Now THAT’S a ND!
U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank
Ahhh, oops. A U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams main battle tank has reportedly fired on another tank during a training exercise at Fort Bliss.
On July 20, the Friendly Fire incident occurred in Texas during firing at moving targets.
Sources reported that one of the Abrams tanks hit another tank from its own cavalry regiment from a distance of 2,600 meters.
Mason sends.
A U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams Tank Accidentally Shot a Friendly Tank
The unfortunate incident shows just how far modern tanks can shoot.
BY KYLE MIZOKAMI
– A U.S. Army Abrams tank accidentally engaged another Abrams tank during gunnery practice.
– The tank fired a training round, striking the other tank and injuring a crew member.
– The two tanks were 2,600 meters apart, or 1.6 miles, at the time the incident took place.
A U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams main battle tank accidentally engaged another Abrams tank during gunnery practice, striking the second tank and injuring a crew member. The injured tanker was reported in stable condition and expected to recover. The incident is remarkable in that the two tanks were more than a mile apart, highlighting the extreme distances tanks can shoot accurately on the modern battlefield.
A public affairs officer assigned to the 1st Armored Division announced there would be no further comment from the Army until an investigation of the incident is complete.
The M1A2 Abrams is the U.S. Army’s longest serving main battle tank. First introduced in the early 1980s, the Abrams has received several upgrades over the past four decades to keep it relevant on the modern battlefield. Upgrades have included a larger, 120-millimeter gun, digital communications system, and now the Trophy active protection anti-missile system. The latest version, the M1A2 SEPv3, is rolling out to combat units this summer.
According to The Defense Blog, the exercise included shooting M1002 multi-purpose training rounds at moving targets. They said the Abrams tank hit another tank from its own cavalry regiment from a distance of 2,600 meters, or more than 1.5 miles.
One soldier was injured, received immediate medical assistance, and is recovering in stable condition, according to Lt. Col. Lindsey Elder, an Army public affairs officer.
1st Armored Division has started an investigation into the incident.
Read the entire article here: Popular Mechanics
Thanks, Mason.
Category: "Teh Stoopid", Army, Dick Stepping
Wow, that’s going to be one hell of a headache. Couldn’t imagine being inside a tank when it gets hit. Talk about getting your bell rung.
Yeah, that sounds like the opposite of fun. I wonder what the damage was to the tank?
The Defense blog article shows something on the ground in the last picture, but I don’t know if that’s part of a tank (and blood in the first two).
The thing on the ground in the pic is the Commander’s independent sight turret, not sure what the techno-jargon name is on the new M1’s, I was a DAT not a CDAT, we didn’t have those new fangled thingamabobs.
But the hit on it which popped it off the turret shows they appear to have hit the tank high, which from the mess inside caused the Loader to receive the brunt of the hurt.
Don’t they use reactive armor along with the DP?
Commander or Gunner?
Somebody is gonna be painting rocks 9top and bottom).
Along with filling sand bags, picking dandelions and daisies from the PT Field,…
Gunner:
Target identified!
“ON THE WAAA…..whoops!” My bad.
Tanks? Some folks consider them short range, small caliber, mobile artillery. Others see them as tracked pill boxes. And then there are those that operate Aerial Artillery Platforms that consider tanks as “Targets.”
And yep…somebody gots some ‘splaining to do.
they hit the wing tank TWICE, so they had to reengage when the “target” didn’t go down.
And that right there, boys and girls is why I would not let the crews of my range coverage vehicles sleep as long as the range was hot when I was in the Army.
Cpt. B wouldn’t allow hooches (cots under a poncho) outside of tents so we wouldn’t get run over at night.
Ah, range control / safety tower…
“Where’s PVT Schudlapp? He’s got mail.”
“Over there. Charlie 2 3 track. On the line”
(Notes track only shows yellow “ammo aboard” flag not red “I am shooting” flag. Notes safety tower has no one observing)
(Mailclerk walks up to C 2 3. Driver and TC both close hatches)
“What the… OH FuBAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!
(Mailclerk ducks behind track and tries futile effort to plug ears. Eardrums meet in middle)
…
After ceasefire, the range MSG has 2LT safety tower officer for lunch.
Oopsie.
Normally one would congratulate the shooting tank for “well done”. Buuuuut…..in this case, NotSoMuch.
And, has been said above, somebody gots some ‘splainin’ to do.
Tank commander is probably in for a world of hurt, and the question is why her gunner didn’t throw a red flag. Or worse, what if he did?
General,
Much has happened since we last spoke…
No IFF on a tank? No networking? GPS?
Maybe a CB radio?
I think the IFF is IR and if it was daylight the IR wouldn’t be used.
Some colonel somewhere probably said, “Why turn on the IFF? It’s fucking daylight! No idiot would shoot our own tank in daylight!”
Depending on which training round was used, the muzzle velocity of the 120mm M865 round is a bit over 5500 feet per second while the M1002 TPMP-T has a MV of a bit over 4500 FPS.
No matter which one was used, from “on the way” to target (1 1/2 miles) is approximately 1.25-1.5 seconds before impact. Can barely say “Oh Scheisse!!” in that time.
Hope the crew member is doing okay.
Speaking of the M1 Abrahm, the Marine Corps under Gen. David Berger is getting rid of all their tanks.
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/marines-to-reduce-force-by-12-000-decrease-artillery-units-and-get-rid-of-tanks-in-10-years-1.623471
But did the crew make their Qual?!
Speedy recovery…from the writers’ cramp from the paperwork, Troops!
—nothing follows—
We had a near miss 1/2 mile
Many years ago at a warm up for Cal-FX
At fort Irwin or lost in the desert
We were at a range that backed up to a mountain
And on the other side of the mountain was another range someone F-d up and shot a round over the mountain destroying one of our targets
I shit my acu’s when it hit we were about 1500 yards
From the impact
I wonder if the shooter will get to paint a silhouette of the shot tank on the turret. I would as a reminder to all that shooting high velocity guns can be dangerous.
But you have to admit, that was some mighty fine shooting!!!
I guess the only saving grace here that didn’t turn this into a full on recovery of up-to 4 soldiers remains, is since this was gunnery practice, they were most likely using training rounds that don’t go Kablooey or contain all that nasty stuff we save for real enemy targets.
Someone’s Career Dissipation Light just kicked into overdrive though.