Terrier CEV in the News

 

(EMBARGO 00.01 12th February) Terrier combat vehicle upgraded with new innovations - 11 Feb 2016Several news outlets have run articles in the past couple days about the British Terrier Combat Engineer Vehicle.  The articles have focused on the introduction of a new telescopic investigation arm for the vehicle as well as it’s nickname of “Swiss army knife.”  As is typical with mainstream news articles about AFVs, they Terrier is repeatedly referred to as a “tank” and a fair amount of hyperbole is used to describe the vehicle.  An article from The Telegraph is fairly benign, aside from comparing the Terrier to a ‘Transformer.”  New York Post claims that the Terrier “has more gadgets than the Batmobile.”    The Daily Mail clearly fails to understand the role of a CEV, stating that the Terrier is “Capable of…causing wanton destruction in it’s wake, the British Army’s new battle tank looks like the stuff of Hollywood action films.” However, the award for most sensationalist reporting on the Terrier goes to Huffington Post UK for their headline “Terrier Vehicle Is The British Army’s Latest Terrifying Toy (But Where Will They Use Them?)

For a more sober  description of the Terrier, there is a video featuring Christopher Foss of IHS Janes describing the Terrier circa 2014.

 

Here is a video from October of last year showing some Terrier CEVs in the field.

 

And lastly, here is a video on the Terrier made by the manufacturer, BAE.

Photo of the Day 2/13/2016

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Two Abrams tanks of the 3rd Infantry division alongside a Leopard IIA4 tank of the Polish 10th Cavalry Brigade.  More photos here.

Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch: T-55A Part 2

Part 2 of Nicholas “The Chieftain” Moran’s look at the T-55A medium tank.

Photo of the Day

Welcome to our new “Photo of the Day” feature.  Since we often come across photos that are worth sharing but don’t necessarily justify being their own news post, we have created the “Photo of the Day” category.  Our first entry comes from the book “US Military Railway Service in WW2 by Nevi and Hall.”

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Hotchkiss H39 Restoration planned

Hotchkiss H39Over at the Historic Military Vehicles Forum, member “xrize” has posted some pictures of the remains of a Panzerkampfwagen 38h735(f) (Hotchkiss h39) tank which he has purchased at plans to restore.  According to the forum thread, this vehicle was purchased at the end of November 2015 from a Norwegian firing range.  This vehicle was captured by German forces following the fall of France and used in Finlan and North Norway as part of Panzer Abteilung 211.  The vehicle is 70 to 80% complete and is missing the engine and gearbox.

Photos of the vehicle can be viewed here.

M1 Abrams seen with Shia Militia

Multiple news sources are reporting on a recently released video which shows an M1 Abrams tank in the hands of Kata’ib Sayyid al Shuhada (KSS), an Iranian-backed Shia militia which operates in both Syria and Iraq.  This is not the first time that an M1 Abrams has ended up in a video or photo put out by a Shiite militia.  According to the blog Threat Matrix:

The Hezbollah Brigades, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization, showed an Abrams flying the Hezbollah Brigades flag earlier last year. Additionally, the group has also published two videos from Iraq’s Anbar province in which several US-made vehicles are used by its forces.

The Badr Organization, another Iranian-backed Shiite militia, has also publicized photos showing its forces in possession of an Abrams. These photos showed the militia with the tank, and at least one US AT-4 anti-tank rocket, near Saqlawiyah in Anbar last year.

The Abrams tank appears at the 16 second mark in the video.

Tank Talk with Len Dyer – German Panzer IV

Len Dyer of the National Armor and Cavalry Restoration Shop discusses the WWII-era German Panzer IV tank. Tank Talk is a series designed to educate on the features, tactics and histories of tanks throughout world military history.

Marine Corp “Floating Tanks”

The website for the US Marine Corps has posted an article about M1 Abrams tanks being floated across a river on rafts of the 8th Engineer Support Battalion.  There is a small photo series attached to the article with some nice shots of Marine Corps M1A1 tanks.  See the full article and photos here.

