Tanks Damaged by Roadside Bomb

Tanks Damaged by Roadside Bomb

news.bbc.co.uk

A Challenger 2 tank has been penetrated by a roadside bomb in Iraq leaving the driver with serious injuries, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is astounding, there I thought the Challenger 2 was invoible... Just goes to show the weapons the isurgents are using is getting mroe advanced now.....

Will the British Commander have to rethinktheir stragety in using these tanks?

There is also a link to footgae showing of the challoenger tank operation.

What do other members think of this situation now in Iraq

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

A Challenger Tank was seriously damaged via an IED attack on 6 April 2007, the first such attack. The driver lost both legs in the attack. The heavy armour was previously believed to provide near impenetrable defence against IED attack, with a sophisticated 'shaped charge' bomb believed responsible. The BBC quotes a British MoD spokesman as saying the Challenger tank was "well armoured but in an operational theatre it's not the case that you can have absolute protection. This was not in any way new technology - the device involved was the same type of shaped charge that we have seen used very regularly.
en.wikipedia.org...

Nothing on the battlefield is invincible.
But it's an awesome piece of equipment though.


It might be time for western nations to rethink the entire Iraq situation. If it wasn't for their insatiable desire for cheap oil they wouldn't be there in the first place.
Now the price of that oil is higher than ever once you consider the loss of life and the expense of maintaining a military presence in the country.



[edit on 16/5/2007 by anxietydisorder]

Originally posted by spencerjohnstone


This is astounding, there I thought the Challenger 2 was invoible... Just goes to show the weapons the isurgents are using is getting mroe advanced now.....

Will the British Commander have to rethinktheir stragety in using these tanks?

There is also a link to footgae showing of the challoenger tank operation.

What do other members think of this situation now in Iraq

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Its one of the best tanks in the world, but no tank on earth is invincible. I started a thread related to Styker losses in Iraq where I advocated the use of a Air Assault/Gunship type aircraft. I recommended something along the lines of the Mi-24 Hind, which neither the US nor UK have anything comparable. The Apache is just a gunship.

You can't use IEDs on an aircraft.

Another idea, what if we built our own roads? Somehow designed to prevent the usage of IEDs. The roads would be constructed in some way that prevents insurgents being able to dig into the apshalt and lay IEDs. The roads could have some kind of blast barriers possibly in the center and sides. On top of that a massive UAV presence that watched the roads at all times.

[edit on 16/5/07 by MikeboydUS]

This has been covered already in great detail.


Regard's
Lee

Strange, I thought this tanks had reactive armor, then again if the explosion comes from under the tank where reactive armor is not present in that place then it is posible that the tank will take damage.


[edit on 16-5-2007 by pepsi78]