semperannoying reblogged
U.S. 7th Fleet conducting a show of force in the Pacific recently.
You know we had to flex in China.
Navy pilots vs Air Force pilots
Australian Army's 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry) is trialling Stealth Reconnaissance E-Bikes in conjunction with the Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle.
The bikes are quiet and allow reconnaissance soldiers to move quickly through the battlefield, and with a range of up to 100km allow soldiers to travel long distances to gather the information they need.
During Kavkaz 2016, the Russian 58th Army was ordered to reactivate T-62 variants in storage and bring them back up to a standard where they could be used in actual operations and combat.
Russia started supplying T-62Ms to Syria the following year...
During Vostok 2018, units from the Central and Eastern Military Districts were ordered to bring about two companies worth of T-62 tanks out of storage and reactivate them. Those tanks were then transported all the way to the Western Military District using Russian Railways. Work carried on after Vostok until a battalion of tanks had been overhauled. Later on that year, those tanks were also sent to Syria. Some were pressed into combat still bearing Russian camouflage and their "H22-0-0" Russian Rail Transit Markers.
The aim of such exercises were to check Russia's capabilities to fight a total war on the Western front: How long would it take to reactivate old tanks in storage/mothballs in various Russian Military District and what are the best procedures to do so. Additionally, how fast could those units be brought up to the West to reinforce Russian units fighting along its Western borders (the West is almost always the aggressor in Russian wargames). A secondary objective was to supply the SAA with "new" armour to replenish their ranks decimated by years of attrition. Under an agreement between Moscow and Damascus, it is Russia's responsibility to train and equip the SAA.
While the T-62M is an old tank by any standards, it is good enough for the type of war the Syrian Army prosecutes on its soil: After all, it was good enough to prosecute Russia's counter-insurgency operations in the Caucasus until fairly recently!
The story doesn't stop there, however: While the T-62 no longer appears on the Russian Army list of hardware (it was still present on said list in 2020!), teams of mechanics in all military districts are still working on them in order to reactivate them. We are not talking about a large scale operation, here: Only a handful of storage depots and armouries are involved. But it means that men working in those units are regularly practicing the art of overhauling older tanks and returning them back to operational status. This skill is a precious strategic asset for the Russian army: While it currently operates 2850 tanks, Moscow still holds 10,000 older T-72, T-80 and T-90 in reserve! In a modern war of attrition, the winner could probably be the one side that can keep supplying men and hardware to the frontline!
Some of those overhauled tanks end up in Syria. But some seem to be used in Russia itself for the purpose of (logistics) exercises: Tanks are rapidly mobilised, assembled at the nearest Railway Hub and are then moved from one Military District to another. It seems Moscow is upgrading 150 T-62M to a newer higher standard (T-62M3) and that this handful of modernised tanks will remain in that role for the foreseeable future. What remains of T-62 in the Russian inventory will most probably be slowly reactivated and sent to Syria.
So... What does it take to overhaul a tank that has been stored for some time? Well, it depends on how long the tank was left idle, to be honest! The T-62 that were reactivated in the Caucasus in 2016 had barely been in storage for a couple of years. The ones being overhauled in the other Military Districts may have been mothballed for several years longer.
The rust on the body of a tank is usually superficial. Nevertheless, the gun and breach are usually thoroughly checked for corrosion and pitting.
The drivetrain is drained of all fluids and disassembled. The engine is checked for water and dirst ingress. Hydraulic and oil lines are pressurised and tested. All perished seals are replaced. The whole assembly is then cleaned and reassembled.
The electrics/electronics are thoroughly checked but they are fairly resilient in older Soviet (legacy) tanks as connections are usually tin coated against corrosion and oxydation.
Optics and glass are checked for moss, pitting and vitricolous lichens.
KDT Laser Finder and Volna Fire Control Systems are taken out of their crates and checked and dessicated. Luna IR projectors are checked. All corroded parts are cleaned or replaced.
It is hard thorough work and as said above, the longer the tanks have been mothballed, the longer it takes to bring them back to operational status: Russia doesn't have bone dry deserts to store its reserve vehicles. But it seems that on average, a team can bring a T-62 variant back to life inside of 7 working days.
A Marine's Marine
On September 3, Marines and Sailors with 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) held a memorial service to honor Sgt. Nicole Gee at Ahmad Al-Jaber Air Base, Kuwait. Sgt. Gee, a member of Combat Logistics Battalion 24, was one of 13 service members who were killed in action during non-combatant evacuation operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan on August 26, 2021.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Nicholas Guevara)
North Korean tractors towing trailers with mortars and ATGMs mounted.
All in all a very weird but probably effective weapons platform that would seriously complicate any ground war if deployed en masse.
The second shows MRLS tubes moved by tractors.
Marines with the 2nd Marine Logistics Group have volunteered to read books to Afghan children that have arrived at Marine Corps Base Quantico during Operation Allies Welcome.
Taliban fighters in the air traffic control tower at Hamid Karai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) conduct military funeral honors for U.S. Army Pvt. William Hedtke, assigned to Battery B, 319th Glider Artillery Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division , in Section 32 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, August 30, 2021.
Hedtke succumbed to injuries sustained in a hard glider landing near Groesbeek, Netherlands, during Operation Market Garden on September 18, 1944. Hedtke’s remains were accounted for on October 17, 2019. (U.S. Army photos by Sgt. Nicholas T. Holmes)
A photo of the last Soldier to leave Afghanistan.
Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, boards an United States Air Force C-17 on August 30th, 2021, ending the U.S. mission in Kabul.
“11 years ago, I remember feeling powerless and simply watching the news wishing there was something I could do. Today, through a series of unlikely events and a rather unexpected journey, I’m in a position to help. I’m heading back home. All the hard work has paid and it has gone full circle.”
Soldiers of 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), sailors and Marines conduct Plane Side Honors at Dover Air Force base, to ensure the remain of the 13 service members killed recently in Afghanistan are transferred with the utmost dignity and respect.
U.S. service members assigned to Special Purpose MAGTF - Crisis Response - Central Command are pallbearers for the service members killed in action during operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Aug. 27.