Nice site on JGSDF Armour: JGSDF Maniacs Chaffees & Shermans in postwar Japanese service, never really thought of that. Also some good shots of other nation's gear: Real Tanks (Ignore the bracketed numbers - dozens of shots of vehicles of all sorts in each category)
A chap mentioned this on ARRSE. Rather interesting Russki attempt to overcome the old 'Armour in built up areas' deficiencies. Wiki: BMPT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At1CeObLkqk
The Belgians fired their last shot with a Leopard today. They are now going out of service. http://www.hbvl.be/cnt/dmf20140910_01260797/het-laatste-schot-van-de-leopard-tank Excuse the lightly adapted Google translate "On the NATO training range at the German Bergen-Hohne, the Belgian army Wednesday said goodbye to the Leopard tanks. At a ceremony Major General Hubert De Vos, commander of the Land Component, symbolically received the case from the last shot he had just fired with a Leopard tank . General flyer Gerard Van Caelenberge, Chief of Defence, was present with other Defence authorities at the ceremony. For Major General De Vos, who served with the Leopard tank, the "very last paragraph on the history" of the tank in the Belgian army was an emotional moment. "As a tankist I'm attached to the weapon," he said at the training ground in Bergen-Hohne. "I am convinced that it is a good system. I look back emotionally, but I have an eye for the course of evolution. " In 2003 the government decided to discontinue use within the Land Component of the Since 1967 in service Leopard tank. It was then decided to go to a medium capacity on wheels, lighter and more flexible armored vehicles instead of the heavy capacity crawler. In concrete terms, the Piranha DF 90 and DF 30 Piranha. "That is a very viable alternative, but it is not a tank ', stated De Vos yet. "It does not offer the same protection, tactical mobility and firepower. It is very feasible in the context of the transformation of Defence and the Land Component. " Fox compared the career of the tank even with his own. After all, he leaves on September 30, the active service."
Het laatse schot 1/3 Regiment Lansiers (not final Belgian army shot) - Bergen Hohne : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt_eatGLE2Y a place where my combat jacket from belt to breast pocket froze solid as the spray from the front decking froze on contact Q.R.H January 2014: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFYxvRjQr-g Wikmapia: http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=52.822683&lon=9.802551&z=9&m=b&permpoly=6096628&show=/6096628/NATO-Proving-Ground-Bergen-Hohne
As I find the Leopard 2 A5(+) and the italian Ariete C1 and the french AMX56 Leclerc quite similar, I wonder if their producers ever were interested to pit the three against eachother in trials and operational tests. Did ever one such military exercise happen ? And what were the results ? (..a kind of which is the best, but on very similar looking tanks, and substantiated by hopefully professional military data (within nato) which takes all aspects of operation into account.
