Little Willie: Forefather of the Tank

Forefather of the Tank:

Little Willie

explained by

David Fletcher 

of 

The Tank Museum

This year is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I.

One of the outcomes of the Great War that will shape up the future of warfare forever was The Tank. 

And One of the very early forefathers of the tank is William Tritton and Walter Wilson's Little Willie.

You can find a good video on Little Willie from YouTube.

Mr. Fletcher from the Bovington Tank Museum explains not only about Little Willie also how the idea of Tank came about and why the tracks of the following tanks had rhomboidal shape.

So enjoy the video...

Azerbaijan's BRDM-2 Upgrade: ZKDM

Azerbaijan gives the venerable BRDM-2 a new breath:

ZKDM

BRDM-2 "Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina" when introduced in 1962, became the prime armored reconnaissance vehicle of Soviets and their allies namely the Warsaw Pact. It was also largely exported to more than 45 countries world wide.

BRDM-2 is a 7 ton 4x4 vehicle of welded steel contruction. The vehicle has a crew of 4 and a V8 gasoline engine located in the rear.

The crew enters and exits the vehicle thru the hatches above the driver and commander seats in the front of the vehicle.

The vehicle has 4 small chain driven wheels along the middle of the hull sides that can be raised and lowered to allow better traction and to lower the ground pressure on soft terrain.

A one man turret composes the fire power of the BRDM2. The turret is armed with 14.5mm KPVT heavy machinegun and a coaxial 7.62mm PKT machinegun.

Azerbaijan's ZKDM Upgrade

Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense led the effort for a local variant of BRDM-2 that is named ZKDM.

The layout of the vehicle was completely modified compared to the old BRDM-2, the small windows are removed and the front of the hull is fitted with new armour. The driver is seated at the front of the hull on the left with the vehicle commander to his right. The top of the hull is fitted with two roof hatches immediately behind the commander and driver. 

One single door is available on each side of the hull. provided by the removal of the small tires on the sides of the vehicle. The single water-jet at the rear of the hull is removed.

The gasoline engine of the BRDM2 is replaced with a new diesel engine D-245.30E2 developing 150 hp to increase the maximum road speed of the vehicle to 100 km/h. 

The ZKDM uses technology of V-hull to increase vehicle and crew survivability by deflecting an upward directed blast from a landmine (or Improvised Explosive Device) away from the vehicle. 

The body of the ZKDM provides protection level B-32 against armor-piercing incendiary full metal jacket round with a hardened steel core. 

The ZKDM has a total weight of 7,300 kg with a crew of three, including commander, driver and gunner.

The ZKDM is fitted with a new turret armed with a double-barrel, 23 mm GSh-23 cannon, one 7.62 mm PKT machine gun, one 30 mm AGS-17 grenade launchers, four 57 or 80 mm rocket launchers and two smoke grenade launchers mounted on each side of the vehicle. 

Copyright: armyrecognition.com/

The turret is remotely controlled by the gunner and fitted with fire control system. The weapons have an elevation of +15º, a depression of -30º and the turret can be traversed through a full 360º. 


Standard equipment of the ZKDM includes BPK-2-42 day/night sight, a TV vision system with a maximum range of 1,000 m, and GPS navigation system GLONASS.

FNSS Amphibious Assault Bridge

Turkey's

Amphibious Assault Bridge

from FNSS

Turkish Land Forces in the first half of 2000's decided to invest in bridging and river/lake crossing capability.

Instead of the pontoon or ribbon bridges, TLF wanted a different approach similar to Germany & UK's M3 Beaver.

Thus TLF opened up a competition for this capability and FNSS of Turkey won the tender and the contract  was signed on January 30th, 2007 for 52 vehicles.

All the vehicles have been delivered and Turkish Land Forces now have this capability in inventory.

Enter  Amphibious Assault Vehicle - Weasel:

Copyright:  FNSS Savunma Sistemleri

The Weasel AAB is a bridge and ferry system designed for Turkish Armed Forces for fast and safe transport of land vehicles through the water obstacles such as rivers or lakes in the battlefield. 

Weasel's main difference from the M3 bridging vehicle is its 8 wheel drive capability. This enables the Weasel to have improved mobility over soft terrain conditions that are especially evident in the river banks where AAB should treat during ingress and egress phase of the river crossing.

With its diesel engine, automatic transmission, pneumatic suspension and hydraulic brake system, the AAAB system can climb up to 50% gradient and move on 30% side slope. The system, different from the similar systems in the market, has an 8x8 drive system with a central tire inflation system. 

