Beer

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The Royal Artillery has been severely neglected since the Cold War ended. Most of the upgrade/procurement programmes were cancelled and in a counter-insurgency world has tried to stay relevant by focusing on UAVs.

There are only 5 MAMBA, it was used along with another system called COBRA but they're replacement (latest ARTHUR) never materialised.
COOBRA went out-of-service and MAMBA only has a few years left.

This is an old Polish "Snake" mine clearing system, using the same mine clearing system as for the UR-77 (MTK-2) and KMT plough on T-55 MBT

Well in SPz Puma even hot air exhaust is made by double slopped NERA:
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
About month ago I looked very cearfully on Shutzpanzer Puma on Ostrava NATO days :-) Lets's sey that is  better protected then I suspected. Mucht better. Talks whit crew was very interesting too.
 
In fact for upper front hull part SC jet or 30-40mm KE rod must overcome 2 or 3 slopped on 18@ NERA plates, then overcome slopped front plate (LOS ca.50-60mm) then fly trought engine comparment and finnaly overcome 20mm bulkhead before crew comparment.  In lower hull we have two slopped 15mm plates whit primary engine fuel tank (50L) then we have huge slab of metal - HSWL and MTU engine and then 20mm bulkhead.
IMHO Puma front is between 200-250mm vs KE penetrator from medium caliber automatic canons. In case SC warhed lower hull is less protected but upper hull - it shoud be able to stop any 80's ATGM without precursor and propably RPG-28 and PzF-3T frontally. A lot of NERA and huge space is nice protection IMHO.    
Couple photos:
Engine compartment - look at triple NERA layers:
 

 
NeRa or NxRA everywhere...:

 
Here is visible bulkhead thickenss:

 
And chamber for 50L fuel tank and doubla slopped ca.15mm plates:

 

Not nearly as exciting as the real thing, but some interesting details nonetheless:
 

 

 

 

Rheinmetall also confirmed that an unmanned turret for the Leopard 2 is being developed, mounting this gun.

Ze Germans at AUSA2019. Pics are mine. 
 



 

 

 

M22 Locust reborn? 
 

M22 Locust reborn? 
 

M22 Locust reborn? 
 

Photos of Iranian tanker that was attacked

 
 
 

IS-2 near Cuba

 
   T-90A and T-90M

Russia, during training with Pakistan troops. Also, it was a joke.

Something you don't see everyday, an Abrams towing a line charge.
 

M-60TM with Pulat (Zaslon-L) APS in active duty unit, probably being moved to Turkish-Syrian border.

 

C2/Mk2 I think was always just an "internet" name, the usual feature of this supposed variant are the turret addons, but those were supposed to be on all production Ariete since almost the start (it was discussed in a specialized magazine already in 1996), which is why all have the mounting points, those bolt looking things on the turret front. 200 of the turret front addons, named WAR, were bought but due to them not being up to specs (Protection? Weight?) the installation was cancelled and the contract was changed to reduce the price, same for the 30 side turret and hull addons, named PSO, the price was reduced for those too. The addons were still bought and are presumably in some warehouse. The WAR addons seem to be for KE protection, while the PSO addon seems to be intended for urban/asymmetric warfare.
This update is called either Ariete AMV or Ariete MLU, the first is the acronym for the Italian Aggiornamento Mezza Vita, which is the direct translation of MLU, Mid Life Update/Upgrade. AMV was in some budget documents, MLU is in these recent slides.
It's 3:30 am and my connection is unstable for some reason, I can post some of the documents and photos of the various addons tomorrow.

Some of the indended updates to the Ariete, not all though, there are 7 slides that "leaked"

-unchanged performance
-replacement of Halon 1301 with FM200
-removal of ITAR/EAR/Dual use components
-solving of obsolescence problems [duh]
-maximum logistical compatibility with the new armored car Centauro II
-all components are made in Italy with MIL-STD-1275D, MIL-STD-461F qualifications
-programmable digital electronics
-obscurable light warnings [I think?]
-battery power with timer to preserve battery charge
 
 
The general gist of it is modified engine with common rail tech to bring it up to 1600hp, new transmission, suspension and brakes to go with it (apparently even now the brakes could break "easily"), new optics for the commander, gunner and driver, replacement of the hydro system for the turret trasverse with an electric system, some other various systems.

Just 54 Chinese hellicopters in one photo...  

Khlopotov
 

It's from Leonardo HITFACT MK2 (essentially the Centauro II turret) brochure, I suppose it is an exaple of use for the product
https://www.leonardocompany.com/documents/20142/8863233/BROCHURE_2018_HITFACT+MkII.PDF
 
While it is true the Ariete turret already has a 120mm and more armor, this wouldn't be too bad in terms of optics, the Ariete still has no thermal mode  on the commander periscope and merely a 240p resolution gunner thermal, all managed by an Intel 8086 derived processor (+ 8087 coprocessor, gotta give it that). The HITFACT II turret also has a 12 round autoloader, and the 120/45 might fire higher pressure rounds compared to the 120/44.
 
Not that it matters much anyway, this was a promotional shot and the actual Ariete upgrade program shows the same turret with minor upgrades (including, speculation, the same optics as on the HITFACT MK2 turret)

Singular is Freccia, plural would be Frecce going by regular grammar, but I don't know if a vehicle name gets changed like that or it it remains Freccia
 
Have some Ariete - Centauro II mix in the meantime

A shot I hadn't seen before. XB-70 after a high speed flight.
 

 
Mach 3 is a little hard on the paintjob.
 

The elephant in the room being Trump would not be doing anything in Syria if Obama had not gotten us involved.

Claimed to be photos of one of abandoned positions near Turkish border.