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SH_MM

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Everything posted by SH_MM

  1. According to Russian Defence-Blog.com, this is the wheeled Barys IFV. It is claimed to be a new development and not directly related to the Bismarck. It is developed by the Paramount Group of South Africa. Their websites calls it the "Mbombe 8". Given the poor armor (ballistic protection according to STANAG 4569 level 3) and low maximum (gross vehicle) weight of only 28 tonnes according to the press release, I would assume that there is no relation to the Bismarck "wheeled tank". The current Boxer A2 as Combat Reconnaisance Vehicle has a maximum gross vehicle weight of 38.5 tonnes and ballistic protection according to level 6 of STANAG 4569.
  2. Very "rare" such an internal view... it's not like there are hundreds of photographs of the internals of the Leopard 1 (including cut-through tanks) available.
  3. Time to get some more Wiesels in here: Wiesel eDK2 prototype with new running gear and suspension. Source: flickr Wiesel DIOK prototype with stretched hull, new shock dampeners and track spanners. Turret is mock-up. Might be fitted with the hydropneutic suspension units in the left of this picture (?). Source: flickr Wiesel with experimental hybrid drive (iirc. diesel-electrical) and fibre-composite roadwheels (weight reduction 45% to 55% compared to the oriuginal roadwheels). Source: flickr Wiesel 2 WITCH prototype. Can be remotely controlled as a UGV, but in general the German Army is still waiting for an official NATO standard for (UGV) software architecture.
  4. I don't see any ERA boxes. I see very thin armor plates bolted on the main armor of the hull (a very, very, very, very, very common armor design). The sponsons look average, comparable to Boxer, AMV, VBCI etc. Only the fact that the outer section is used as storage box is new. The side armor of the Eitan doesn't seem to be any thicker as the armor of the aforementioned vehicles. The distance from driver's hatch to hull side (as one can see in this video) is virtually identical to the Patria AMV. I don't see any ERA box neither do I see any double layers. I'd would be interesting though to hear about the source of this claims.
  5. "Wheeled death traps" is a joke/meme. I don't see any ERA on the Eitan.
  6. Now the IDF got their own wheeled death traps™.
  7. No, all actual production models had optical rangefinders. The tank from your photograph belongs to the pre-series production batch and was produced after the second generation of prototypes. However all first generation prototypes (build from 1959 on) had optical rangefinders, but can be identified by a number of other factors: much lower weight (designed to meet the 30 ton "Europe tank" limit, but actual prototypes were five to six tons heavier), lower armor protection (for example the glacis armor was only 50 mm at 45° instead of 70 mm at 60°) and 90 mm guns manufactured by Rheinmetall with muzzle brakes. The first generation of prototypes was never used in troop trials. On the second generation of prototypes the weight and armor protection was increased and the British L7A3 tank gun was fitted. Originally these prototypes had a ranging machine gun like the British Centurion tank, the only tank that used the L7 gun at the time the Leopard 1 prototypes were designed. As the performance of the ranging machine gun was bad, the prototypes were later fitted with new optical rangefinders.
  8. This is one of the 26 Leopard 1 prototypes of the second generation (build 1962), which originally was fitted with a ranging machine gun (12.7 mm; above the gun barrel) instead of a rangefinder. This was a dumbt idea and subsequently the prototypes were fitted with optical rangefinders just like the previous M48 and M47 tanks used by the German Army.
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