MBT's

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Well this next brought back memories of being born in then West Germany and living at Panzer Kaserne in Boblingen just outside of Stuttgart. With my dad being stationed there I grew up around Tanks and SPA they were my "jungle gyms" at the time. Panzer Kaserne was one of two of Nazi Germany's largest armor bases and it continued in that role along with the U.S. Army until around 2000 give or take if I'm not mistaken. So it's only appropriate that our last tanks in Germany should depart from nearby Stuttgart. This is from 4 April 2013. I guess we'll have to simulate bringing heavy armor back over for game purposes now !?!
http://www.stripes.com/news/us-army-...rmany-1.214977

Have a great weekend!

Regards,
Pat

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Well this next brought back memories of being born in then West Germany and living at Panzer Kaserne in Boblingen just outside of Stuttgart. With my dad being stationed there I grew up around Tanks and SPA they were my "jungle gyms" at the time. Panzer Kaserne was one of two of Nazi Germany's largest armor bases and it continued in that role along with the U.S. Army until around 2000 give or take if I'm not mistaken. So it's only appropriate that our last tanks in Germany should depart from nearby Stuttgart. This is from 4 April 2013. I guess we'll have to simulate bringing heavy armor back over for game purposes now !?!
http://www.stripes.com/news/us-army-...rmany-1.214977

Have a great weekend!

Regards,
Pat

[luigim]

in USA OOB Cav Tank Sec is always the same as MBT platoon.

Why it doesn't have +5 Exp?

[DRG]

Simple...... it was missed. It will have that mod next year though or you could add it yourself now.

Don

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Every once in a great while the question pops up on different classifications of tanks and their purpose. So this is a little TANK 101. One thing I got from this was I didn't know the French AMX-13 was ATGM capable. And I've already seen this on the net, the term Medium Tank classification is starting to make a comeback in the industry.
http://www.army-guide.com/eng/article/article_2585.html
http://www.army-guide.com/eng/article/article_2585.html
http://www.army-guide.com/eng/article/article_2634.html
To make the point on "Med." Tanks...
http://www.army-guide.com/eng/article/article_2611.html
http://www.army-guide.com/eng/article/article_2633.html
AMX-13...
http://www.army-guide.com/eng/article/article_2581.html
http://www.army-guide.com/eng/article/article_2560.html
http://www.army-guide.com/eng/article/article_2636.html

With the last I could've swore that the British TORTISE came up in conversation ~3yrs. ago give or take. One of the issues I believe dealt with not having a good enough picture on the net at the time. So that picture triggered my memory and the ref started this exercise. So blame the picture!
Anyway have a great week!

Regards,
Pat

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

I need some independent, verifiable and conclusive information on when the LECLERC T9 variant became operational with the French Army. The IRIS replaced the ATHOS TI with the T9 upgrade. I have a date range of around 5 yrs to close the gap on.
A combination of me missing some data and websites updating their information now makes a clear distinction between recognition and identification ranges now. I can say now with 100% certainty that the LECLERC should be in the "50Club", I just need a better date for the T9. Below is one of the refs I now have to support and provide that data.
http://www.armyrecognition.com/main_...res_video.html

The math is simple 2.5km is 50 hexes.

T10/11 date info would be of some use as well, but I have a better feel for that date.
Thanks in advance for any date data!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Regards,
Pat

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Some more Spring cleaning to "unmask" my working refs for the coming campaign.

1. Don't know if the end result will be the ANDERS ,however it is likely. Polish industry getting together to ensure the end product will be made in Poland.
http://www.armyrecognition.com/febru...m_2502131.html
FYI.

2. Submitted some changes two or three years ago to Chile's LEO 2A4CHL which needed to be brought up to the LEO 2A6 standard as I recall. The issue here will be if Chile upgrades the proposed LEO 2A5 if bought to the CHL level or not. But in either case it still might require an ADD of either a LEO 2A5CHL (With the same numbers of the 2A4CHL.) or do the calculus again to figure out which LEO 2A5 they'll buy if not modified. And you thought equipment submissions were easy to make!?!
http://www.dmilt.com/index.php?optio...rica&Itemid=58
TRACK/ADD.

3. Well in this case the calculus paid off, Indonesia is getting the LEO 2A6. I had held off in submitting it sooner as there were many reports at the time that it might be the LEO 2A4 with the REVOLUATION Kits (Making them similar in looks and attributes to Singapores and Turkeys (Added last year.) upgraded LEOs). This was one of the few sites to report it as LEO 2A6 tank from the start as indicated in the first ref. In an earlier commentary I felt that Indonesia after losing the Dutch LEO deal wouldn't take a couple of steps back for 2A4s, when the Dutch tanks were 2A6 marks. The last ones show the order was increased to 163 tanks. The MARDER I'll address separately elsewhere.
http://www.armyrecognition.com/july_...a_1007125.html
http://www.armyrecognition.com/july_...2_0307121.html
http://www.army-technology.com/news/...anks-indonesia
http://www.dmilt.com/index.php?optio...asia&Itemid=56
FOLLOW UP.

