German soldiers fire at their target during the Strong Europe Tank Challenge in Grafenwoehr, Germany, on May 11. (Javon Spence/U.S. Army)Posted on 05/17/2016 4:16:15 AM PDT by Freelance Warrior
Six NATO countries squared off last week in the Strong Europe Tank Challenge, a two-day competition that pitted some of the alliance’s best tank crews against each another in a series of events centered on armored warfare. The challeng was the first of its kind there since 1991.
The challenge featured seven tank platoons in total. Denmark, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Poland all competed with one platoon, while the United States sent two. Each platoon included four tanks manned by four men. Germany took the gold in its Leopard 2A6 tanks, followed by Denmark and Poland in second place and third place respectively, while the U.S. Army in the M1A2 Abrams didn’t place.
The challenge, co-hosted by U.S. Army Europe and the German Bundeswehr, is a nod to the Cold War era and a tacit acknowledgment that NATO will need well-trained conventional forces if it ever has to go to war with a newly-emboldened Russia.
German soldiers fire at their target during the Strong Europe Tank Challenge in Grafenwoehr, Germany, on May 11. (Javon Spence/U.S. Army)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I am not all that upset by it.
Our top may not be as good, and our bottom won’t be as bad, the Abrams may come up short of the Leopard in some respects, but our large class of uniformly trained crews in uniformly good equipment would prevail.
They can have their trophy.
Pretty sure the Germans won’t even have a country in a few years at the rate they’re going. Our next competitions with them will be on the battlefield, as the German armies charging at us will all look middle eastern and don’t speak any German.
Cash strapped for training funds in the US military is my guess ..... just a guess of course.
i take it the Brit's didn't show cause tank was down for maintenance
All according to Obama’s plans.
Har de Har Har. And Germany of course is not a “Fighting” country. Their troops can only participate in Peace Keeping Missions. poor little things might break a fingernail if they got in a real fight.
BTW, where were the Brits and the French?
Remember the French tanks that pulled off that magnificent hook in the First Gulf War? Quelle perfection!
Israel prevailed in the 6 day war despite their hodgepodge ad-hoc collection of cast-off AFVs from the worlds surplus yards, because they believe its the crew quality that determines superiority.
So Germany and Denmark both sent there entire Armour Corps to the competition and they won.
First, they would never be willing to fire in real combat. Second, neither will be a country in a few more years. Third, even if one and two are false, their army is so tiny and ill-equipped, they would be over-run in a day - assuming the Russians took an afternoon off.
All British tank crews have 2 tanks. The one fhey fight in and one that’s in the sbop.
Like Jaguars?
Electronics by Lucas?
do doubt, like Duncan said, electronics by the Prince of Darkness
LoL!
Flat Tyre.
The Last I heard,they are all being mothballed. Source is fairly reliable.
Leading from behind.....
From 1963 to 1991 NATO had the Canadian Army Trophy awarded to the best tank crew that came out of a series of competitions. I believe the U.S. Army won it exactly once, in 1987. So it isn’t Obama and it isn’t indicative of a collapse of the U.S. Army. It’s an intense competition against the cream of the armored crop and there is only one winner.
No big surprise.
The Germans are professionals and use the same technology we do.
I am sure the winner won by a very small margin.
The REAL story is the Germans today have less than 200 tanks in their army.
The PA National Guard has more modern main battle tanks...
The one is still in the shop after its run on the range against Jeremy Clarkson and the Range Rover from several years ago.
There is always a home base advantage. Even if the course of fire is random, the fact you are shooting over a known range helps, you know the nuances of the range.
Not a tanker but used to shoot in small arms competitions and it made a difference there. I would expect in the movement and shoot completion knowledge of the course would help a wee bit in travel times, knowing the correct approach and speeds to various obstacles and where to look for targets as the safety fans are such that you can expect targets to be located in fairly specific locations (i.e. they will not have the Officers club behind the target, though that might be a interesting challenge)
Also I see no reason to be bitter about the loss, because the lower enlisted ranks are not all career, you always have some young guys on their first/second tour, the competition usually requires some percentage of new personnel who have never been in competition before. Good rule because it prevents the event from coming down to a bunch of sandbaggers, but it means it is hard to have a team of folks dedicated to the match, you just select the best crew you have.
Lastly having the Poles, Germans and Danes all trained up is the best deterrent to Russian adventurism. Each of the armies may be small but if they are effective it means the Russians may think twice before doing some kind of adventurism in the Baltic.
You nailed it. Our troops will be trained in sufficient number to defend, or alien to the Europeans, to Attack when necessary. The money necessary to build and equip the next generation of US tank is will be in the hands of the president elected this November.
Lol I put 145K on an MG Midget...I know of what you speak!!!
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