Copyright:  FNSS Savunma Sistemleri

The Weasel AAB is self-deployable by road, operating as a 8x8 wheeled vehicle with a maximum road speed of 50 km/h. It is driven into the water for amphibious operation, for which it deploys two large aluminium pontoons, unfolding them along the length of its hull. In water, the Weasel AAB is propelled and steered by 2 fully traversable pump jets at speeds of up to 10 km/h.[FNSS]

One Weasel AAB can be used as a single ferry able to transport a 19 metric ton vehicle aboard. Or 3 of them can be joined together as a single ferry to transport a load of 76 metric tonnes.

Or 12 of the AABs can be joined together as a bridge that spans 150 meters.

Copyright:  FNSS Savunma Sistemleri

Copyright:  FNSS Savunma Sistemleri

For more information visit FNSS.

Upgunned Bradley Turrets

Upgunned Bradley Turrets

with 30mm Mk44

&

35mm Bushmaster III

An 'Anonymous Friend' of me left a recent comment on the upgunned Bradley Turret variants. Many thanks to him for the images.

The first one is the Bradley turret armed with Mk44 30mm autocannon. The 30mm Bradley has also been tested by Norway against CV90 in the 90s, but lost to CV90, which became the CV9030 Norway variant with 30mm Mk44 as the main armament.

 Here are some details on the 30mm Bradley:

The more interesting Bradley Turret up-arming was the Bushmaster III 35mm main gun.

Upgunned Bradley at AUSA

fresh from demonstration

 Photo: http://defense-update.com/

The Bradley that was recently demonstrated in Fort Benning meets with visitors at AUSA exhibition. 

This particular M2 Bradley has a new turret that is remotely operated and armed with a 30mm autocannon instead of the traditional M242 25mm gun.

The turret is from Kongsberg and called MCT30. this particular turret is armed with XM813 30mm cannon from ATK which is a derivative of the Mk44 30mm.

Bradley Demonstrated with 30mm Unmanned Turret

Are the Bradleys in for Upgunning?

Bradley with Kongsberg Remote Turret demonstrated in Fort Benning

A Bradley Fighting Vehicle mounted with an XM813 30-mm weapon system fires rounds and hits a downed helicopter from more than 1,000 meters away during a demonstration for the XM813 Sept. 10 at Fort Benning's Digital Multi-Purpose Range Complex. (Photo Credit: Markeith Horace)tion

US Army RDECOM (Army Research Institute) has been working on an initiative for researching advanced lethality and accuracy for medium caliber weapon systems. 

The subject of the initiative concentrates on the XM813 30mm cannon. XM813 is a derivative of the Mk44 chaingun from  ATK. XM813 can be described as the Stretch Mk44 with dual recoil mechanisms, closed bolt operation for first round select, linkless feed, integral mount and air burst munition capability.

Add caption

XM813 30mm ChainGun with Dual Buffers and Integral Mount

On September 10th, Capabilities and Development Integration Directorate organized an activity to demonstrate XM813's capabilities, integrated on the Kongsberg  MCT-30  Remote Turret.

The same turret has been demonstrated on Stryker 8x8 sometime ago as described in this  blog.

For the demonstration, the XM813 mounted Bradley Fighting Vehicle fired a series of three engagements at approximately 1,400 to 1,500 meters from the target.

Looking at the ARDEC effort and this demonstration, some remarks I want emphasize:

• Is the US Army seriously evaluating upgunning Bradley?
• The caliber seems to be the 30mm, not larger.
• Looking at Kongsberg's marketing in US and the demonstrations, is the unmanned turret a serious candidate instead of the conventional 2-Men turret?

Polish HSW ZSSW-30 Unmanned Turret

New Entry in the Remote Turrets Arena:

Polish ZSSW-30 Turret
by HSW Company

Copyright: miltechmag

Polish Company Hula Stalowa Wola (HSW for those of us who are cannot spell Polish) has introduced a new remote turret in the MSPO 2014 exhibition. WB Electronics of Poland is the main subcontractor for the electronics architecture.

The turret at this point is designated as ZSSW-30 which is literally 'remote controlled turret' 

There is no specific information at this point about the turret. I am not sure also if this is a functioning prototype or a full scale mockup.

In the exhibition, the turret is mounted on a Polish Rosomak 8x8 (Patria AMV).

The Polish Rosomak 8x8's are currently armed with an Oto Melara HitFist 30mm 2 men turret.

Copyright: miltechmag

ZSSW is armed with an ATK Mk44 30mm chaingun and a UKM-2000C 7.62mm machine gun on the right hand side of the turret. The gunner's sight is located to the left side of the main armament and a panoramic commander's sight can be seen on the top of the turret. The commander's sight seems to be the exact same sight used on Oto Melara's own HitFist OWS Remote Turret.

The turret has an elevation range of from -10deg to 60 degrees.

On the right hand side of the turrets ATGM missiles can be integrated mainly Spike LR missiles.

The information I was able to find says this turret will most probably arm the new Polish IFV programme.

An initial concept of the turret is shown below.