Ask An Expert- LAND Forces.

[Officer of Engineers]

Did your daughter get her dream bedroom?

[JA Boomer]

A rare post in the land forces section for me.

I see that most army trucks these days have single wheels on the rear axles, whereas trucks like the 2.5 and 5 ton trucks built in the 60's and 70's were produced in both single and dual tire rear axle variants.

Now I can guess that single tire rear axles give you better traction whereas dual tire rear axles provide increased payload and towing stability.

Is traction simply more important than payload and towing stability in the army these days or is there another factor I am missing?

[SteveDaPirate]

I've actually noticed that a lot of big rig trucks out on the highway are using "super singles" in place of the dual tire setup I've typically seen. Supposedly they are cheaper, lighter, and offer better rolling resistance which helps gas mileage.

[zraver]

I've actually noticed that a lot of big rig trucks out on the highway are using "super singles" in place of the dual tire setup I've typically seen. Supposedly they are cheaper, lighter, and offer better rolling resistance which helps gas mileage.

You nailed it. They do have a higher chance of causing a crash if blow though. They also suck on snow and ice.

[Albany Rifles]

1. Single versus dual axle. The 2.5 ton have a single axle. The 5 ton and higher have dual axles.

2. All vehicles now have tire pressurization systems which allow the driver to adjust the tire pressure as needed for specific conditions, versus the 1 size x 2 fits all on the older models.

3. For nontactical situations, commercial vehicles work fine so there is often no need for a dual axle situation.

[JA Boomer]

1. Single versus dual axle. The 2.5 ton have a single axle. The 5 ton and higher have dual axles.

2. All vehicles now have tire pressurization systems which allow the driver to adjust the tire pressure as needed for specific conditions, versus the 1 size x 2 fits all on the older models.

3. For nontactical situations, commercial vehicles work fine so there is often no need for a dual axle situation.

That's fine about axles, what about the "duely" tire configuration though?

[Albany Rifles]

That's fine about axles, what about the "duely" tire configuration though?

#2 was the answer for that.

[JA Boomer]

#2 was the answer for that.

Gotcha. Can you elaborate on "1 size x 2 fits all on the older models"?

[Albany Rifles]

On the older models you had tires that were all size X with air pressure of Y all of the time. That left a fixed imprint to to provide traction. With a single tire with the pressurization system the tires actually can be changed to provide better traction based and better stabilization.

I don't totally get it but it works.

[Triple C]

What ever happened to Route Books?

I was reading a very dense academic history of the British colonial intelligence unit of the Indian Army (circa 1880s to 1920s), titled The Imperial Security State by professor Hevia. The text discusses in great detail how the composition of a genre of military literature called "route books" by the intelligence officers of the Indian Army was a top priority and consumed a great deal of time and energy of intelligence operatives.

The route books are pocket-sized pamphlets or manuals that advice military commanders on possible lines of march between strategically important points. The presentation takes the form of an annotated time table, which describes the army's march beginning at 10 am along prescribed routes organized in tabulated form. Running from top to bottom and broken into estimated time required to complete each stage of the march, a route book's columns also list longitude and altitude coordinates, azimuth, topographical descriptions of terrain features, as well as commentary on conditions of the soil, availability of wells, forage and pack animals and the attitude of the inhabitants. The route book "compress space into military time" and is designed to help an army commander to have relevant knowledge on what to expect from the the physical and human geography.

This is a genre of military literature with which I am unfamiliar. My questions are: Are "route books" a common genre of "military statistics" in Western armies during this period? And are they still in use? What functional equivalents replaced them in modern armies? I have the suspicion that the rigid format would not be appreciated by modern units that are much more mobile than foot bound Indian Army troops.

[Big K]

hi,

we had a discussion with a fellow modeler about a Merkava tank model.

he sad that the layer on the armor of this Merkava;

http://wallpaperswa.com/thumbnails/d...rswa.com_6.jpg

is just an anti-slippery thing.

i sad it can be something like German Zimmerit coating.


which one of us is right?

thanks in advance

[SteveDaPirate]

(Note: I am not an expert.)

Looks like Rhino Lining to me. Didn't Zimmerit go out the window when everyone switched to HEAT projectiles and KE penetrators? Are magnetic AT grenades still a thing?

[gunnut]

I was just reading about how "deep battle" worked for the Red Army.

http://www.dupuyinstitute.org/ubb/Fo...ML/000072.html

The article said by the end of the war, Tank Armies were able to conduct exploitation operations on the order of 100 km behind the lines once a breach was made. Wehrmacht simply ran out of resources and space to cope with this kind of penetration.

Question for the experts, if one or multiple Red Army fronts were to attack a US Army Group on a broad front, how would the US Army defend against this type of attack?

Further more, what would the Red Army's response be if the initial assault by the shock army was stopped cold, or never achieved a breakthrough?

And more, what if the exploitation force of tank army was itself surrounded by the opponent's reinforcement? Maybe the opponent also practices a form of "deep battle."

Yet more, it seems to me that "deep battle" relies on humongous forces that decisively outnumbers the opponent, plus a sufficiently mobile exploitation force to achieve a complete breakthrough to work. It's hard to execute "deep battle" if outnumbered by the opponent. It's also hard to execute deep battle if the exploitation force is not mobile enough. These seem to be a lot of conditions to fulfill in order to execute an operation. What if one never achieves numerical advantage?

[gunnut]

I found the answers to my questions above from World of Tanks forum. There is a Russian military buff who explained how "Deep Operation" worked.

Any ways, more questions I have about the army life.

When I read about battles and units move into position for the operation, how is this movement done? I know most of the time soldiers just walked. But how about the commander and his staff? What about all those equipment? Food? Ammo? Water? Fuel? Shelter? What carried them and at what speed?

[jlvfr]

When I read about battles and units move into position for the operation, how is this movement done? I know most of the time soldiers just walked. But how about the commander and his staff? What about all those equipment? Food? Ammo? Water? Fuel? Shelter? What carried them and at what speed?

This right here was the main problem of the soviet problem: logistics. They could charge fast and hard, but then would run out of everything...