4. Saudi Arabia looking at Turkey for a future ALTAY buy possibly. Somebody won't be happy about that!?!
http://www.armyrecognition.com/april...a_2804132.html
TRACK.

5. One last time to mark the end of an era. I don't believe it was posted here the first time, but in a different thread.
http://www.stripes.com/news/us-army-...rmany-1.214977
FYI.

6. Peru will try again for new tanks. Hey there's those Dutch LEOs again, won't the Parliament ever let the Government and Military sell those tanks!?! It would put them on par with Chile next door if I remember my geography correctly.
http://www.dmilt.com/index.php?optio...rica&Itemid=58
TRACK.

Well except for Peru possibly, another S. American country that recieved a significant upgrade of their tanks from a middle eastern country and some minor fixes on tanks items I submitted in the last PP, that's all I foresee in the tank world for the coming campaign. It'll be SPA/SPAA Light, APC medium and Jet/Plane heavy as that area has been neglected for a couple of years now.

Have a good night and it's back to the salt mines tommorrow.

Regards,
Pat

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

A while back Don was looking for answers on the BTR-80 series APC. The discussion had more to do with the BTR-90 which lead to the BTR-82 variants getting in on the last patch. So refer to Post #256 concerning the LECLERC above. Verbiage is another PITA in the equipment submission world i.e. BLOCK...,Mk..., Mod...and Variant etc. can be confusing. All mean about the same but, what's worse is when you have a good ref. in front of you that's proven to have been useful in the past and you don't further explore all it offers to see if anything else might be useful to you on it in the future. ICO LECLERC my question is now answered, and it's a good thing that ref I held wasn't a snake or CINCLANTHOME would've found me slumped over my desk long ago!?! Hey who put that in here!??!
So here's the answer and some might find this sight of some use especially as a quick ref. also note the "RELATED" section at the bottom has more info on associated weapons of the main "system" discussed.
http://weaponsystems.net/weapon.php?weapon=CC05 - Leclerc

Regards,
Pat
Maybe the spyglass was a bit fouled up!??!

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

If you have been to the #15 Australian OOB Queries Thread by TDR then there's nothing new here except a couple of date edits. Work list item for the next Patch Post.

OK using government and mainstream local sources mainly. I'll try to post these in time order. Highlights are as follows...
1. ADF initially evaluates M1A2, LEOPARD 2 and CHALLENGER 2 ~2002.
2. Settles on the M1A1 AIM as it became available these tanks will all be RESET in the U.S.
3. U.S. Congress informed of potential foreign sales request in 2004 it gets approved later.
4. ADF starts training crews by early 2006. Darwin will be the point of entry later that year of two shipments in September and December of that year.
5. I can dig deeper however I feel it unnecessary, ADF announces it will retire their LEOPARD 1A3 (In service since 1976.) tanks before the M1A1 AIM becomes operationally ready. Further the ADF states the LEOPARD 1A3 will be retired at the beginning of 2007 and that the M1A1 AIM will become operational by mid-2007. So based on this let's make life easy here, I recommend the following all LEOPARD 1A3 (And any other LEO based unit.) have an END DATE of JAN 2007. As for the M1A1 AIM I recommend a START DATE of AUG 2007. The ABRAMS I believe has that now, as the discussion seems embedded in my head from the past somewhere in this forum, maybe the MBT Thread(?) though I've checked elsewhere.
6. A quick note on the Ammo issue one of the ADF refs below specifically mentions the capability of the M1A1 AIM to be able to fire the Tungsten round and makes no mention of the D/U round at all.
7. Don my work list or yours? If on mine, like the Pave Low issue I will need to transfer this into it's "home" thread for my tracking. No worries TDR the credit is yours.

Bear with me again on the timeline here...
MARCH 10, 2004 A very good read on the process.
http://defence.gov.au/minister/hillt...currentid=3643
MAY 21, 2004 This order would be filled as requested below.
http://www.dsca.osd.mil/PressRelease...alia_04-12.pdf
NOV. 16, 2005
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...1-tanks-01489/
FEB 17, 2006
http://defence.gov.au/minister/Nelso...CurrentId=5413
AUGUST 30, 2006
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/...816945773.html
SEPT. 14, 2007
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...-1111114419632
SEPT. 16, 2008
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nati...-1111117494039
MAY 14, 2010
http://www.defence.gov.au/media/down...514b/index.htm
Hope this is good enough though, I have my normal refs if needed.

Now about those Pack 105's, well first let me enjoy the rest of my day off here while I consider whether this will turn into the still unanswered though compromised French 105 issue.

Regards,
Pat

[DRG]

Pat, I'm not leaving a gap in the tank formations even if the Australians did in reality. The Leos will go OOS July 2007 and the M1A1's enter service Aug 2007.