Re: Nailing Dirtside/Stargrunt Chamber Pots (was Re: [GZG] More re: [OFFICIAL] Salute releases....!)

["John Atkinson" <johnmatkinson@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 4/23/07, Oerjan Ariander <oerjan.ariander@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> >Seriously, There probably aren't a dozen different main battle tanks
> >in full-scale production today.  US, UK, FRG, FRA, Russia, Israel and
> >a dozen folks producing knock-offs of obsolete Russian designs.  Who
> >else has a no-kidding tank industry that produces tanks in quantities
> >sufficient to arm their own nation, much less someone else's?
>
> Some further examples:
>
> Italy, Japan and South Korea all build their own unique tank designs and
> have equipped their armies with them, though AFAIK none of them have
> exported any.

Near as I call tell, from a 6mm or 15mm gamer's perspective, the K1 is
visually indistinct from an M-1.  :)   But that's also with over a
hundred armies to equip.  In a universe dominated by a tiny number of
major superpowers, with the thousands of AFVs that each of them would
be building, would it make economic sense for the smaller nations to
maintain their own tank industry rather than buying or
license-building minor variations on the big 4's stuff?

> That's a dozen different countries with their own distinct-looking tanks -
> and that's is just for *MBTs*. There are several other countries today that
> build their own light tanks/heavy IFVs and SPGs (eg. Sweden and Singapore)
> but don't build their own MBTs, and more still that build their own APCs.
> And as for wheeled vehicles - well, just about everyone and their
> grandmother builds those...

On the other hand, for the basic "troop carrier, wheeled" and 'troop
carrier, tracked' only a dedicated and passionate armor nut can tell
the difference between most of the basic, inexpensive, utilitarian
designs.  There doesn't appear to be much flexibility in efficient
design choices.

John
--
"Thousands of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again
and again.  We're looking for thousands of Persians."
--Vita Aureliani
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