Quote:
Originally Posted by Archer
So that would be the longest range engagement, recorded- even if a lucky fluke.
What I found more revealing was the emphasis on long range sniping, as attributed to Gen. Tal and corroborated by an Israeli tanker in that some what raucous thread..
Yjavehn- poster- israeli tanker- states that 8km engagements are possible for sniper tanks, and implies that the israelis train for the role. Dadi, yajevhn provide more details on the FCS as well.
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and he is lying through his teeth. A sabot round will easily travel that far if the barrel is elevated (a 105mm will travel over 20 miles as a giant lawn dart), but it won't retain enough energy to be an effective battlefeild weapon even if the optics can cope with the ranges. A Heat round can travel that far if properly elevated but then its more like using tanks in an artillery role, not exactly a novel idea.
lets look a tthe tactics of the situation for a second shall we.
1- The Earths horizon is about 3.5- 4 km away on level ground. to get an 8- 11Km shot means you have to be elevated. That leaves two options fighting form the military crest or the true crest of the hill. As a tanker both location are death traps for a sniper tank and his buddies. As soon as the gun flashes from firing that first round, enemy scouts are going to be raining arty down on top of you and your buddies; most of whom not having the dubious hoonor of sniper tank now get to ride out a barrage of nastyness ( gee thanks for nothing guys). To change posistion if you're on the military crest means backing up a hill and taking your main armor blocks out the line of fire. The Merkva has good top armor but not that good.
2- Israeli engagements in 67, 73, and the 80's were all well with in thier tanks guns normal elevation and depression envelopes. The Syrians were charging up hills the Israelies were firing down them. Quite a bit different from shooting mountain top to mountain top or using direct fire to reach deep into Syria to hit key units.
3- Even if General Tal did make an 11km shot way back when (Like the myth of General George Washington throwing a coin across the Potomac). Why use direct fire from a tank and thus give away a fightign postion for an entire unit, today? Much better to use missiles fired from an apache. the Hellfire will kill anything it hits out to 10km (2km further than the 8km range cited for sniper tanks). It doesnt give away prepared fighting posistions, it can even be fired from behind a hill. It is also fire and forget and a few of them raining down on enemy tanks is damn sure to break morale fast (just ask the Republican Guard).
Israeli tankers are ok troops, and thier now retired veterans were world class, but thier is danger in beleiving your own propaganda. It seems that the erstwhile super troopers of the IDF made the same mistakes of committing tanks into battle without support and used recon by fire in thier recent war with Hezzbollah. It is quite possible that if the IAF had not ***** slapped Lebanon so hard and forced the UN to act the jihadi's might wll have dealt the Israeli Army a serious defeat. Instead of screaming that they're number 1, maybe they should train like they're number 2. That is what worked for the US Army at Ft Irwin.