Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Little Willie: Forefather of the Tank

Forefather of the Tank:

Little Willie

explained by
David Fletcher 
of 
The Tank Museum

This year is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I.

One of the outcomes of the Great War that will shape up the future of warfare forever was The Tank

And One of the very early forefathers of the tank is William Tritton and Walter Wilson's Little Willie.

Little Willie


You can find a good video on Little Willie from YouTube.

Mr. Fletcher from the Bovington Tank Museum explains not only about Little Willie also how the idea of Tank came about and why the tracks of the following tanks had rhomboidal shape.

So enjoy the video...



Monday, November 10, 2014

Azerbaijan's BRDM-2 Upgrade: ZKDM

Azerbaijan gives the venerable BRDM-2 a new breath:

ZKDM

BRDM-2 "Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina" when introduced in 1962, became the prime armored reconnaissance vehicle of Soviets and their allies namely the Warsaw Pact. It was also largely exported to more than 45 countries world wide.


BRDM-2

BRDM-2 is a 7 ton 4x4 vehicle of welded steel contruction. The vehicle has a crew of 4 and a V8 gasoline engine located in the rear.

The crew enters and exits the vehicle thru the hatches above the driver and commander seats in the front of the vehicle.

The vehicle has 4 small chain driven wheels along the middle of the hull sides that can be raised and lowered to allow better traction and to lower the ground pressure on soft terrain.

A one man turret composes the fire power of the BRDM2. The turret is armed with 14.5mm KPVT heavy machinegun and a coaxial 7.62mm PKT machinegun.

BRDM-2

Azerbaijan's ZKDM Upgrade


Azerbaijan ZKDM


Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense led the effort for a local variant of BRDM-2 that is named ZKDM.

The layout of the vehicle was completely modified compared to the old BRDM-2, the small windows are removed and the front of the hull is fitted with new armour. The driver is seated at the front of the hull on the left with the vehicle commander to his right. The top of the hull is fitted with two roof hatches immediately behind the commander and driver. 


ZKDM Interior


One single door is available on each side of the hull. provided by the removal of the small tires on the sides of the vehicle. The single water-jet at the rear of the hull is removed.

The gasoline engine of the BRDM2 is replaced with a new diesel engine D-245.30E2 developing 150 hp to increase the maximum road speed of the vehicle to 100 km/h. 


Azerbaijan ZKDM

The ZKDM uses technology of V-hull to increase vehicle and crew survivability by deflecting an upward directed blast from a landmine (or Improvised Explosive Device) away from the vehicle. 

The body of the ZKDM provides protection level B-32 against armor-piercing incendiary full metal jacket round with a hardened steel core. 

The ZKDM has a total weight of 7,300 kg with a crew of three, including commander, driver and gunner.

The ZKDM is fitted with a new turret armed with a double-barrel, 23 mm GSh-23 cannon, one 7.62 mm PKT machine gun, one 30 mm AGS-17 grenade launchers, four 57 or 80 mm rocket launchers and two smoke grenade launchers mounted on each side of the vehicle. 


Copyright: armyrecognition.com/

The turret is remotely controlled by the gunner and fitted with fire control system. The weapons have an elevation of +15º, a depression of -30º and the turret can be traversed through a full 360º. 


Standard equipment of the ZKDM includes BPK-2-42 day/night sight, a TV vision system with a maximum range of 1,000 m, and GPS navigation system GLONASS.