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The Best Tank in the World

I agree with you Fatman but in such "contests" on web forums I take combat performance as the main deciding factor as to whether a piece of equipment deserves a high reputation.

For example the British Sherman variant Firefly was capable of taking out Tiger tanks in WW2.
 
I agree with you Fatman but in such "contests" on web forums I take combat performance as the main deciding factor as to whether a piece of equipment deserves a high reputation.

For example the British Sherman variant Firefly was capable of taking out Tiger tanks in WW2.

exactly my point! a un-manned / un-trained squad of a sherman firefly is worthless. a well-trained tank squad and the sherman firefly will knock-out anything.
 
Well, i'll again emphasize-that it is the man behind the gun that matters....
 
here is an example of a modern contemporary tank failing miserably...

....descended on a desolate bit of desert between multan and bahawalpur called the tamewali firing range....to observe the tank trials of the latest american battle tank, the M1/A1 Abrams. the US was pressing hard for Pakistan to acquire this tank, a deal that would have tied Pakistan to the US spare parts pipeline for years to come....

The tank trial was a shambles. the 55 ton M1/A1 behemoth, designed for the cleaner climes and hard surfaces of Europe and North America, did not fare too well in the desert of the tamewali. a film of the trials shows that the tank trying to fire on the move and from a stationary position, surrounded by clouds of dust. but the movement of the tanks was seriously constrained by the fact that its engines sucked up the fine dust of tamewali and clogged its filters, jamming the Chrysler turbine engines. the most pathetic sight was of the tank trying to climb up a dirt ramp built at the site, getting stuck and then sliding sideways off the ramp like a drunken sailor. clearly this was not the tank for the Pakistan Army.....

from Crossed Swords.
 
The above post reminded me of the justification my uncle a Major Retd from the Piffers told me as to why the Pakistan army utilises different equipment for different theatres its troops may find themselves in hence why pictures of troops in Siachen show them to use Type 56 assault rifles as opposed to G3s.
 
The above post reminded me of the justification my uncle a Major Retd from the Piffers told me as to why the Pakistan army utilises different equipment for different theatres its troops may find themselves in hence why pictures of troops in Siachen show them to use Type 56 assault rifles as opposed to G3s.

A very valid point brought out by you.

The kind of versatility that our terrain offers it is necessary to have a unique weapon/support system for each of them.

Thats why we find our army specializing in Conventional, Desert, Mountain, Snow/High Altitude Warfare.

As far as your G3 vs Siachen is concerned. The G3 being delayed blow back operated is not effective in the thin/low density air at high altitude in Siachen.
 
here is an example of a modern contemporary tank failing miserably...

....descended on a desolate bit of desert between multan and bahawalpur called the tamewali firing range....to observe the tank trials of the latest american battle tank, the M1/A1 Abrams. the US was pressing hard for Pakistan to acquire this tank, a deal that would have tied Pakistan to the US spare parts pipeline for years to come....

The tank trial was a shambles. the 55 ton M1/A1 behemoth, designed for the cleaner climes and hard surfaces of Europe and North America, did not fare too well in the desert of the tamewali. a film of the trials shows that the tank trying to fire on the move and from a stationary position, surrounded by clouds of dust. but the movement of the tanks was seriously constrained by the fact that its engines sucked up the fine dust of tamewali and clogged its filters, jamming the Chrysler turbine engines. the most pathetic sight was of the tank trying to climb up a dirt ramp built at the site, getting stuck and then sliding sideways off the ramp like a drunken sailor. clearly this was not the tank for the Pakistan Army.....

from Crossed Swords.

The M1 was designed to combat russian tanks, anywhere (but most likely NOT in the USA). As for the hard surfaces of Europe > The most likely deployment place in Europe during the cold war was Germany (Fulda Gap), which is not hard surface at all (rather soft and muddy, like most of the rest of Northern Europe).

As for the turbine, well, the gas turbine propulsion system has proven quite reliable in practice and combat, but its high fuel consumption is a serious logistic issue (starting up the turbine alone consumes 40 liters of fuel). The high speed, high temperature jet exhaust emitted from the rear of M1 Abrams tanks makes it difficult for the infantry to proceed shadowing the tank in urban combat. The turbine is noisy, comparable to a helicopter engine, although the noise character (pitch) is significantly different from a contemporary diesel tank engine, which makes is more difficult to hear (hence Iraqi's in GW called it 'Whispering Death'). Negatives also include effective filtering of the huge volume of air used by the turbine engine without overloading the filters. The small size, simplicity, power-to-weight ratio, and easy removal/replacement of the turbine powerpack does, however, present significant advantages. And it is multifuel.

Of course, the M1 can easily also mount the trusted, more fuel efficient powerpack of the LEO 2, should a customer so desire ....

As for that ramp, I think going to the limit is what is supposed to be done during a testing ... Besdies, without knowing how other tanks fared on the same ramp, the quoted footage is rather meaningless.

Sand can be just as much of a tank-killer as missiles. The MOST IMPORTANT filter on the M1A1 Abrams battle tank is its' nanofiber air filter. With the M1 engine filter cleaning happens automatically while the tank is on the move. This is done by the Pulse Jet Air Cleaner. The filter doesn't have to be changed for months (during Gulf War I, the soldiers had to stop to clean out the air filters on the M1 tanks every 15 miles!). The Minneapolis-based Donaldson Company began building automated air cleaners for Army tanks in 1995 and now makes a filtering machine that constantly removes dirt and dust from M1 tank engines. These turbine-powered filters can suck a substantial amount of sand from a turbine engine in a matter of hours (without requiring a tanker to do the labor).
 
during Gulf War I, the soldiers had to stop to clean out the air filters on the M1 tanks every 15 miles!.

The V-pac filters did not need to be changed every 15 miles. The Arabian sand is much thicker and coarser than the Yakima, Erwin, Riley, and hood talcum powder like tank trail dust and there the filters only had to be be blown out daily as part of NORMAL preventive maintenance.
 
I don't know where you got the Idea that the British challenger tank is propaganda but the AMerican A-1 Abrams are
THey were the embarrassment during the gulf war and had to use British Chalenger Tanks to fight.

doubtful

all tanks proved superior especially in back drop of massive air support and better armament employed.
 
"...had to use British Chalenger [sic] Tanks to fight."

Imbecilic.

Honestly, I could give a sh!t whether you want to call it #1 or #100. It's what we've got and I'm still waiting for the FIRST KE-generated catastrophic kill on an Abrams.

As to an air force overhead...it's never about leveling the playing field.

It's a pretty good tank and the only one we'll be using for awhile.

Hits it's 30th operational birthday any day. Either 1979, '80, or '81 I think. Chances are we'll be in it for another thirty. Works for me.

Winter in the states and Germany, rice paddies in S. Korea, U.S. deserts, Egypt, KSA, Kuwait, and Iraq. Now the aussies have it too.

It's done o.k.:agree:
 

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