News for all things related to Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles
This video of US Marine Corps M1A1 tanks and Norwegian Leopard II tanks sliding around an icy track has been posted by various media sources. Most of the news stories have presented a shortened version with music focusing on the M1A1. These longer clips of US vehicles in Norway come from the AiirSource youtube page.
Syrian Arab Army (SAA) main battle tanks (MBTs), infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), and even armed pickup trucks have started to sport home-grown devices that are said to be able to defeat the types of anti-tank guided weapons (ATGWs) used by rebel forces, including US-made TOW missile systems.
Such a device was first noted by observers in early February when one was seen fitted in front of the crew hatches on the turret of a T-72 MBT. Since then further imagery has emerged showing similar devices installed on T-55 and T-62 MBTs, a BMP-1 IFV, and a pickup truck armed with a 23 mm ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun.
Thailand’s military government is planning the purchase of new main battle tanks (MBTs) after deliveries of on order Oplot MBTs from the Ukraine ran into difficulties.
IHS Jane’s understands that several MBT designs are under consideration including Russia’s UralVagonZavod T-90, the K1A1 built by South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem, and the MBT-3000 – also known as the VT-4 – made by China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO).
The Royal Thai Army (RTA) stated on 10 February that it will establish a procurement committee to acquire the MBTs but stressed that details about the procurement – including the number of tanks to be acquired – have not been finalised.
Poland’s government is planning to cooperate with the Czech Republic to jointly acquire armored personnel carriers (APC) for the Polish Armed Forces. The program will be one of the priority military procurements that will be launched by Warsaw in the forthcoming months, according to Deputy Defense Minister Bartosz Kownacki.
Other planned acquisitions for the Polish military include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and submarines with cruise missiles, Kownacki told pro-government daily Gazeta Polska Codziennie.
According to the deputy defense minister, the procurements will significantly bolster Poland’s deterrence capacity, and they will enable the transfer of new technologies to the country’s industry.
Today we decided that sometimes the Photo of the Day feature can be a video instead.
Here is a youtube clip of Viivi Pumpanen, Miss Finland 2010, driving a T-55.
The website for Casemate books is listing a March 16 releases for two books in the “World of Tanks” series published by Wargaming.net. These books were originally released in Russia and claim to contain research based on archival materials never before examined or published.
The first book is “The T-34 Goes to War” by A. Ulanov, D. Shein and Dana Lombardy. The book is hardcover, has 224 pages and includes photos, illustrations, tables, diagrams, and color plates. The second book is “SU-152 and Related Vehicles” by Yuri Igorevich Pasholok and Christopher Parker. This volume is 272 pages in hardcover.
Publishers Description:
In 2012, the company that created World of Tanks, the phenomenal worldwide massive, multi-player online game, started publishing a series of books in Russian that utilized Soviet documents and archival materials that had never before been seen by outsiders or published in any language about the design, procurement, development, manufacturing, and combat employment of Soviet armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) during World War Two (the Great Patriotic War to Russians). Now these remarkable books are being published in English with the obvious aphorism The Russian View.
World War II reenactor and retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Kose inspects the M4 Sherman Tank. The reenactor was supporting the 728th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion’s noncommissioned officer and commissioned officer development program. More here.
Obviously, this is not a real tiger tank. This is a float that was part of a carnival parade in the town of Steinkirchen bei Pfaffenhofen. The message on the side of the float translates to “asylum defense” and is meant as an anti-immigration message. German authorities are investigating whether or not to press charges against the float builders. German law prohibits the public display of the Nazi swastika, although there is no law against public display of the Balkendreuz. More here.
Kurdish female fighters commandeer a tank during a battle for an air base in north Syria
The Newton Citizen (Georgia) has posted an article chronicling the story of Paul Longgrear, a US Army officer who commanded a special forces unit in Vietnam that engaged a unit of North Vietnamese PT-76 tanks.
Excerpt:
Lang Vei soon received a warning from the NSA to stop patrolling trails. The NSA had overheard NVA orders to set up ambushes and reposition men and equipment. The “beast” was stirring.
“The NVA overran the village of Khe Sanh near the Marine base in late January,” Longgrear recalled. “Apparently they thought the Marines would bail out the village, but our mobile strike force hit the NVA from their rear. We killed a bunch of bad guys, but it caused the NVA to change tactics. Instead of using tanks against the Khe Sanh Marine base, they used two tank battalions against Lang Vei, that’s 16 PT-76 tanks.”
Feb. 6, 2330 hours: Sgt. Nickolas Fragos reports, “tanks inside the wire.”
“That’s when all your training kicks in,” Longgrear said. “We left the TOC to man 81mm mortars. It was pitch dark outside, so we lit up the night with illumination rounds so the Montagnards could see the NVA infantry. A tank without infantry support is a rolling coffin.”
Ukraine Today has released a new video called “Weapons: Everything about made-in Ukraine Tanks.” As might be expected, the video focuses on the T-64 MBT and has a rather pro-Ukraine tone.
Considering that today is Valentine’s Day, we thought the most appropriate subject for the PotD would be a Valentine tank. This picture shows a rather unusual Valentine, it’s a vehicle that was in service on the island of Cyprus in the 1960’s. It was missing it’s turret which had been replaced by a simple metal box-like superstructure and armed with a BREN gun. More info here.
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