Alzoc

2 hours ago, historynerd said:

What was the biggest AT gun fitted in a Sherman in a turret?

If you are talking purely anti-tank gun inside a turret it would be a 105 mm on the Israeli M-51 :

During WW2 there was also a 105 mm howitzer version :

If you are a talking about Sherman based vehicles during the war it would be the 90mm of the M36.

If you are talking about base Sherman hull and turret only it would a 76 mm.

Finally you have all the open-top artillery versions where calibres are all over the place.

Alternatively you could be comparing not only calibres but penetrating power, and in that category the Chilean tanks equipped with an OTO-Melara high velocity 60mm deserve a mention :

I'm sure I forgot a variant somewhere, but @Jeeps_Guns_Tanks will remedy to that^^

You can visit his site in the meantime : https://www.theshermantank.com/

Eighth and last FREMM of the series (at least for France), Lorraine will be soon commissioned :

My bad, I didn't read correctly.

My guess is that it is more of a marginal capability against drones than anything.

Opticals sensor are capable of tracking and engaging an UAV nowadays though you must first detect them, which is much harder without dedicated sensors.

More concerning than the elevation is the calibre. Sure 30 mm can technically have airburst ammunitions but anything smaller than 35 mm will be pretty anaemic and will have to compensate the small charge by putting more ammunition in the air. It's pretty much only for self defence as a last ditch option (much like anti aircraft HMG on MBT roofs). Better than nothing but you won't protect a combat group with that.

And even 35 mm is cutting it close as far as airburst power goes. You still have to fire a significant amount of rounds to have an effect :

A mere increase of 5 mm in diameter (30 mm to 35 mm) grants roughly 36% more volume inside the ammunition for a given length (if you go from 30 mm to 40 mm that's a 78% increase). You can use this volume to fit more explosive or beads in each round meaning a bigger effective blast range and a higher chance to disable the target with fewer shots.

50 minutes ago, Voltzz said:

on the "Gruppenfahrzeug" what do they mean by 'capable/capability of drone defence'?

autocannon elevation, sensors,...

Airburst 40 mm grenade coupled with a radar.

Limited range but such systems has been experimented with and use already existing tech (so quick and easy solution which can be integrated on pretty much anything):

It will only work against small recon UAV. But as the war in Ukraine proved, those can still pose a significant threat (mostly indirectly by acting as spotter).

New model of the PA-NG at Euronaval 2022 :

Not much changes but it appears that it will only have 2 catapults in the end, some earlier design could be seen with 3 (can still hope for a change of design though).

It also lost the conical radar housing that suggested another radar on top of the SeaFire.

Earlier model for comparison :

Armée de Terre's promo video about the Jaguar :

Some images of the outsides and rolling, but the most interesting parts are a peek of the gunner and commander positions as well as some gunnery.

6 hours ago, Sturgeon said:

 

They're using one of the propulsion props to counteract the torque from the makn rotor, which means one side of the aircraft has to be producing much more thrust than the other. They also are adding these propulsion props to a helicopter whose rotor will still will experience retreating blade stall, and you can only offload that so much. My guess is top speed will still be well under 300mph. Very lame!

It may be inefficient but the concept proved that the 300 mph line is not out of reach (if barely).

The previous demonstrator X³  using roughly the same architecture reached a speed of 293 mph (472 km/h) in level flight and 303 mph (488 km/h) in descent :

https://www.wired.com/2013/06/eurocopter-x3-speed-record/

That was back in 2013, but as I said, I didn't really followed the project nor other high-speed helicopters projects.

It is likely that they could breach the 300 mph line with the RACER (that's barely 12 km/h faster than what the X³ achieved), the question is by how much and with how much growth potential past the 300 mph.

As for retreating blade stall, as I understand it the winglets are supposed to generate lift to alleviate those issues.

Which would mean the winglets are asymmetrical or maybe that the asymmetrical thrust on the propellers is part of that?

18 hours ago, Sturgeon said:

Oh god they're still trying to do this retarded thing?

