Free Republic

He just keeps going.

The U.S. Army says a decision by Saudi Arabia to have Abrams tanks assembled at a Lima, Ohio plant run by General Dynamics Corp will help maintain a low level of production at the plant despite a planned three-year halt in U.S. orders. General Dynamics is expected to receive $755 million in orders this year to convert old M1A1 tanks owned by Saudi Arabia to a "like new" M1A2S configuration at the Lima plant, instead of shipping kits for assembly in Saudi Arabia, as originally planned, Army officials said. The company will also receive about $650 million for continued work...

7 Most Incredible Tank Graveyards on Earth In certain corners of the globe you'll find the strangest of military cemeteries – places filled not with the bodies of fallen troops but littered with the carcasses of abandoned tanks. These once-formidable weapons of war no longer strike fear into the hearts of opposing forces; their days of rolling inexorably onwards on the teeth of steel tracks are over. Now, the armor of these behemoths is rusting and corroded, their hatches all but sealed from lack of use, and their controls never again to be manned by commanders in battle. WWII tank...

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has withdrawn tanks and heavy weapons from cities around the nation -- but his forces continue to kill unarmed protesters, the Arab League reports. Some 3,500 political prisoners were allegedly freed by the Assad regime on Monday, but government forces continued to shoot to kill, even with Arab League monitors in the country, Arab League secretary-general Nabil Elaraby said Monday. At least eight more protesters were killed, despite the presence of the monitors in the country. A child was shot dead Sunday, becoming the Syrian Revolution's first victim of 2012. "Yes, there is still shooting and...

The mystery surrounding Russian-made tanks that the government denied were destined for South Sudan last year has been unravelled by a secret diplomatic cable. A 2009 cable released by whistleblowing site WikiLeaks says a senior State Department official produced satellite images that appeared to show that the tanks unloaded in Kenya were trans-shipped to South Sudan. The evidence contradicted claims by Kenyan officials that the hardware imported from Ukraine was intended for the Kenyan military. A bill of lading and manifest of the hijacked MV Faina, which was seen by the Nation when the ship was released by pirates showed...

My question is - how did tank gunners aim in the 'old days?' From wikipedia..."The Abrams is equipped with a ballistic fire-control computer that uses user and system-supplied data from a variety of sources, to compute, display, and incorporate the three components of a ballistic solution—lead angle, ammunition type, and range to the target—to accurately fire the tank. These three components are determined using a YAG rod laser rangefinder, crosswind sensor, a pendulum static cant sensor, data concerning performance and flight characteristics of each specific type of round, tank-specific boresight alignment data, ammunition temperature, air temperature, barometric pressure, a muzzle...

ISTANBUL -- Turkish tanks entered northern Iraq and were heading towards a Kurdish militant camp, Turkish media reported Tuesday. The army's incursion is part of the reaction to last week's series of attacks by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in which 24 Turkish soldiers and policemen were killed in the border province of Hakkari. Turkey responded with air raids on PKK camps in northern Iraq, which it uses as bases to attack Turkey. The target of the latest operation was a PKK camp in Haftanin, around 20 kilometres over the border.

Berlin Opposition Livid about Saudi Border Deal By Matthias Gebauer and Florian Gathmann The opposition in Berlin was already outraged about a plan to sell 200 tanks to Saudi Arabia. Now, however, a new deal involving the training of Saudi border patrol officers is raising additional questions. And some say the German constitution may have been violated. Info The deal involves a mountain of money: The German deal to sell Saudi Arabia 200 "Leopard" battle tanks is worth some €2 billion. Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has yet to directly confirm the deal -- and the opposition is furious . Given...

For the drug cartel boss who has everything, the latest piece of military hardware is the “narco tank.” Today’s competitive crime mafias in Mexico are no longer satisfied with bazookas, rocket-propelled grenades or land mines. The Mexican military has discovered that gangsters south of Texas are building armored assault vehicles, with gun turrets, inch-thick armor plates, firing ports and bulletproof glass. More than 35,000 Mexicans have died in four years of drug violence, and the fighting between the rival Gulf and Zeta cartels, and with the military units that chase them, has been especially vicious in the border cities and...

BRUSSELS – NATO acknowledged Friday that its airstrikes had hit rebels using tanks to fight government forces in eastern Libya, saying no one told them the rebels used tanks. British Rear Adm. Russell Harding, the deputy commander of the NATO operation, said in the past, only forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi had used heavy armored vehicles. Harding says the rebels and government troops are engaged in a series of advances and retreats between the eastern coastal towns of Brega and Ajdabiya, making it difficult for pilots to distinguish between them.

