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About Renegade334
- Birthday 01/23/1986
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Those were, IIRC, only installed on tanks that were fitted with the TUSK II kit, since the grips are bolted to the reinforced commander hatch ring that serves as mounting point for the 360° Shield (which adds a lot of mass for the commander to swing around). It has not become standard issue since then, as I don't recall seeing it on pictures of the SEP v3/4. From another angle: It is, unsurprisingly, not present on tanks that have the CROWS-LP instead and thus did away with the 360° Shield kit.
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Introducing The Uss Doris Miller Cvn81!
Renegade334 replied to Murph's topic in General Naval and Air
Sturgeon-class USS Hawkbill (SSN 666) was often referred to as Devilfish or Devil's Boat. Fun fact: its name was inherited from a Balao-class sub (SS 366), and in both cases, is misspelled. It's actually Hawksbill. AFAIK only US vessel to have been named after a foreign chief of state, but I could be wrong. I do however remember that (for a time, at least, I don't know if it has been upheld) it was tradition for the ship's chief navigator to be borrowed from the ranks of the Royal navy. -
The Piranha IIICs hail back to 2008, so the Ministry of Defense staff had a different mindset back then. Most of the Belgian Leopard Is had been sold to a private arms seller (who, incidentally, got all rosy-cheeked when Belgium figured it would be nice if we could send Leopard Is to Ukraine, although we'd have to buy those tanks back at a higher price) on the cheap and, by then, the Belgian army was mostly involved in peacekeeping ops in third world countries, with the occasional F16 dropping JDAMs and launching Mavericks during the occasional regional spats and flare-ups that required NATO members to gather round and sing kumbaya beside the fire. Do keep in mind that the move away from large-caliber guns is still ongoing: we're going to get rid of all DF90s in exchange for EBRC Jaguars and VBMR Griffons. Hell, we already had, since 2019 or thereabouts, to compensate for the loss of 90mm fire support by buying Spike-LR launchers. Anyway, as I said in my previous post, the Belgian Army wanted something that was "median" (the exact adjective used in the articles). A bit of an assault gun, maybe, but definitely not on the Leopard I levels of firepower, because the DF90s weren't supposed to go act as tank destroyers (can you hear some US WW2 generals stirring in their grave, muttering "this feels familiar, somehow"?). Maybe @Manic Moran can enlighten us a bit on the future direction of the Belgian Army since he was in Belgium not too long ago and even got to ride a Leo 1. 🙂
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Not the HMC, but, hey, since it's the same vehicle family and we're mentioning excessive weight, I thought I'd put it here: Panne sèche à la Défense: tous les blindés belges équipés de canon sont.... en réparation Des fissures détectées sur la quasi-totalité des véhicules blindés Piranha de l'armée (related) According to one news group, all 127 Mowag Piranha IIICs from the Belgian Army are unavailable due to being in sore need of repairs. Investigation showed that practically every unit suffers from hull cracks...some of them (18 Piranha DF90s) caused by an overweight 90mm Cockerill cannon. For the third time in five years. All of them are now awaiting fixes at the tank repair shop at Rocourt. This vehicle type, in service since 2008, is slated for replacement (French vehicles this time, since the government wants to cut down on expenses by having a common ecosystem with neighboring France, extending even to the soldier training system) but deliveries of Griffons and EBRC Jaguars by KNDS France aren't expected till 2026. It should be noted already that the 90mm Piranha drew flak for boasting what is essentially a very...atypical caliber whose ammo can only come from one Belgian company (Mecar, now KNDS Belgium), which is, admittedly, far from ideal. There were enough difficulties (such as the spent casing refusing to fully vacate the gun's chamber) resulting from this poor procurement choice that the DF90 hasn't fired its main ammunition since January 2019. There were alternatives considered, such as Iveco's 105mm offer, but the upper brass nixed the idea, saying that the DF90 was supposed to be a medium-capability vehicle rather than a more ambitious platform capable of going up against enemy armor. It was bad enough that the original order of 40 DF90s was quickly whittled down to 18 and the option of 22 was never taken up afterwards. 30mm was otherwise preferred, resulting in the acquisition of Piranhas IIIC DF30s. While the Army has come out to say that the Piranha's mine resistance is not affected by those cracks and that a number of these Piranhas can still be driven around (with or without restrictions), the fact remains that the few Belgian motorized units currently active will find themselves severely under-gunned and almost at half-strength, for two whole years, at a time when NATO is calling for increased readiness.
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Introducing The Uss Doris Miller Cvn81!
Renegade334 replied to Murph's topic in General Naval and Air
He also happens to be the namesake of the only 688 sub not to have been named after a city or town. It could be worse; there are classes whose naming conventions are all over the place. *glares at Seawolf (fish, state and president) and Virginia (states, Hyman Rickover again, fishes, two Secretaries of the Navy, cities/towns and rivers!)* -
Introducing The Uss Doris Miller Cvn81!
