Manic Moran

This. It represents the grid created for ballistic testing. Here's a T43 turret ready to get shot up, and the accompanying page showing the thickness per grid square. Each square has four measurement points, in a little from the corners.

Maybe you're looking at the wrong Panzer Tracts? #6-3 has the full history, including the drawings of the Maus II Turm with the 7.5 above the 12.8.

The replica Ha-Go is in Texas already, I saw it a couple weeks ago. The Chi Ha is being cleaned for movement. It's in an... interesting state. The mechanicals are generally there, but the rest of it is rust flakes... The gun probably isn't going, due to Japanese import laws. They're dismounting it to avoid being told to cut it.

Got there ahead of me. M47 could certainly use both, I'd need to dig up my M41 video...

Huh. I'm more used to seeing it applied to myself, but David does have a more magnificent moustache.

Yet there were still exceptions. The Swedish L60s, for example, were astonishingly comfortable, and that's a pre-WW2 vehicle, so it could be done if they wanted. In fairness, I don't recall great issue with Panzer III either, other than the lack of driver/radioman hatches.

But how well did they make them work? If memory serves, the Elands are a tad larger, must have been a reason for it. The Israelis ditched them quickly. Then again, the Israelis were in a position to obtain better. Some comments from from an Irish board. "The AML is no longer a realistic defence against enemy armour and its design makes it an ineffective recce car. Crew Fatigue plays a big part in this, though, improved crew helmets has made a difference. Driver position is only good for 50 miles max. They are of a bygone age. Remember when cars had a single bench seat in front, no reclining, and no seat belt? That generation." " " "Given the engine upgrade could have included a bigger , more powerful engine, and increased the road speed, it would compromise crew safety. Anyone who has travelled in an AML will tell you that speed on metalled roads is fine but off road the car would be far to unstable. They have a tendency to roll into corners and once or twice there were reach out and almost touch the ground moments." "We could do with medals for piloting AMLs through the city centre with questionable brakes and no power steering" "Many in Cav called them "Clown Cars"...They were better than nothing. You could write a book on their faults, their good points would fit on a post-it note."

I don't seem to recall that being one of mine, honestly.

He's on a Discord server I frequent (not a tank-related one, I should add). We have generally agreed to disagree on a few things, though he also observes he might have been a bit harsh on the concept of 'doctrine'. I also wonder if the direct attack (particularly FPV) drone problem is overstated. Training an FPV drone pilot actually takes quite a few months, there aren't many of them, and though they do make excellent and compelling video footage, I wonder if it isn't being disproportionately shown. The concern about drones used for observation is valid, though even at that, the Army's not entirely sitting around on its arse not trying to address the threat. If there is an excess threat caused by drones, I expect it'll be a short-term issue.

RCV-H is gone. Maybe not officially, but in practice. The only RCV program remaining is officially RCV-S, but it's been enlarged to incorporate some RCV-M technologies and roles.

Drones are subject to weather and bandwidth limitations, and aren't great at counter-recon. They have their place, but in the immortal words of General Robert Braden when told "You don't need scouts. You have radar, air recon, satellites..." : "You always need a scout".

Officially, many years ago. In practice... this photo was taken of a line of M1A2 Sep V2s about two years ago.

It is, I get it, unlikely. On the other hand, such things are also not unheard of. A gunner shifts his weight to help circulation, loses his balance on a root, and accidentally hits the trigger sort of thing. The thing about Fury is that almost everything in the movie happened in the war and Ayer had references up on the walls of his office, from tankers wearing top hats to an Audie Murphy stand. What didn't happen was everything happening to one crew, a concession to movie making as audiences aren't going to be interested in a War and Peace cast of hundreds.

I gave a presentation at Army Futures Command the other day. Timestamped to about 55 minutes in, but the whole thing is interesting: Note the speaker before me is Chief of Armor, probably worth a listen. The slides in the bottom left don't always update. Here (with possible formatting issues courtesy of Google Drive), is the deck. The link will only be valid for a few weeks before I delete it. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yPslK40_cQrdiVJ1xFG1lg2ZSXXqauyE/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=117795378986577713857&rtpof=true&sd=true

It's in... not ideal shape, but good enough to film.