RE: [OT]Wither Canada? And Australias Abrahms

Jared Hilal wrote:

>Best description:
>Encylopedia of Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles, Ed. Chris Foss,
>2002, p248

Chris Foss really should've known better than that. (Then again, it 
wouldn't've been the first time Jane's got things backwards - eg., it
took 
them well over a year to figure out that there are currently *two* 
companies "Bofors", and the Carl Gustaf system is *not* owned by United 
Defence...)

>[about the Leo 2A5] "The most important of these [improvements] is a
>lengthened 120mm gun extended from the previous 44 calibres to 55
>calibres"

The A4 and standard A5 have the same 44-calibre gun (which is quite
obvious 
when you look at two of them side by side); the most visible difference 
between them is the turret front armour - the Leo2A4 has a vertical (or 
nearly vertical) turret front, whereas the A5 has a wedge of add-on
armour 
in front of that. IIRC some A5s were fitted with an L55 gun as part of
the 
process of developing the A6, but they're supposed to have been upgraded

into "full" A6s.

>"Sweden will licence manufacture the Leopard 2A5, while Spain will
>produce the Leopard2A6, a private-venture export model similar to the
>Leopard 2A5, but with extras such as air conditioning, an auxilliary
>power unit and yet more protection."

All Swedish Leopards - both the Strv121 (Leo2A4) and Strv122 (Leo2S, ie.

A5s with upgraded armour and different electronics) - have the
44-calibre gun.

> >>I still don't understand that.  I understand the objection to DU
> >>ammunition (don't agree, but understand) but I don't understand the
> >>objection to the HA package.  <Shrug>
> >
> >For the same reasons given with the munitions Aussies just don't go
> >for DU.
>
>"Firing our DU penetrators at the enemy contaminates the envionment",
>how can that be applied to the armor?	"Firing our DU armor panels at
>the enemy contaminates the envionment"?

Getting DU armour panels fired *at* by weapons strong enough to
penetrate 
to the actual DU causes a significant risk of throwing pulverized DU
into 
the environment (the armour material and penetrator mutually grind each 
other down and the resulting dust gets thrown out of the penetration
channel).

>It's not clear whether the M1A2 has the same armor as the M1A1 or the
>HA package as standard.

IIRC the A2 has been further upgraded beyond A1HA level, though I may
have 
confused the A2 with the A2SEP.

Regards,

Oerjan
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
-Hen3ry