Apparently^^

It's true that I hadn't heard of the project in a long time so I though it had been abandoned or was stuck in limbo.

Aster test fire on the CdG and the Chevalier Paul :

The AAW frigate, which is usually responsible for the aera defence of the GAN, fired an Aster 30 while it's main radar was jammed and the carrier simply fired an Aster 15 used as the last line self defence.

French version of the BV

Between 6 to 12 Ceasar 8x8 will be sent to Ukraine.

https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2022/10/01/la-france-prepare-la-livraison-de-nouveaux-canons-caesar-a-l-ukraine_6143991_3210.html

Those vehicles were initially part of the Danish order, but according to the article they were still in the technical validation phase and there were (unspecified) problems regarding compliance to Danish requirement so the Danes were not too fussed to see them donated to Ukraine.

Compared to the 6x6 version, the 8x8 has a more powefull engine (410 hp) to compensate for the increased weight (from 18t to 32t), has an armored cabin complying with lvl 3 STANAG and lvl 2 IED, carries twice the number of rounds (36 vs 18) and use an improved loading system.

Will be interesting to see if the 8x8 will handle the upcoming mud better than the 6x6.

Suffren in Scotland

@LoooSeRFirst, I hope you are alright and not concerned by the draft.

How is the public opinion in Russia now that (partial) mobilization has been announced?

It was one thing Putin seemed to be very reluctant to do for a fear of a shift in public opinion.

4 hours ago, LoooSeR said:

Trying out Mirrors Edge (Dice/EA, 2009 running/parkour simulator). It have unique style, but gameplay isn't well polished.

The reboot (Catalyst) solve some of those gameplay fluidity issues (combat for example feel much less clunky) but lose some of it's uniqueness in graphic design and free roam can be a bit annoying from time to time (going from one end of the city to the other repetitively can be boring).

It solves some of the issues from the original but create new ones.

In the same genre (Parkour) I quite liked Ghostrunner, reasonably difficult but with quick respawn system and frequent checkpoints avoiding a lot of frustration :

New pictures of the RACER demonstrator :

Picture of how the finished product is supposed to look like :

Real flight video of the X3 (precursor back in 2010) :

Ukraine apparently bought an unspecified number of decommissioned French TR F1 155 mm L39 towed guns :

http://www.opex360.com/2022/09/09/lukraine-a-achete-danciens-canons-tractes-trf1-de-155-mm-autrefois-utilises-par-larmee-de-terre/

105 were purchased by French forces and as 2016 only 12 were left in service, they were replaced by the Caesar.

The system is rather old (1979) and as a towed gun is quite vulnerable, though it has a semi automatic loading system (similar to the one used by the Caesar) and can move under it's own power at a speed of up to 8 km/h

• Range : 24 km (30 km with extended range round)
• Setup time : 5 min
• RoF : up to 3 round in 15 s / 6 rounds/min sustained
• Barrel life : 3000 equivalent full charge

Nothing spectacular performance wise but that's always more tubes available.

An article with more technical details on the E-MBT presented at Eurosatory 2022 as well as some history on the program (starting with the 2018 version) :

https://www.edrmagazine.eu/knds-from-the-leo-clerc-to-the-e-mbt

Video of the new version of the EMBT presented at Eurosatory 2022 :

Lifted turret with the turret basket visible and some slow rolling (no shooting though).

That about sum it up :

Quote

With a solar panel in orbit, you get twice the solar energy, but you've got to do a double conversion: Photon to electron to photon, back to electron. What's your conversion efficiency? All in, you're going to have a real hard time even getting to 50 percent. So just put that solar cell on Earth."

And even a 50% efficiency would be generous (when you know that photovoltaic pannel reach a litle above 20% max on Earth).

When even Elon Musk recognize that the concept is stupid you know that the idea was really not worth considering.

That two consulting group wrote a report saying that it is possible isn't surprising (as usual, take the final result as granted, chose improbable starting hypothesis and voilà!)

