Armored Fighting Vehicles VI: Eye of the Tiger

[Fat Guy]

In North Africa the Brits wanted the Germans to think they had fewer tanks...



While the Germans wanted the Brits to think they had more!

[Euphonium]

Which just goes to show that nobody ever has the right amount of tanks!

[Grognard]

I thank my associates for trying to clarify my statement.
YES.  the USMC's Armor formations are gone, their personnel either repurposed, retired or transferred to the Army.
But the USMC M1s are still in service.  They have DISTINCTIVE serial numbers and have stamped EGAs in various locations.

[Failure16]

So, Fury if it were WWI. And British:  https://youtu.be/h54oFH0paZU

[Daryk]

Oh, the humanity! ;D

[PsihoKekec]

Why did I know that it's the Squire even before I clicked the link?

[truetanker]

Oops... he got a little bit cocky, eh?

TT

[Failure16]

Hey, it's the 15; most Dangerous Road in America ^TM.

[PsihoKekec]

That reminds me of video from Syrian Civil War, when rebels were trying to tow a captured BMP-1 with tractors and people were swarming the BMP. Somebody must have pulled the trigger on the main gun and while the round didn't detonate at such short distance, it still took off the head of the driver of one of the tractors. 

[Failure16]

Friendly fire does have the right of way, after all.

Say, in other parts of the world, sometimes you have to kill yourself to save yourself (to mis-paraphrase a statement of a US Army officer from a different war about a completely different scenario):





In case you don't feel like playing the guessing game, the first is indeed a GAZ-66 light/medium truck covered in Kontakt-5 ERA, while the second is a UAZ-452 van. Including the windshield.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

It seems like reactive armor bricks would be of limited use on a truck that's presumably not particularly heavily armored?

[ANS Kamas P81]

The explosion of the ERA would do more damage to the truck than the incoming round.

Shows that idiots are endemic everywhere...

[chanman]

The explosion of the ERA would do more damage to the truck than the incoming round.

Shows that idiots are endemic everywhere...

It's only an issue if the 'ERA' is actually ERA and not say, bricks of heroin.

[PsihoKekec]

ERA goblins cannot be stopped.

[truetanker]

How many of you still have your fruit salad when you finished your tours?

Or do you have more to add in your current tour?

I ask because my granduncle recently passed away and left me his, served the Army from '42-'54 as an enlisted, corporal stipes, until he retired. Walked with a limp, asked him if it was a war wound, smirked when he said it was a bedroom one...

I got several combat ribbons, his Soldier, Service, Victory Medals, a Korean one and some French medal: La France a ses Liberateurs.

Colorful threads...

TT

[DOC_Agren]

say hello to 1K17 Compression Russia's Laser Tank

[Middcore]

say hello to 1K17 Compression Russia's Laser Tank

Another real Russian military innovation indistinguishable from a parody shitpost.

[SteelRaven]

Like this lovely gem:

Progvev-T, a T-54 with a Mig-15 jet engine that was meant to cook off landmines
How did we not get these in Red Alert?

All the same, it's legacy lived on in away;

Big Wind, The God of Hellfire. This anime character is a T-32 with twin Mig-21 Jet engines built to help snuff out the oil well fires of Kuwait in 1991.
 

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Didn't the Soviets also experiment with a tank-mounted sonic cannon for shooting down bombers?

[DOC_Agren]

Didn't the Soviets also experiment with a tank-mounted sonic cannon for shooting down bombers?

honestly, it would not surprise me..  there were a lots of soviet ideas that 40K looked at and went YES

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

I remember reading something about the Soviets experimenting with a sonic cannon as an anti-aircraft weapon... and canceling the project when they realized that it had an effective range of about 3 feet.

[Elmoth]

Regarding the ERA van thing, some posters I follow mention that it seems to be a running gag among Russian army units in Ukraine: to see what unit builds the most preposterous van.

Here is another example. It is supposed to be "an antidrone coverage test" to pass the raised eyeborws of the higher ups.

[PsihoKekec]

That reminds of Libyan sheepskin tank

[Natasha Kerensky]

Regarding the ERA van thing, some posters I follow mention that it seems to be a running gag among Russian army units in Ukraine: to see what unit builds the most preposterous van.

Here is another example. It is supposed to be "an antidrone coverage test" to pass the raised eyeborws of the higher ups.

The theory behind Russia’s shaggy trucks is that the fur or grasses disperse their heat signatures at night, which is when Russia is moving logistics these days.  This is suppossed to make it harder for Ukrainian drones, especially FPVs, to spot and target the trucks with their IR cameras/sensors.  But the trucks’ windscreens have to be left clear so drivers can see where they’re going.  This may cause the windows to stick out even more against the IR background and help guide FPV operators fly their drone warheads right into the trucks’ cabins.  (“In Russia, camouflage exposes you!”)

I heard this from a former tank operator who reports daily for the London Telegraph’s podcast on the war.  I assume the same nighttime/IR logic applies to the sheepskin tank — otherwise this type of camo will make these vehicles stick out even more in daytime — but someone closer to that case may know better.

FWIW…

[Daryk]

I don't know... compare the color of the sheepskins to the terrain behind that tank and the paint color... ;)

[chanman]

I don't know... compare the color of the sheepskins to the terrain behind that tank and the paint color... ;)

I mean, the reality is that no matter what colour something starts out as, it's going to end up the colour of either mud or dust or both in short order.

[Daryk]

The front fenders get there, but not so much the rest... ;)

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

I feel as though they're risking some issues with the engine's ventilation.

[PsihoKekec]

And cooling, which would explain why tank broke down and was captured.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Apropos of nothing, a B1 Centauro.  I'm really surprised with how low the turret is on these, it makes it look very flat by comparison to other IFVs turrets.