Re: Thermal imaging
Dimitry, let's put it this way. I have no problem believing that lower tech LRFs in the 80's, mounted on stuff like the Cascavel or the Type 69 tank, could be blocked by thick smoke. That being said I would not be so sure about those mounted on high end western MBTs of the time. During the Gulf War (1991) there were engagements in such conditions and this issue was never raised anywhere I could find. Nobody ever said "we could see the target on the thermals but we could not lase it due to the sandstorm". Now, I might have missed it but if it actually lowered accuracy by a substantial amount, as you are requesting, I would have expected it to be more publicized. What some guy wrote in 1988 and a videogame are a somewhat shaky ground. For all that we know they might have extrapolated such info from the performances of lower tech LRFs, by assuming they would have had the same limits.
By the way, M1A2s have been around since the early 90's.
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