, 2016 by 1 Comment

Cd_geWaW0AApThZThe Washington Post has picked up the story of a Russian built T-90 tank in Syria being attacked with a US built TOW missile.  Video of this incident first appeared in late February and made the rounds in various news outlets and websites.  The original video cuts off shortly after the missile appears to strike the tank, leaving it unclear as to how much damage was inflicted by the attack.  The Washington Post article shows a photo of the T-90 tank taken from the website “War Is Boring” which shows that the T-90 survived the attack largely intact, with the damage being limited to, ironically, the Shtora  counter-measure system.  The Shtora system is intended to electronically disrupt missiles such as the TOW, although in this particular instance the system was either not turned on or not working.  The ineffectiveness of the TOW missile in this particular instance is being attributed to the Kontakt-5 reactive armor which protects the T-90.  The article notes that the TOW missile used in this attack was likely the older TOW 2A model, which flies directly at it’s target.  The newer TOW 2B flies above the target and detonates its warhead downward into the generally more vulnerable top armor of its target.

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Australian War Memorial Videos

March 28, 2016 by 1 Comment

Here are some tank related videos from the Australian War Memorial Youtube channel.

Film Collection Online: Tracks on Sprockets

Anatomy of the Mark IV

British Mark IV Tank in action – F03728 (silent)

Film Collection Online: DPR Highlights – Australian Army

Mephisto – rarest tank in the world

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Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch: AC 1 Sentinel

March 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Nicholas “The Chieftain” Moran has posted a new video examining the Australian AC1 Sentinel tank.

Over at the Chieftain’s Hatch section of the WoT forum, member “Bonesaw” has posted links to a couple documents concerning the Sentinel that readers may find of interest.

Australian War Ministry Official Histories – The Role of Science and Industry: Chapter 14 Armored Fighting Vehicles by D.P Mellor.

Australian Cruiser tank mark -1 instruction book (Provisional)

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