British Tanks Wipe Out Iraqi Soviet-Made Tanks Around Basra (Target aquired, FIRE!)

World Tribune ^ | March 27, 2003 | World Tribune

[JudgeAmint]

British tanks wipe out Iraqi Soviet-made tanks around Basra

Iraqi armored units have proven to be no match to British main battle tanks.

Officials said Britain's Challenger-2 tanks have easily picked off Iraqi T-55 tanks around the southern city of Basra. So far, they said, scores of Soviet-origin T-55 tanks have been destroyed in battles around Basra over the last two days.

On Thursday, officials reported the destruction of 14 Iraqi tanks, believed to have been T-55s. Iraq first obtained the T-55 in the mid-1960s and some of them were upgraded in the 1980s.

Officials said Iraq appears to have reserved its advanced T-72 tanks for protection of the Baghdad area.

[archy]

The 73rd Armoured Regiment with its T-55s at Republic Day (India).

Ahh...fresh spray paint for everyone....

If the Indian Army's tankists have the usual tendency to cover flaws and faults with a fresh coat of paint when inspection or parade time comes around, that's not to say that they're not top-notch tankers of the finest kind.

There are some real serious and experienced tankers in those Indian regiments.

Lt. Col. Hanut Singh, MVC of 17 Poona Horse with his Centurion tank, Kooshab. The regiment is one of the most decorated in the Armoured Corps and in 1965 it had already been awarded with one PVC, only to win another in 1971 at the Battle of Basantar in which 66 Pakistani tanks were claimed to have been destroyed.

The frantic convulsive movements of Pakistani tanks caught in the open by Hunters from the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the battle of Longewala. The insert shows three destroyed Pakistani tanks.

[archy]

I am still not sure about my primary reason for asking, that is, if your topped off and you enter into a battle, how many hours can you plan to engage, say another tank outfit on the field, before you have to retire for more gas?

As per the lengthy response above, it depends. But if I get my druthers, I'll take them from *cold* positions radiating no heat or electronic signiture, preferably in dug-in turret defilade [just the main gun ant top of the turret above the ground] and hopefully against a dumb and greedy enemy intent on some other distraction, like a bunch of empty fuel tankers parked around some obsolete tanks or infantry vehicles deployed like they're refueling, a tanker's dream target. And ideally I'll be using gun or rocket systems with a longer range than those of the adversaries, from beyond their effective return fire capability, and with followup artillery and air support on call as needed. They will have a real bad day at the office.

The aviator's equivalent used to be an attack from above, from out of the sun, but 50-mile range standoff *fire-and-forget* missiles have changed that game somewhat.

I think like an aviator, probably because I am, in that if the enemy were to throw huge numbers of inferior aircraft at me, I need to know how long I can sustain myself before I have to be relieved to find a tanker. I gather from your answer that depending on the condition of your air filters, your burn rate can be significantly different.

Among many different factors, including terrain, the ability of the driver, wet or dry offroad conditions, altitude and temperature. Just as fuel management is critical for an aviator, so too it is for a tanker- and especially for either of them that have a big thirsty turbine gulping the fuel down. And both can be fitted with varieties of auxilliary *drop tanks* as well, and getting rid of those fuel containers at the first sign that hostilities are at hand is foremost on the mind of either the combat tanker or aviator so encumbered.

There's another similarity between the treadheads and birdmen, too: the speed and maneuverability of the Abrams has brought about a reduction in the size of the tank platoon from 5 tanks to 4, arranged in pairs of a *lead* and his *wingman.* Likewise the Headquarters Company tank section has been reduced from three to another lead/wingman paired team. I expect you'd find the tactics similar if not identical, and yes, tankers know what an OODA loop is too.

See the following, and see if those described don't remind you of a well-functioning aircrew.

-archy-/-

[Magnum44]

Thanks much.

[may18]

Yeah i know theres problems with them,

I come from a military family and i can tell you underfunding causes a lot of problems for uk forces.
Given that cdi shows the uk as europes highest spenders on equipment it makes me wonder what state other euro armies are in.

Having said that, i still believe our guys do an extremely professional job, more impressive that they do it despite these problems.

WRT small numbers, its part of a defence review aiming to maintain a smallish, highly mobile, well trained force that can move quickly.