What is really sad is that the head of the ESA (somebody with a PhD in physics) actually agree with the conclusion of the reports...

For those who like tabletop wargames :

Quote

CO-OPS was imagined by three graduates of the special military school of Saint-Cyr (General Saint-Hillier class, 2015-2018). Designed as part of the simulation courses to provide a training tool for future section leaders, the game emphasizes cooperation between players against an enemy played by the game itself. Each player takes the lead of an infantry platoon, a tank platoon or a helicopter squadron of the French Army and you will all need to cooperate to win the battle against armed terrorist groups; close coordination between the different arms is the key to victory.

Full description in the link below :

https://www.nutspublishing.com/eshop/co-ops-en

VABs arrived in Ukraine :

http://www.opex360.com/wp-content/uploads/vab-ukraine-20220729.jpg

Nothing ground breaking, it's just an APC and the one seen in the tweet is in its barebone configuration (VAB VTT with nothing but a manual 7,62 on top).

Now that the Griffon are starting to be delivered in significant numbers we should be able to give older VABs to Ukraine in large quantities (we still have 2500 of them in service with over 4000 delivered to the French army). Though most of them are in terrible conditions (or plain not running) given their extensive use in operations.

Given that big fires are becoming more common in Europe and the lack of available Canadair, airbus is testing a firefitgthing kit for the A400M :

Two tanks of 10 m³ each which can be refilled by two on-board pumps in 5 minutes after the plane landed. Combined whith the ability of the aircraft to land on short and unprepared runways, there may be some interest to it.

Even though a normal Canadair only carry 6 m³ of water, the fact that it doesn't have to land/stop to refill likely mean it is still able to deliver more water on target in a given time frame, so this kind of solution is only a backup at best.

Converting military cargo planes for firefighting has been done before (I don't know with how much sucess) but there is over 88 A400M in Europe and that number will keep growing, so a kit which could potentially be installed on any one of them would actually be a nice addition.

Maps based retrospective of the invasion on le Monde  (click to zoom for some maps):

https://www-lemonde-fr.translate.goog/international/article/2022/05/24/la-carte-de-la-guerre-en-ukraine-jour-apres-jour_6118209_3212.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=fr&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Nothing new but a good recap after 4 months of conflict. The credence of the sources is of course debatable as some of it comes from Ukrainian or Russian opposition media.

Didn't posted everything of course, only the (mostly) recent or interesting ones.

Evolution of the beliggerent's positions week by week :

Russian offensive in Donetsk Oblast :

Potential attack scenarii for Russian offensive in Donbass (published April 19th):

Number of Russian soldier killed by region of origin (if I understand correctly this was done using death notifications) :

Number of Russian soldier's death by date (left) as well as by age (right) :

 Number of "violent events" (mainly explosions and bombardments) since February 24th (as of May 23rd) :

Russian territorial gains in Donbass since the abandon of the push toward Kiev (29th of March) :

Main supply lines in Ukraine (May 23rd) :

 War in Ukraine and agriculture :

 Situation in Transinistria (explosions in late April):

Kaliningrad enclave and NATO :

54 minutes ago, Serge said:

they say the 130mm Rheinmetall solution will reached its limit earlier because of the higher pressure chamber choice. 

It's a possibility, requiring the ASCALON to be built to withstand higher pressures in the future (which is likely but we don't know by how much).

The 120 mm has been in service in one form or another for over 40 year now, and progress in metallurgy (both for the gun and the ammo) allowed it to remain relevant to this day.

Both KNDS 140 mm and Rhm 130 mm bring an upgrade of roughly 5 to 7 MJ over existing guns, passive armor will probably have some catch-up to do. So the question is how soon will we need to upgrade the kinetic energy provided by those guns?

Don't get me wrong, more upgrade potential is always better, but I think that's not the main advantage of a lower pressure gun in this context. Reduced barrel wear (usefull in a high intensity conflict) and the ability to mount the gun on (slightly) lighter platforms are much more relevant in my opinion.