This video shows some of the vehicles on display as part of the 2016 “Engines of War” exhibition in Russia. This exhibition features 120 vehicles from 16 different countries from the Second World War.
Video: US Marine M1 Abrams in action
March 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
This video titled “US Marines Showing Their Talents to Operate the Monstrously Powerful M1 Abrams Tank” was posted on youtube over the weekend by Daily Military Defense News. The video description states:
U.S. Marines with 2ND Tank Battalion, 2ND Marine Division conduct vehicle off-loading operations and range fire exercise aboard Ft. Knox, KY. These operations were in support of 2ND Tank Battalion Deployment for Training Exercise .
Video by Lance Cpl. Justin Davis, Staff Sgt. Albert Carls, Cpl. Shannon West
Video: Merkava 4 fire
March 21, 2016 by 3 Comments
This video of an Israeli Merkava 4 on fire inside a hanger appeared on youtube yesterday. The video appears to have been taken with a phone camera and no details are given in the video description.
Photo of the Day: 3/18/2016
March 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
From the Oryx Blog comes this picture of a BTS-5B ARV converted to a fighting vehicle by Islamic State.
Marine AAV Survivability Upgrade Demo
March 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
DefenseNews has posted a video on the new US Marine Corps AAV Survivability Upgrade. Click on the image below to go to the page with the video.
Photo of the Day: Harbor of Toulon
March 17, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Tank vs Ship? Not exactly. This photo is of a Panzer IV at the French Port of Toulon, observing helplessly as the French scuttle their ships to prevent them falling into German hands.
Russia to upgrade 150 T-72 tanks
March 17, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The National Interest is reporting that Russia is planning on modernizing one hundred and fifty additional Soviet-era T-72B main battle tanks to the T-72B3M standard. According to the article, the upgraded vehicles would offer performance comparable to the much more modern T-90, but for a fraction of the price.
According to Uralvagonzavod deputy general director Alex Zharich, who spoke to theRussian-language daily Izvestia, Russia plans to spend 2.5 billion rubles to upgrade one hundred and fifty T-72Bs to the new B3M standard for an average of 17 million rubles per tank. In U.S. dollar terms, that’s a total of $35 million for an average of $234,000 per tank—which means the T-72B3M upgrade is a relative bargain for the capability the vehicle is expected to deliver.
According to Izvestia, the upgraded tank will get a new 2A46M5 125-millimeter smoothbore gun along with a new sighting system called the Sosna-U, which will be paired with the 1A40-4 fire-control system. The tank will also receive a new ballistics computer to help increase its accuracy. Perhaps more significantly, the T-72B3M will receive an independent PK PAN sight for the tank commander, which has its own thermal imaging system.
Video of the Day: T-34 vs Tractor
March 16, 2016 by 1 Comment
For those that enjoy tractor pulling contests, this video may be of interest.
News from around the web
March 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Here are some news stories pertaining to AFVs from the last week. Click on the headline to read the full article.
IHS Jane’s: British Army ditches Warthog armored vehicle
The British Army has retired is ST Kinetics Warthog articulated tracked armored vehicles from service, IHS Jane’s can reveal.
In total, 115 Warthogs (an improved version of the ST Kinetics Bronco) were purchased by the United Kingdom as an urgent operational requirement (UOR) for use in Afghanistan instead of the less-well protected BvS 10 Viking articulated tracked vehicle.
Defense News: Poland Eyes $21B Program To Replace Fighting Vehicles
The Polish government is planning to spend up to 80 billion zloty (US $21 billion) to replace its military’s Soviet-designed BWP-1 and BWP-2 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) with new tracked vehicles, Deputy Defense Minister Bartosz Kownacki told local news agency PAP.
“This is a major undertaking for the next dozen years which, according to various estimates, will generate a cost of between 20 and 80 billion zloty if we decide to acquire two types of infantry fighting vehicles, lighter and heavier units,” Kownacki said.
IHS Jane’s: USMC receives first upgraded Assault Amphibious Vehicle
The US Marine Corps (USMC) in early March received the first of 10 initial redesigned Assault Amphibious Vehicles-Survivability Upgrade (AAV-SU) platforms from contractor SAIC.
AAV-SU is “just one of the paths that the marine corps has chosen to upgrade the capability of the current AAV”, John Garner, USMC programme manager for advanced amphibious assault, told IHS Jane’s on 15 March.
The AAVs have long been due for replacement, but the USMC is slowly fielding a new amphibious tractor capability with its emerging Amphibious Combat Vehicle 1.1 (ACV 1.1) programme, so meanwhile the AAV upgrade will commence.
Motley Fool: General Dynamics Tank Rival Wins a Big Contract in Poland
With nearly 600 units in service, the Soviet T-72 main battle tank serves as the backbone of the Polish Army today. There’s just one problem: These tanks, built by Russia and requiring Russian spare parts to maintain them, are currently pointing their guns at Russia — which became an increasingly urgent threat after its 2014 invasion of Poland’s eastern neighbor, Ukraine.
Now, Poland does have some tanks of its own manufacture — more than 230 homegrown PT-91 tanks in various derivations. But in an effort to further integrate itself into NATO’s self-defense forces, Poland’s recently been turning to the West to supply an increasing number of its heavy weapons.
Tank and AFV News 