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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Watch These American Tanks Slip and Slide Through the Norwegian Snow |
| 2016-02-19 |
| Something to consider when General Winter comes to town. U.S. Marine Corps tankers, currently in Norway for a NATO exercise, are learning techniques in driving in snow and icy conditions. The result is like something out of a very slidey drift racing video--that is, one featuring 70 ton race cars. In the video, U.S. Marine M1A1 Abrams crews from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade practice turns that briefly leave their tanks out of control. The video also shows Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks of the Norwegian Army's Telemark battalion take the same course--evidently with a lot more practice. One curious detail: the Abrams tank doesn't have any crew markings. Marine Corps tanks often have individual names stenciled on the barrel, names such as "Nacho Libre", "Dante's Inferno", and so on. That's because these are not the tankers' regular vehicles. These are tanks that have been sitting dormant in caves just south of the Arctic Circle, ready to roll. Unknown to many, the Marine Corps stores equipment for an entire combat brigade in enormous caves in Norway. The program, called Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway, can fully equip a 15,000 man marine brigade, complete with 30 days' worth of ammunition and supplies. The goal is to assist Norway--which shares a 121 mile border with Russia--in case of attack. M1A1 Abrams tanks, LAV-25 reconnaissance vehicles, Humvees and equipment of all kinds are stored in temperature-controlled caves, guarded and maintained by the Norwegian Army. US Marines are occasionally airlifted to Norway, draw gear identical to what was left stateside, and participate in military exercises. And, it turns out, drift 70 ton tanks. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #8 Is the USMC sure their Abrams + other AFVS are pointing at the correct country, given ... * DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Sputnik News] NATO WARNS TURKEY IT WON'T SUPPORT ANKARA [Turkey] IN CASE OF [Turkey-started/provoked]MILITARY CONFLICT WID RUSSIA. Meanwhile, not to be outdone by the Russians or the Turks ... * TOPIX > [SCMP]"CHINA SHOULD FIRE SHOTS AT US WARSHIPS NEAR DISPUTED ISLANDS, OR EVEN RAM THEM TO TEACH THEM A LESSON". GETTING TOUGH WID [Foreign Nation = read, US-Allies] TRESPASSERS IN SOUTH CHINA SEA WOULD BE GOOD FOR PEACE IN THE DISPUTED REGION, SAYS CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY MOUTHPIECE [People's Daily Online]. "Whitey" must be sunk or shot down in the name of peace-n-decency??? * FYI RELATED SAME > CHINA MAY SEND ANTI-SHIP MISSLES TO DISPUTED SOUTH CHINA SEA TO BEEF UP DEFENCE: ANALYSTS. | CHINA "MUST PREPARE FOR WAR OVER NORTH KOREA ROCKET LAUNCH AND NUCLEAR TESTS". * TOPIX > [ABC NEWS = Aussie BC] AUSTRALIA: LABOR PARTY VOWS TO SEND WARSHIPS WIDIN 12-NAUTICAL MILES OF DISPUTED SOUTH CHINA SEA ISLANDS, iff it wins political power in upcoming elections. Looks like AUSTRALIA = ANTI-US US POTUS OBAMA = desires to PCORRECTLY-DENIABLY COVERTLY RECOGNIZE CHINA'S SCS CLAIMS WHILE PRETENDING TO ORDINARY AUSSIES + WORLD THAT IT ISN'T??? * MANILA TIMES > VIOLENCE IN HONG KONG "INEVITABLE" - ACTIVISTS. So-called Beijing-labelled "Localists" Activists including but not limited to those whom support an INDEPENDENT HONG KONG AS A DE FACTO SOVEREIGN COUNTRY. * BIGNEWSNETWORK > [VOA News] US HAS NO INTENTION OF RESUMING SIX-PARTY NUKE TALKS WID NORTH KOREA. IOW, Pudgy = Reunification-Now! NOKOR will get its Nukes just as Iran will??? THE POWERS THAT BE WANT THE "STATUS QUO" IN NE ASIA + ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA TO "ASYMETRICALLY" CHANGE PER THEIR COUNTRY-PECIFIC GEOPOL REASONS + INTERESTS, ETC. + TO DO SO SOONER THAN LATER OR ASAP AMAP ALAP. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2016-02-19 22:31 |
| #7 Also these tanks shows what these idiots in their SUVs do when driving in Colorado mountain winters. Once you lose traction, Sir Newton takes over and inertia is a bitch. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2016-02-19 21:56 |
| #6 The Russians have more practice Billy. Less practice at shooting at full speed. They had issues in Georgia with their tank group performance. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2016-02-19 21:53 |
| #5 As a former jarhead it pains me to say this but....I'll bet the Russians can drive their tanks on snow much better than us or the Norwegians. |
| Posted by: Bangkok Billy 2016-02-19 20:23 |
| #4 Newtonian Physics, upfront and personal. I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. II. The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma. Acceleration and force are vectors (as indicated by their symbols being displayed in slant bold font); in this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector. III. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-02-19 19:03 |
| #3 The ice was maybe a foot and a half thick, the ponds were kept shallow to teach, not drown new 2LTs. |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2016-02-19 17:46 |
| #2 3 ft.? That's all it takes? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2016-02-19 17:09 |
| #1 First winter driving experience at Ft Knox was never drive over the flat spots in the snow when cross country, particularly not at speed in a 65 ton vehicle. Ice usually has some liquid water under it and tank recovery ops in 3 ft of frozen pond really sucks. |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2016-02-19 16:48 |