Good as gold
C Sqn enthusiastic about Abrams

Unity: Soldiers from 3 Tp, C Sqn, celebrate a successful day’s live-firing with some Aussie pride.

Visual: The view through the visiblock.

Bang: Capt John Pearse, 4 Tp, loads a sabot into his turret.

Heat: LCpl David Webb and Tpr Michael Colley appreciate the Abrams’ thermal driving device.

Lt Simone Heyer

EXERCISE Gold Eagle in the US has focused soldiers of C Sqn 1 Armd Regt in their preparations for the introduction of the Abrams next year.

Held in May, with the 1st Tank Bn, USMC, the exercise gave members of the squadron the chance to trial the Abrams for the first time.

OC C Sqn Maj Scott Winter said his soldiers came back to Australia with a new appreciation of the technology the Abrams would bring to the ADF.

“To a man, the tank crewmen and RAEME personnel of C Squadron were impressed with the tank and the increase in its capability. Those key elements of tanks; fire power, mobility, protection and communications all took a big step forward with this tank, and really put the Hardened and Networked in HNA.”

Busy: Soldiers work together to prepare the Abrams during field training.

“The ARH will match and indeed complement the Abrams in this regard. This technology will require significant adjustment before it’s used to its full potential within the Army,” Maj Winter said.

The OC said he was impressed with the performance of the soldiers during the exercise.

“The USMC had nothing but praise for the Australian soldiers’ aptitude on the vehicle.

“This is validation of the fact that our training is world class.”

Tpr Robert Smith agreed “On some overseas exercises you do the same training as you do in Australia,” he said.

“On Ex Gold Eagle we trained on a completely new platform. It’s a simple vehicle to use, and before long, the marines gave us a lot of freedom with it.”

Maj Winter said 1 Armd Regt was investigating possibility of having an exchange with 1st Tank Bn. “We’ve created some strong links between the two units. We’re very much alike. They see the positives of the exchange too.

“We are keen to conduct further exchanges in the future, with an individual exchange high on the agenda.”

While 1 Armd Regt is sustaining the Leopard capability, they’re also ramping up to receive the Abrams next year.

“We’re doing a high-level of training and preparing for the Abrams,” Maj Winter said.

“But in this waiting and preparing period, we’re cognisant of the training the rest of the Army is doing.

1 Armd Regt will provide training support for 5/7RAR and 2 Cav Regt as part of their preparation training for AMTG2.

Maj Winter said 1 Armd Regt soldiers were deployed with the AATT-I and more would deploy on the next rotation.