Nigerian military receives tanks, artillery from China

/www.defenceweb.co.za ^ | 9th Apr 2020 | Written by defenceWeb

[RomanSoldier19]

Nigeria’s military has taken delivery of VT-4 main battle tanks, SH-5 self-propelled howitzers and other equipment from China in an effort to strengthen its land forces in the battle against Boko Haram militants.

[twister881]

The first hit is “free.”

[BenLurkin]

Sounds like the wrong kind of equipment for counter-insurgency, yes?

[RomanSoldier19]

pre-position
To place military units, equipment, or supplies at or near the point of planned use or at a designated location to reduce reaction time, and to ensure timely support of a specific force during initial phases of an operation.

[ryderann]

Will the tanks have Chinese crews? I remember the Russian pilots flying the MIGs in the Korean war although it was strongly denied.

[Spirochete]

I remember the Russian pilots flying the MIGs in the Korean war although it was strongly denied.

Vietnam too. Also, the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and the Yom Kippur War.

[grey_whiskers]

That pic sure makes it look like a ripoff of an M1 - Abrams.

[ryderann]

You’re right. I had totally forgotten that.

[Spktyr]

Most tanks have that angular look these days. The Germans retrofitted the Leopard 2 to have angular “arrowhead” panels attached to the front of the turret. Against modern AP rounds, a faceted, angled armor surface is the best thing to present, preferably with a heavy ERA cover and even more preferably with an APS preventing most of the projectile getting to you.

By the way, the Chinese have APS. We’re hastily retrofitting it to our Abrams after the lessons in Syria where Turkey went in with front line ex-German Leopard 2A4/2A5 and got absolutely shredded by Kornet and Konkurs missiles.

[Spktyr]

Depends on operating area. We used tanks and artillery to good effect in the Iraq and Afghani counterinsurgency theaters.

[grey_whiskers]

Thanks for the update, but...what is ERA cover? Enhanced Reactive Armor? And what is APS, please?

[Spktyr]

ERA is Explosive Reactive Armor. It’s basically a layer of explosive that blows back at an incoming antitank round when compressed by the projectile or ignited by the jet of a shaped charge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_armour

APS stands for Active Protection System. Pioneered separately by the Russians and Israelis, this is a class of system that constantly scans for incoming threats and fires interceptor devices to deflect or destroy them before they can come into contact with the vehicle’s armor. Some versions can do scary things like knock tank main gun rounds out of the air or detonate artillery rounds in flight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_protection_system

APS is one area where NATO was very late to the game. As in ‘we started fitting it last year when it’s been around for forty years and shown as working for most of twenty’ levels of late.

[grey_whiskers]

I remain in your debt good sir!

[Spktyr]

This is what happens to a front-line NATO tank without APS when it encounters a modern ATGM (anti-tank guided missile) - this particular ATGM crewed by young Kurdish women.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YafzmkvVRiI

This is what happens when a NATO vehicle with APS is shot at by RPGs (rocket propelled {antitank} grenades) and ATGM:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aA9HsmLHBQ

[Zhang Fei]

[Sounds like the wrong kind of equipment for counter-insurgency, yes?]

---

Armored vehicles, including Pattons, Sheridans and M-113’s, and artillery were used extensively in Vietnam. No one apart from Uncle Sam has the money for multiple air-mobile divisions or on-call air support. France’s tac air was inadequate to hold Dien Bien Phu. No country without US-scale tac air could have held Khe Sanh short of nuclear weapons. The Australians relied primarily on M-113’s and towed howitzers during the Battle of Long Tan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Long_Tan

This was chronicled in a movie starring the Vikings TV series lead, currently available on Amazon Prime, called Danger Close.

[Leaning Right]

“Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me.”

Don Xi Jinping

[SauronOfMordor]

The tanks are not intended to be used against Muslim jihadis.

The tanks are intended by Nigeria’s Muslim controlled government to quickly exterminate its Christians.

[srmanuel]

When I picture a Nigerian Driving a Chinese Tank, all I can think of is Iraqis driving a Russian Tank in the first gulf war

[wally_bert]

Harbor Freight’s version.

20% off with a coupon.

It might work once or last for years. One can never tell.

[.44 Special]

It makes me think of Idi Amin and his treatment of his fellow countrymen.
I find it in congruent that the UN will not allow modern farming methods, tractors, or GM grain to be used by indigenous African peoples and insist that they use historically correct native methods of food production to protect the African culture. Yet they will allow countries like China to equip African military organization with the latest means of death and destruction.