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How’s that for starters
By Capt Dougie McGuire
Edition 1168, June 14, 2007 |
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Tpr Keith Shiels stands proudly as the first gunner in Darwin to fire live rounds with the Abrams’ main armament.
Photos by Gnr Shannon Joyce |
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| Smoking gun: An Abrams is wreathed with cordite after firing at a moving target. |
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TANK crews with 1 Armd Regt live-firing the Abrams main armament for the first time have developed 30/30 vision – 30 per cent faster target acquisition and 30 per cent more first round kills than on Leopard.
They fired the new tanks at the Mount Bundy Training Area in the NT late last month, engaging both static and moving targets from stationary positions and on the move at up to 60km/h across country.
CO 1 Armd Regt Lt-Col Duncan Hayward said the crews performed exceptionally well.
“To be getting the kinds of improvements they are getting in what is still a relatively unfamiliar platform is a mark of how effective this system is, and how well the crews are taking to it,” Lt-Col Hayward said.
“When you think that you are comparing results with last year when we were firing the same practices with Leopard – a tank with which we had 30 years of familiarity and a huge bank of experience – it’s remarkable.”
For the crews themselves there is clearly a huge amount of satisfaction at working with their new equipment.
“It’s a bit of an adrenalin rush all right. It’s a great feeling to be whacking rounds down the range and seeing them hitting the targets,” said 23B crew commander Cpl Robbie Griffith.
“This is a fantastic vehicle, and we’re loving having it.”
1 Armd Regt is well on track to complete its conversion from Leopard to Abrams.
The Government has equipped the Army with a fleet of 59 US M1A1s to replace the ageing Leopards. The total cost of the project is about $550 million. |
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