Posted on 08/21/2006 1:19:22 AM PDT by strategofr
American armored vehicles took a real beating in Iraq, even if they were never hit by enemy fire. The heat, the sand, and the constant work wears these vehicles down. So the U.S. Army has come up with a $700,000 "reset" process that refurbishes and upgrades M-1 tanks to M-1A1SA models. What the crews particularly like about these SA (Situational Awareness) models is the new Blue Force Tracker (BFT) gear, which reliably shows them where all friendly (BFT equipped) vehicles are at all times, on a map display. Then there is the new and improved thermal sights, that provide better images at longer ranges (exact range is secret, but said to be over two kilometers). The .50 caliber machine-gun topside gets a thermal sight. There is now a phone box mounted on the side, for the infantry to use to talk to the crew. There are a lot of upgrades and improvements in the electrical system, many based on soldier suggestions.
The experience in Iraq has thus produced a version of the M-1 that is optimized for infantry support.
Didn't Shermans have those in World War II? Next upgrade will probably add a hatch in the floor.
You also see the same thing on an M-48 in the movie "Full Metal Jacket"
The hatch or the phone?
Let's get the Blue Force Tracker kit for the UK forces - does it work with A10 aircraft?
I can picture the conversations....
"Yeah uhh... your double pepperoni with extra cheese is here."
"So then I said to Sarge.... uhh hang on gotta kill some Mujahideen.... #^^&%(&^&#@!@#$%^(*.... All right where was I?"
"Uhhh, could you move it over a little to the left, you parked on my car!!"
bump
oooo...cutting!
Actually every tank up to the M1 had a phone, at the BACK where a grunt could shelter behind the tank. Problem repeating that with the M1 is the 1500 degree turbine exahust. It was considered and dropped because it wasn't healthly to bake your support. Guess they relearned that lesson, along with the sheild on a pintle mount .50 on the humvee (a lesson we had applied to the ACAV in Vietnam.)
There is nothing better than actual field experience to polish up a weapons system.
In the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas a G-Man type guy named Toreno tells the main character as he's being chased by fighter aircraft, "Don't worry. They can't shoot you down. If they did it would be an international incident. It's not like you're a British tank."
Yes, but if you use the track tensioning tool you can hang Jiffy Pop popcorn off the back and have a nice treat in the field. ;-)
I know they got an airframe version at least for the helos not sure about the aircraft. BFT is an excellent system, it was first implemented during the invasion, remember the sandstorm?
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