Re: Tanks

On Thu, 3 Feb 2000, Thomas.Barclay wrote:

> =====================================================
> Point taken. This alone might make CPR guns unviable in the long run.
> =====================================================

Perhaps, their simplicity might make them nice to have though. 

> =====================================================
> My fault. I meant in any moderately even fight where tank on side A
has some
> parity with tank on side B. I do not necessarily count Yom Kippur
though it

Yom Kippur was not a turkey shoot. Neither was the 6 day war. (air war 
aside) I recall on battle on Gaza where the IDF was taking back lost 
ground and was running tanks into action with bare minimums of ammo. 
There was a lot of cross leveling. 

> How about me having my guy around to repair it as a tech rather than
dead
> because he was exposing himself peeking over a hill and got sniped?
I'm not
> saying there aren't situations where another guy is useful. But a lot
of
> battle damage probably can't be repaired by even 4 guys. By your
argument

True, but he's not going to go stumbling around and just stand there, 
he's trying to find a covered route his tank can take from point to 
point. Did you know that alternate defensive fighting positions are 
usually marked with engineer tape by the commander so the driver can 
quickly get into the prepped position with a minimum of bother?

> (or that line of thought anyway), I'd ideally like a 20 man tank crew
as

We arent' talking about WWI german tanks here...We are talking about the

balace in tank design that has existed for 50 years of their existance. 
France tried 2 man tanks, commanders were very poorly equipped to fight 
and command at the same time. 

> =====================================================
> Well, if you have enough weaponry to make a second gunner viable,
rather
> than as a backup, I don't think he's a loader anymore. I'm not saying
you
> can't justify a 4 man crew in some aspect but having a man doing the
job of
> shell chucking seems rather silly. 
> =====================================================

In the IDF, he uses his Pintle mount MG a lot. There is a reason IDF 
tanks have 4 MGs (1coax 7.62mm a .50 over the main gun, and loader
7.62mm 
and a commander 7.62mm) plus a 60mm mortar. 

> =====================================================
> Possibly. Or maybe its like a big magnet repelling the ground. Ever do
much
> service on a magnet? I dunno what shape this will take. It probably
isn't
> going to happen (well, maybe) and so this is total speculation and we
can
> PSB whatever we want. But tracks/cogs/road wheels are complex with a
lot of
> moving parts. If you can reduce the part count, you probably increase
> reliability and reduce maintenance.  

Granted, there is a reason some forces use Wheeled vehicles over
tracked. 
However the Wheeled vehicles don't carry nearly the same armour that the

tracked vehicles do. 

------------------------------------------------------------------
- Ryan Montieth Gill	  NRA / DoD# 0780 (Smug #1) / AMA / SOHC -
- ryan.gill@turner.com	    I speak not for CNN, nor they for me -
- rmgill@mindspring.com 	     www.mindspring.com/~rmgill/ -
- '85 Honda CB700S  -  '72 Honda CB750K  - '76 Chevy MonteCarlo  -
------------------------------------------------------------------
-  No more limits on the 2nd amendment. Enforce the extant laws  -
------------------------------------------------------------------