Persian Gulf & Middle East Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Facepalm.

poor tactics no support just parking the tank in the open. It's a export version that lacks the DU Mesh. It does appear that there was a Cook off, It looks to me like the Tank took the hit in the ammo compartment and the blast goes upward possibly indicating that the blow out panels worked. in at least one of the videos a crew member can be seen fleeing the tank after the event. being honest I can see to many other tanks fairing much better. At least not without a Active Defense system.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

poor tactics no support just parking the tank in the open. It's a export version that lacks the DU Mesh. It does appear that there was a Cook off, It looks to me like the Tank took the hit in the ammo compartment and the blast goes upward possibly indicating that the blow out panels worked. in at least one of the videos a crew member can be seen fleeing the tank after the event. being honest I can see to many other tanks fairing much better. At least not without a Active Defense system.

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Saudis have the best weaponry in the world but zero tactics and mediocre training.
It's also scary that a 30 yr old ATGM can easily destroy one of the best MBT in the world.

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The new Be'sat submarine will have a displacement of 1,300 tons and will be capable of launching cruise missiles as well as torpedos.
Iran is building a new submarine, called Be'sat, which will be capable of firing cruise missiles and laying underwater mines, the country's Fars News Agency reported.

"The Navy's new subsurface vessel will be ready and launched soon to enhance the Army's power," Iranian Army Commander Major General Ataollah Salehi told reporters in December.

The submarine will be 60 meters long and have a displacement of over 1,300 tons. It will have six bays for torpedoes and marine cruise missiles.

The Be'sat, will be Iran's biggest domestically made submarine. The Iranian Navy also operates three Russian Kilo-class submarines with a displacement of 2,325 tons and six torpedo tubes but no cruise missile capacity.




IRIN Be'sat ( resurrection) current status

kwaigonegin said:

It's also scary that a 30 yr old ATGM can easily destroy one of the best MBT in the world.

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It 's really a shame

Let's compare it with most recent russian anti tank missile :

The Konkurs warhead penetration is 750–800 mm VS ancient Rolled homogeneous armour while the kornet penetration after explosive reactive armour is 1300 mm

Poor crew!

Tank armor is not the same thickness all around the tank if it was then the tank would weigh about 100+ tons and be cone shaped. Abrams optimizes its armor to the forward arch like most MBTS. If as I suspect that this was a hit to the ammo storage compartment then the impact would have been to the tanks rear bustle. Armor there is thin mostly to protect from small arms not tank shells or ATGMs Abrams was designed for tank on tank violence. Asymmetric engagements and the proliferation of ATGMs to terror groups is changing the game.
The missile hit a soft spot, now if the crew survived or not is yet to be determined. It looks to me like the blowouts did there job and channeled the blast and fire up and out of the tank as opposed to inward and into the fighting compartment. That huge impressive fireball that shoots out of that tank would have been inside the turret if the design had not worked.
This all said. The second tank kill is one I am far more worried about. As we see lots more black smoke and soldering which could mean a true kill.
Still the outcome of the attacks other then the video is needed to make the final call.

All and all though I really think that this should be a major wakeup call for all Tank designers. RPGs are not the main threat. Everyone and there aunty now has ATGMs and you need all around protection. That means army's employing good tactics and a combination of armored packages to protect the crew and vehicle. RHA is the base followed with slat and spaced armor a layer of ceramic and composite armor with high density mesh followed by reactive tiles and finally an all around Hard Kill APS.

kwaigonegin said:

It's also scary that a 30 yr old ATGM can easily destroy one of the best MBT in the world.

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The physics and technology involved in armor penetration warheads for ATGMs has been understood for that long. If they hit in the right place, it is almost impossible to protect the entire tank against them.

They should have had ground support with the tank...but clearly this axis (and the high ground associated with it) was completely uncovered and the Houthi took advantage of it.

Just goes to show you...never, ever, underestimated a committed enemy.

Picked up a few more details, one of the vehicle kills in the video is a M2 Bradley IFV. Bradleys as IFVs are far thinner skinned then Abrams and I don't think the Saudis upgraded the armor to the A2 configuration. That means that just about any ATGM is going to make short work of it, I suspect that this was the second kill in the video. Being a IFV its packing less impressive munitions and more fuel.
Any IFV of similar class hit by a ATGM would probably suffer the same fate including BMP 1-2-3, Warrior or CV90

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Picked up a few more details, one of the vehicle kills in the video is a M2 Bradley IFV. Bradleys as IFVs are far thinner skinned then Abrams

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Unfortunately, both of them are Abram


First one








Second one








Bradley