160204-M-ZQ305-004MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Through strong winds and choppy waters, Marines with Bridge Company, 8th Engineer Support Battalion, prepared for Operation Iron Blitz by providing support to 2nd Tank Battalion by operating rafts, which allowed the tanks to cross a body of water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Feb. 4, 2016.

Bridge Company operated two seven-bay raft systems which would each carry two tanks at the same time across New River. The operation allowed 2nd Tanks to cross the river in less than 15 minutes.

“This operation definitely increases the mobility [of a unit],” said 1st Lt. Walter Williams, a platoon commander with Bridge Company. “You will save your tanks from having to cross a civilian bridge and you can literally cross any body of water as long as the shore conditions are correct.”

Transporting tactical vehicles over open bodies of water is typically the preferred method of travel when the opportunity is afforded.

More…

From the Vault: British Assessment of T-64

02Here is a British technical assessment of the Soviet T-64 tank circa 1978.  At this point in time the British and other Western countries had only very limited information on the T-64, so much of this report is based on photographic evidence and the best guesses of intelligence analysts of the period.  Therefore, take the info in this report with a grain of salt.  That said, it’s an interesting look into what the West knew, or at least thought they new about this revolutionary tank design in 1978.

Summary from report cover page:

This report describes the external features of the Soviet T-64 medium tank derived from photographic intelligence and gives also an assessment of the probable internal arrangements based on intelligence reports matched to the spatial configuration.  The appendix to the paper gives details of the turret model used to produce turret sections from which armour distribution of the turret was derived.

View the full report here.

New and Upcoming Books

Here are some books that either have been released recently or on scheduled to be released in the next month.

Book15Nagmachon Heavy APC  by Michael Mass and Adam O’Brian

Publishers Description:

Desert Eagle Publishing is proud to announce the release of its No. 15 book, in the IDF Armor Series.  Title is – NAGMACHON Heavy APC – Centurion based APC IN IDF SERVICE – Part 2

Book includes old (birdcage) and new (slat armor and doghouse) versions, and the regular chapters :
– The family
– In action
– In details
– Power pack and engine compartment
– Armament
– Suspension
– and a Recovery story in Lebanon, with a personal touch.

Contains many previously unseen photographs.  Release date: March 1st 2016

 

US halftracks part 2U.S. Half-tracks Part 2 By David Doyle

Ampersand Publishing

Publishers Description:

Explore the development, production and deployment of America’s heavily armed half-track variants. Illustrated with 700 period photos and described in detail in the 448 hard-bound pages of this volume are the myriad of half-track based mortar, howitzer and gun motor carriages ranging from the ubiquitous but uncelebrated M4 Mortar Carrier to the obscure twin-40mm Bofors-armed T68 to the acclaimed M16 antiaircraft vehicle, which armed with four .50 caliber machine guns remained in the US arsenal until the late 1950s. Drawing heavily on obscure manufacturer documents and long-forgotten government records, this volume, when combined with Part 1, published in 2015, is the only complete study of these vehicles. ISBN: 978-0-9861127-4-4. $49.95

 

German Panzer IGerman Panzer I: A Visual History by David Doyle

Ampersand Publishing

Publishers Description:

Clandestinely developed during the post WWI-era during which Germany was forbidden from developing, producing or owning armored combat vehicles, the Panzer I served as a proof of concept. Manufacturers and engineers became acquainted with the creation of modern fully tracked combat vehicles and soldiers were familiarized with the driving, maintenance, logistics entailed by fielding an armored force. Once war began, not only did these experiences prove invaluable, the tanks themselves, armed only with twin machine guns, nevertheless proved formidable weapons against ill-prepared enemies. Spread through 168 hardbound pages, over 200 photos document all variations of this, the cornerstone upon which Germany’s famed panzer force was built. As a special bonus, this title includes a 16-page-color walk around section featuring very rare examples of the Panzer IA, B and F. ISBN: 978-1-944367-04-6. $28.95

 

298-1252-thickboxShilka AA Gun In Detail By Jan Horák and František Kořán.

WWP

Publishers Description:

The book covers ZSU-23-4V1 and ZSU-23-4M variants on 120 pages, 370 colour photos and 20 manual drawings.