BRUSSELS -NATO said Friday its airstrikes had hit rebels using tanks in their fight with the government forces in eastern Libya, but said it would not apologize for the deaths. Rear Admiral Russell Harding, the deputy commander of the NATO operation, said NATO had no previous information the rebels were operating tanks. In the past, only forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi had used heavy armored vehicles, he said. Harding says the situation between the eastern coastal towns of Brega and Ajdabiya remains fluid, with the opposing forces engaged in a series of advances and retreats, making it difficult for pilots...

Tripoli, 25 March (AKI) - British warplanes pounded Libyan tanks as coalition raids on Muammar Gaddafi's armed forces entered their sixth day.

/begin my excerpts Kim Jong-il Orders Dozens of Tanks to be Deployed around his Residence at Yongsung, Pyongyang Sources in Pyongyang reported on Feb. 28, "When the Egyptian protests were at their peak in early February, Kim Jong-il deployed tens of tanks around his residence at Yongsung, Pyongyang." They believe that he made such decision when it was apparent that Egyptian President Mubarak, whom he had close relationship with, was being forced to step down, and it made him extremely wary. The sourced added, "Starting at the second half of 2009, when the succession process is in (full) progress, he...

Saudi Arabia has sent dozens of tanks to Bahrain, where anti-government protests continue for about two weeks, Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper said on Tuesday. Eyewitnesses reported seeing "15 tank carriers carrying two tanks each heading towards Bahrain" along the 25-km King Fahd causeway, which links the small island nation of Bahrain to Saudi Arabia. Protestors are mainly Shiites account for about 70% of the Bahraini population, but have long complained of discrimination and other abuses by the Sunni Khalifa dynasty that has ruled the tiny Gulf nation for more than two centuries. In the worst unrest in the kingdom since...

Tanks 'Ready to Be Used Against Uprising in Pyongyang' The North Korean Army's Guard Command, a military unit tasked with protecting leader Kim Jong-il, is hiding scores of tanks in Pyongyang to quell any popular uprising, Radio Free Asia claimed Tuesday. The U.S.-funded radio station quoted a defector from Pyongyang as saying, "There is a battalion of about 50 tanks from the Guard Command in the Taedong River area in eastern Pyongyang. They stage a field exercise about once a year." He said the tanks used to move only at the night to escape public notice. "All are hidden underground....

What you are about to watch is an actual event. The video was filmed by the Israeli military. It is a fully armored Syrian tank being hit by an Israeli laser-guided, steel-penetrating, phosphorous-filled "hand held" rocket. The rocket is small, very portable and is a tightly controlled weapon; each one is accounted for when they are checked out and back in. There must be no fewer than two soldiers present to verify the use of these rockets, and one witness must be a senior officer with a minimum of 10 years military service. The program and names of those involved...

/begin my translation RFA: Tanks Deployed around Kim Jong-il's Villa According to Radio Free Asia in U.S., N. Korea deployed a tank unit at Kim Jong-il's villa in Yanggang Province, in order to counter a potential mutiny by military units. Quoting its source from inside N. Korea, it reported that 10 tanks from Guard Command were deployed around the villa last August, and its purpose is to hold in check the 10th Corps stationed in Yanggang Province. In related news, Free North Korea Radio, a short wave broadcast targeting N. Korea, reported in Dec. 27 that tanks were deployed at...

"We've taken the gloves off, and it has had huge impact..."Jet-powered M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank The U.S. military is sending a contingent of heavily armored battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year war, defense officials said, a shift that signals a further escalation in the aggressive tactics that have been employed by American forces this fall to attack the Taliban. ... The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss specific tactics, said the combination of the raids, the airstrikes and the use of explosives on the ground...

The U.S. military is sending a contingent of heavily armored battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year war, defense officials said, a shift that signals a further escalation in the aggressive tactics that have been employed by American forces this fall to attack the Taliban. The deployment of a company of M1 Abrams tanks, which will be fielded by the Marines in the country's southwest, will allow ground forces to target insurgents from a greater distance - and with more of a lethal punch - than is possible from any other U.S. military vehicle. The 68-ton...

The November Kaiser Health Tracking Poll shows that President Obama's health care overhaul has now hit a lower level of popularity than at any previous time in his presidency. Kaiser writes, "Just a quarter of the public (25 percent) now says they expect their own families to be better off under the health reform law, which is the lowest share since KFF [Kaiser Family Foundation] began tracking this question." Kaiser notes that it began tracking the question in February of 2009, just weeks after President Obama's inauguration. The survey also confirms that "health care voters" were central to the Republicans'...