From: Steve Grammont (islander@midmaine.com)
Date: Wed Oct 20 2004 - 22:08:11 PDT
>More than the US. Britain, Germany, and the US.
>The Isrealis seem to agree too. The only ones
>that don't are the French and the Russians.
I've heard some really nasty horror stories about what it's like to be
around one of the Soviet (and knockoff) tank auto loaders. Anybody who
has ever sat in fryingpan turret knows how little room there is for the
crew. Apparently if you got a piece of your uniform or body part in the
wrong place at the wrong time you were toast. I imagine the more recent
versions are better, but then again perhaps not. Just heard a report
today that hundreds of Russian soldiers still die in hazing incidents
each year (causing tens of thousands to go AWOL) so it looks like the
level of caring for soldier safety isn't necessarily of paramount importance.
The only other "main" battle tank with an autoloader I can think of is
the Swedish S-Tank. From memory I recall it wasn't a feature to be proud
of, but I could be wrong on that. Having sat in one I must say that it
is the Saab sports coup of tanks (more correctly TD)!
Steve
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