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Blind T-64A and armor question


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On 10/16/2021 at 3:45 PM, Sgt.Squarehead said:

That sounds rather like the T-80UM-1:

h9kv4zlj71931.jpg

Since I know, you are a fan of later T-80 models. And @The_Capt also have to prepare for the next module 😉. Here are the Swedish terrain trials with the 1250hp gastubine T-80U vs the Strv 104 (Centurion with an aircooled V12 Continental Diesel 750hp)

Part 1 from autumn 1993

Part 2 from winter 1994

 

Edited by Armorgunner
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On 10/17/2021 at 12:09 PM, domfluff said:

I definitely wouldn't want to be that guy. As soon as you turn an IR spotlight on, everything can see you, and you're still going to be revealing less than you give away - I don't think that's really a viable option for anything.

This was the problem the Syrian army ran into as well. If you have the same IR equipment, those lamps are essentially light giant stage lights. You might as well shine a visible wavelength spotlight for all the good the IR does you. IIRC on the Golan the Syrian's reaction when Israelis gained IR gear was to just stop using their lamps, making night fighting essentially a nonstarter. They went from 100% active use to 0%. Not sure what the US/Soviet doctrine became after '73, but the fact that the A1s and the -62s, -64s, and -72s all still had the IR searchlights suggest that, on some level, night combat was considered a necessary evil, if not idea. I would agree with @domfluff that you wouldn't want to be the guy who turns on the spotlight, but it seems to me to a be a similar problem to the ATGM backblast problem. Sure you want to shoot the missile, but you dont want to be the guy next to the flash and smoke of a Dragon or TOW launch. In the same way, sure you dont wanna be the guy to flip on their lights, but you hope you can illuminate the target and scoot away fast enough for it not to matter. To put it another way, its a problem that could be partially ameliorated by a solid fire plan. 

From my own reading it seems like training for night time ops, and thus practicing these kinds of techniques, was a component of the 70s training revolution even if it wasn't seen as vital as it later would be with the rise of thermals and other better NV technologies.  

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