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I hadn't seen these posted, and I hadn't even heard about this incident until finding these photos. In Iraq, a US 4th Infantry Division tank was destroyed (and two of the four man crew killed) when they rolled over three anti-tank mines, buried in the road, one on top of another. It sounds to me just like the method the Palis used to knock out a Merkava - so either the Palis have come to Iraq, or they have trained someone who is there.These photos are a little hard to look at, but unfortunately it needs to be done. I...

The "Mystery Projectile" that caused the penetration of an M-1 tanks side armor was probably a Russian RPG-7V or similar type. This is an improved version with wave shaper in the HEAT warhead. The pictures (see here)  of the penetration show classic HEAT warhead circular flash and light material splash (aluminum or similar from outer warhead casing) in a roughly circular area and at between 500 - 800 mm radius around the penetration hole. It also seems as if the entry hole on the skirt plate has a ragged and enlarged hole. This is consistent with wave shaped warheads that...

<p>The Army is investigating whether pro-Saddam insurgents have a new mystery weapon that can disable the powerhouse M1AI Abrams tank - while leaving only a pencil-size hole in the hull. The Army Times reported yesterday that commanders in Iraq have grown alarmed about the prospect that exotic new weaponry may be in the hands of the death squads after one of the 69-ton workhorse tanks was disabled while on patrol in Baghdad Aug. 28.</p>

WASHINGTON -- A mystery munition knocked a U.S. Army M1A1 Abrams tank out of commission in Iraq, leading the Pentagon to question whether the terrorists have a secret weapon in their arsenal. An unclassified Army report says a projectile punched through the vehicle and drilled a pencil-sized hole through the hull. The hole was so small that, according to the author's report, "my little finger will not go into it." The Abrams tank is nearly invulnerable to attack. Only two have been disabled by enemy fire during the entire Iraq campaign, according to the Army Times. The other one was...

October 31, 2003: The U.S. Army is not saying much about the "mystery projectile" that went through the side skirts and side armor of an M-1A1 tank last August 28th. Whatever it was just barely missed the tanks gunner (it went through the back of his seat and grazed part of his flak jacket) and put a pencil size hole nearly 50mm deep into the four inch thick armor on the other side of the tank. The damage may have been done by a projectile, not a shaped charge (which uses a jet of super-hot plasma to burn a hole...

<p>Shortly before dawn on Aug. 28, an M1A1 Abrams tank on routine patrol in Baghdad “was hit by something” that crippled the 69-ton behemoth. Army officials still are puzzling over what that “something” was.</p> <p>According to an unclassified Army report, the mystery projectile punched through the vehicle’s skirt and drilled a pencil-sized hole through the hull. The hole was so small that “my little finger will not go into it,” the report’s author noted.</p>

China has made substantial advances in some areas of its ground and naval forces, including upgrades to tanks and armor, laser systems and anti-submarine warfare. Jane's Defense Weekly, a respected Britain-based military journal, said the People's Liberation Army is set to deploy a new main battle tank, or MBT, that, when fielded, will become the most powerful of its kind in the world. The magazine said the tank will feature a huge 152 mm main gun with an automatic loader that, when coupled with a new advanced aiming system, will enable the tank to fire on the move with high...

They call them "lessons learned" reports in the Pentagon, and few are getting as much attention as the review of the Army's lumbering M1-A1 Abrams tank's performance in Iraq. Revered by soldiers as the world's best, the report found that lone Iraqis armed with simple rocket-propelled grenades halted a few Abramses in their tracks. Just like those Battle of the Bulge scenes of GIs firing at the bellies of Nazi tanks, a rocket aimed at the armored skirts on the side and back of the Abrams would occasionally disable the tank. That's led some to question the plan to replace...

AL AZIZIYAH, Iraq – The Iraqis fired rocket-propelled grenades from behind a taxi parked along a distant canal. One grenade zipped across the nose of an armored amphibious vehicle and exploded in the dirt. That angered Maj. Andrew Bianca, executive officer of the Marines' 2nd Tank Battalion. Sheathed in aluminum plate, the tracked amphibious vehicles known as amtracks can withstand rifle fire, but not rocket grenades. And Maj. Bianca's support team was in amtracks. He ordered his tank crew to fire a round at the Iraqis. The 120 mm cannon barrel dropped slightly, then erupted with smoke and flame. The...

Tanks for the Memory By Ralph Kinney Bennett TCS One of the enduring images of the recent war in Iraq is a column of M-1A1 Abrams tanks barreling down the streets of Baghdad on a "thunder run," deep into the city. This spring, American tanks in Iraq gave a small reprise of their astounding successes in the 1991 Gulf War. The superiority of both American and British tanks (and their superbly trained crews) was beyond question. When they engaged Iraqi armor directly, their ability to get off the vital first shot and make it count was decisive. Iraq is littered...

Despite being outnumbered, the U.S. group vanquished the Iraqi Republican Guard force within minutes, thanks to superior armed vehicles and devastatingly powerful ammunition. "My commander called me, gave me the warning order to be prepared to conduct an attack on 22 stationary T-72s [Soviet-built tanks used by the Iraqis] that the [U.S.] Air Force had identified," Lyle said. "I selected a force, tank heavy, almost all the tanks in my troop, with some Bradleys [armored fighting vehicles] to go with it."

efreedomnews         WAR ON TERRORISM - AN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE "All the Way to Baghdad"efreedomnews21 December 2002 Morale is running high as the U.S. Army  launched its biggest live-fire exercise in the Persian Gulf region since the Gulf war, in preparation for possible war with Iraq. The day and night live-fire exercises in the Kuwaiti desert involve thousands of troops and hundreds of armored vehicles from the army's Third Division based at Fort Stewart, Georgia . Troops decorated their vehicles with the flight numbers from 911 and one M1A1 tank crew stenciled ALL THE WAY TO BAGHDAD on the barrel....