Archy, didn't you also have a concept using old tanks on lowboys for convoy support? They can roll off and into counter ambush battle in a pinch, even with old engines with just a few miles left in them. I thought that was brilliant.
Posted on 04/25/2004 11:49:42 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Edited on 07/06/2004 6:39:39 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
NAJAF, Iraq (AP)
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Archy, didn't you also have a concept using old tanks on lowboys for convoy support? They can roll off and into counter ambush battle in a pinch, even with old engines with just a few miles left in them. I thought that was brilliant.
What those folks need is to be targeted with a few good old Rhodesian meat bombs.
What those folks need is to be targeted with a few good old Rhodesian meat bombs.
A fair start. But it needs a follow-up:
Achmed, what is this *frantan* they are dropping to us from the helicopters???
Bob-o told us the stuff would positively sputter they got is so sticky.
I was not sure he wasn't pulling a leg or two till I cornered Keith N. and got the same story.
Yeeeow!
Thu Apr 15, 3:32 PM ET
Al 'Luther' Cayton is photographed with his truck in Iraq date unknown. At 60, Cayton signed on with defense contractor Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Houston-based Halliburton, to drive a truck in Iraq. Based at Camp Anaconda, the Walkersville, Ohio, native was named a convoy commander over more than 50 drivers. On Feb. 23, 2004, Cayton was driving a truck near Scania in northern Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded. Cayton was killed instantly (AP Photo/Cayton Family photo via American Trucking Associations).
Archy, didn't you also have a concept using old tanks on lowboys for convoy support? They can roll off and into counter ambush battle in a pinch, even with old engines with just a few miles left in them. I thought that was brilliant.
Guilty as charged. Not depressed-center lowboys, which would be a bit difficult to get off of immediately, but flatbed or tilt bed trailers, or a ramped 12-axle flatbed.
Regards,
Regards,
Generally, higher operating costs, more maintenance requirements [4 hours maintenance per every hour of operation] higher demand on logistics support [air transport] and aside from engines, a dependence on purpose built rather than off-the-shelf automotive components- sispension, wheels, etc. Tracked vehicles tend to be noisier and slower, and sometimes not much more stable, especially the amohibious ones.
I think too there's still a Clinton-era attitudinal holdover of not wanting to have American tanklike vehicles appear in news footage of *peacekeeping* operations...wheeled vehicles are *cars and trucks* anything with tracks *is* a tank, or at least is liable to be reported as such.
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum, matey:
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Tue Apr 27, 3:23 PM ET
A scull-and-bones flag flies on a US military Humvee at entrance of the restive city of Fallujah. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld defended ongoing efforts to negotiate a solution to the armed standoffs in the Iraqi towns of Fallujah and Najaf as 'worth the try.'
(AFP/Patrick Baz)
Victor O'Reilly.
Check out America's Military Says It Best: We Rushed To War Without Fully Equipping Our Troops
Try picking the brain of a Coast Guardsman. I was thinking of that over-and-under mount they use on some small patrol boats, with a .50 Browning on top and an 81mm mortar rigge for either direct or high-angle fire on a pintle mount, as on the Vietnam era PRR boats.
But the 81mm mortar [and 102mm, and 120mm] has meen successfully mounted inside armored personnel carriers, using a turntable mount.
"Chief [Warrant] Gunner Elmer L. HICKS, USCG, has designed an adapter for a .50 caliber Browning machine gun on top of the recoil cylinder of the 81mm seagoing mortar mount which may eventually be standard armament on all Coast Guard cutters. The accompanying picture shows Chief Gunner HICKS beside his mount. The 81mm is designated a mortar but it can also be fired by trigger. It is light weight, has a simple pedestal mount and can be operated in train and elevation by one man. A variety of ammunition types are available to this gun making it a very effective weapon for WPB Class Coast Guard Cutters. The stability provided by using the 81mm mortar as a platform also increases the accuracy of the .50 caliber gun."
56 vehicles implemented in the Danish Army, some being the M106 delivered in 1964 and some the M125A1 (shown) delivered in the mid 1970´s. The 81 mm mortar is placed in mount M/65. 120 rounds are carried in sidemounted racks. Approx max. range 3,6 km. Also armed with a 12.7 mm (cal .50) machine gun.
Here's the mount I had in mind:
Like its AVGP precessors, the Bison is equipped with hinged roof hatches. Similar hatches on the M113 were used to convert those tracked APCs into mortar carriers. All that was required for a Bison-based mortar carrier was a suitable mounting*. The outcome of that requirement was the Wolf mount – in effect a heavy-duty turntable allowing a C3 81mm mortar to rotate through 360°. The standard C3 (complete with its base plate) is attached to the Wolf mount which, in turn, is bolted to the floor of the Bison’s rear compartment. Installation kits for this simple expedient were devised by DEW Engineering of Ottawa and Royal Ordnance (makers of the C3 mortar).Of the 199 Bison originally purchased by the CF, only 16 mortar-carrying ‘SEV’s (Special Equipment Vehicles) were ordered. However, the ongoing Bison ‘Life Extension’** project includes 60 Wolf mount conversions from Bison APCs. The advantage of using a wheeled light armoured vehicle as a mortar carrier are obvious. WLAVs are much quieter running than their tracked counterparts, allowing the Wolf-mount Bison to manoeuvre into a firing position without attracting too much attention. Stealth is tactically important when deploying short-ranged mortars but especially critical with the modest 81mm C3 — most armies rely upon 120mm weapons to do this job.
It helps that the Bison’s boxy rear compartment is so capacious, leaving room for both mortar crew and plenty of rounds of ammunition. The equivalent USMC mortar-carrier is based on a turretless LAV-25 with its much more cramped rear quarters due to sloped side armour. ** ‘Re-roling’ of the Bison fleet go hand-in-hand with the WLAV ‘Life Extension’ project. The Bison upgrades will include much-needed beefing up of steering columns, suspension improvements (including sturdier torsion bars for higher weights), improved protection (bolt- on armour attachment points and kevlar ‘ballistic’ seats for the crew), and complete removal of the little-used propeller drive components.
Was trying to think of a way to mount the cradle of the M119 onto the rotating plate of an old AA gun in such a way that anyone used ot the traversing gear on the 119 could continue to use the same method of adjustment. Somewhat of a flatbed strapdown mounting on the base, four jack up/jackdown wheels and a flip up flip down towing pintle deal, with the AA mount being the 'baseplate' for the altered artillery piece.
Tossed the idea away late last night as probably unworkable without knowing the specifics of the mechanical bits of the AA base.
Something like one of these?
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Agreed. Though as you might expect, I'm working on something specific for him too.
Yep. That's the guy. Self-promoter par excellence. He knows less of combat than nuns know of interning with Clinton.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
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