Russian tank ends military parade with a barrel roll (that wasn’t on purpose)

While economically struggling, Russia has a long history of deriving national pride from military parades celebrating past victories. Last Thursday, Russian forces participated in just such an event: a parade commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk. In 1943, some 1.9 million Soviet soldiers alongside more than 5,000 tanks participated in what would […]

Watch the Kurdish Peshmerga train with the SPG-9

The SPG-9 is a recoilless rifle designed by the Soviet Union and brought into service in 1962 under the nomenclature of Kopye (Spear). It fires a 73mm projectile that travels at speeds of up to 700 meters per second and is stabilized by an expanding fin system like that of an RPG-7 projectile. The weapon […]

Army receives the first of a new generation of Abrams battle tanks

Last Wednesday, the U.S. Army took delivery of the first of a new series of Abrams-based main battle tanks.  The M1A2 System Enhancement Package Version 3 is slated to replace the Version 2 that has been in production since 2005. This version is the most modernized configuration of the Abrams tank, having improved force protection […]

5 outrageous projects Russia’s military says it’s working on

Since President Vladimir Putin was ushered into power in 2000, the Russian defense industry has certainly rekindled, but it also has steadily spewed out unsubstantiated and rather ludicrous plans about future weapons. In 2015, for example, the Kremlin claimed it would build tanks armed with lasers, and in 2016, it was a space-based missile defense system. There are probably a number […]

Ukrainian troops re-engineer abandoned tanks, APCs

In a derelict industrial complex just outside of Kiev, soldiers of the Ukrainian National Guard are demonstrating their technical and tactical competence. Enlisted men and officers of the Ukrainian National Guard are designing, engineering, innovating, and manufacturing custom tanks developed to meet the evolving challenges throughout the Ukrainian battlespace. Warfighters with pre-war experience in engineering, mechanics, […]

Ukraine Is Using Microsoft’s Hololens to ‘See’ Through Its Tanks

In the latest example of consumer technology adapted for military applications, Microsoft’s Hololens is being put to work to allow tank crews to “see” through the walls of their vehicles. The result will be greater situational awareness for tank crews, allowing them to fight more effectively. Tanks and armored vehicles traditionally have poor situational awareness, […]

The countermeasure ‘force field’, Congressional Research Service; APS still too unreliable for U.S. Military

Active Protection Systems considered too likely to cause collateral damage as well as not survive jamming, high number of targets and clutter(particularly in the urban environment). They are also judged to cause too much of an increase in the tank’s electronic signature. Additional costs and redesigns to provide power, space and cooling for APS systems greatly complicate implementation on platforms not designed for them.