American "BMP-2" and "T-80" received more advanced sights

Stationed at the U.S. Army National Training Center (Fort Irwin, Mojave Desert, California), the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment is an unusual part of the American armed forces. He is entrusted to act for a conditional enemy during maneuvers regularly taking place at the local training ground.

In order for combat training to be as close to reality as possible, the units were equipped with running models of BMP-2, T-72, T-80. In total, according to various sources, there are more than 120 units.

Samples of such equipment were replaced in the late 90s by the M551 Sheridan light tanks that had used up their resources, also depicting various Soviet armored vehicles for a long time.

To make operation cheaper, one of the most massive tracked armored personnel carriers, the M113, was used as a platform.

During the redesign, some of them received rotating turrets with installed pipes imitating 125-mm guns of Russian main tanks, while others received mock-ups of 30-mm 2A42 automatic guns, as on the most common infantry fighting vehicles of the second generation.

It was reported that such "weapons" are stabilized in two planes, the presence of sights with thermal imaging channels provides for the possibility of use in motion, day and night. Of course, these guns do not fire real ammunition, laser defeat simulators are used, the exact "shots" of which are recorded by special sensors.

Such equipment allows you to play real battles on the ground, reveal command errors and insufficient training of military personnel, which usually leads to large "losses" and, accordingly, defeat.

Recently, the equipment has been modernized. A new, more massive multichannel device with improved characteristics was noticed above the "guns".

Apparently, the simulator of the Konkurs anti-tank missile system (NATO designation AT-5) was replaced with a more powerful one with a night sight.

Instead of "ZSU-23-4" "Shilka" in the columns there are models of anti-aircraft missile and cannon 2S6 "Tunguska".

Alexey Moiseev