Renegade334 replied to Murph's topic in General Naval and Air
All of the nuclear-powered aircraft carriers have been named after people, with the exception of CVN80 USS Enterprise, which has been named after CVN65, the US Navy's first-ever CVN (CVN80's name was revealed during CVN65's deactivation ceremony). Location names would probably be used for helicopter carriers (lately, they've been using historical estate names), LHA/LHD amphibious assault ships (my money would be on this; more specifically on new members of the Wasp or America classes) or landing platform docks. As for Ticonderoga, it's possible it'll stay off the board until the last of the Tico cruisers gets stricken off the Naval Register (nine currently still active, and thirteen others decommissioned and in reserve). -
IDF to buy 20,000 OR-4 rifles from Ari-Arms
Renegade334 replied to Mighty_Zuk's topic in Weapons other than Tanks (WOTTs)
Isn't the SAR-21 a sour lemon when it comes to maintenance/disassembly? I seem to recall reading on a different forum someone from the Singaporean Army griping about his standard-issue rifle and wishing his country had chosen something else instead, like an AR15/AR18 platform. -
The M1A1 and M1A2 have, as part of the TUSK kit, an add-on called the Abrams Belly Armor or ABA, manufactured by GDLS' Armament and Technical Products Group. It's a V-shaped slab of steel that has a thickness of ~200mm and weighs in the vicinity of 3,000lbs/1,360kg. IIRC, it stretches all the way back to the fifth (out of seven total, not counting the sprocket and idler wheel) roadwheel. Still in use nowadays, I believe (some of the TUSK components, like the engine exhaust's slat armor, were dropped because they proved to be a major pain for the maintenance crews to work with).
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USMC doesn't use land-based artillery rockets that small, unless I'm spectacularly mistaken. They use 227mm-types like, as I mentioned, the GMLRS. Smaller stuff like the APKWS can be given to smaller and nimbler vehicles like JLTV or Humvees (Vampire launcher). This means the LVSR can only launch weapons that do have course correction baked into them from the get-go. The LVSR is apparently meant to handle more than a few weapon types, including, but not limited to, GMLRS, ATACMS and PrSM, all of them Lockheed-Martin products and part of the "MLRS Family of Munitions" aka MFOM. I assume the LVSR can, with a bit of tweaking, accept more stuff like NSM and Tomahawk, both of which can already be fired by unmanned JLTVs. Dark Eagle uses a three-canister launcher configuration for stability, so it is essentially a different launch system...which still uses the LVSR as workhorse. As for the volume of fire, it depends on which theater it would be deployed to and the kind of scenario it'd face. Odds are it's mainly for the Pacific Theater, with Chinese assets being the primary targets; the 24-rocket ability could be useful in cases where there is a profusion of big targets that need to be taken out ASAP (like a large amphibious landing, for example?). HIMARS would be better for counterbattery evasion with its higher mobility and lower profile, but the USMC is simply showing that, if push comes to shove, they have options.
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O/T. Not the first time it was used to break a longstanding deadlock. There was a rather long interregnum in the papal succession between 1268 and 1271 (today considered the longest-ever papal election) after the death of Pope Clement IV, and the people of Italy finally had enough of the cardinals-electors' dillydallying: the officials and inhabitants of Viterbo (where the election traditionally took place until it was moved to the Sistine Chapel) had the CEs sequestered within the Palace of the Popes of Viterbo and told them they would stay there inside that building, fed with only bread and water, until they finally chose a new Pope. The roof of the Palace was also removed (thus exposing everyone to the weather) as further incentive (officially under pretext of allowing the Holy Spirit to swoop in and give guidance to the cardinals). And lo and behold, habemus papam! That's where the word conclave itself comes from: seclusion "with key" (cum clave). It's radical, but it does work!
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GDLS' Griffin family does descend from the ASCOD, though it eventually mutated into its own design. The Griffin I mockup (with its 120mm XM360 gun) presented at AUSA 2016, is where you can see the ASCOD and Scout SV/AJAX lineage best, with the tall hull. Griffin II is where the Griffin I design diverged more tangibly from its ASCOD roots, getting slimmer (also: no more room for dismounts) to accommodate the Abrams-inspired turret that IIRC is bigger than the HITFACT turret found on the ASCOD2 MMBT. The G2 received a smaller 105mm M35 gun rather than the G1's originally intended XM360, possibly due to the MPF program requirements. It eventually turned into the GDLS XM1302 MPF and, finally, the M10 Booker. Griffin III (shown at AUSA 2018) stays closer to its ASCOD origins as an IFV, rather than a light tank slash assault gun. It has room for six dismounts in the rear and a 50mm Bushmaster. It is currently a candidate in the MICV competition, where it will square off against the Rheinmetall Lynx.
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GMLRS can alter its course after launch, not to mention ATACMS and PrSM. All the driver has to do is park the LVSR so that it is facing the target's general direction. Of course, there might be some energy loss (and thus, some range reduction) due to the course correction, but nothing that could be considered a showstopper. My concerns, however, would be centered on how flimsy-looking that container cradle looks. But then again, HIMARS and MLRS had the reloading crane built into the launcher assembly. This LVSR would probably be serviced by another LVSR with its own crane.
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The "we-can-retrofit-new-systems-to-stuff-we-already-have-in-inventory" explanation is probably the right one in this case. The 10x10 PLS and its USMC counterpart the MKR16/18 LVSR seem to be rather popular nowadays for long-range artillery options: The trucks above are USMC LVSRs. The last picture is of the Dark Eagle launch system.
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White Emperor: China reveals mysterious jet that could be its first 6th-gen fighter I know it's just a concept meant to wow passersby, but seriously...I can't but feel like the designer discovered Battle Fairy Yukikaze and Ace Combat in the bargain bin of his local supermarket and decided it was legit scientific material.
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M107/M110/M578 Family - Why no 155MM?
Renegade334 replied to Ol Paint's topic in Weapons other than Tanks (WOTTs)
They did pull a M110 out of storage not too long ago and slapped a 155mm AGS gun (remember that overpriced, dead-on-arrival naval gun supposed to be fitted on the Zumwalt-class destroyers? That one) on it, so that they could test the BAE HVP round alongside the XM1299 ERCA: As to whether that was still air-transportable, search me.