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RBL-M1A2Tanker — Alpha 23 - M1A2 Mineplow 1
#abrams #armor #army #m1a2 #mineplow #tank #us
Published: 2005-03-04 04:52:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 2948; Favourites: 20; Downloads: 148
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Description
One of several shots I have of one of the companies mineplow tanks at work at the National Training Center back in Jan 2000.Usually it's not a good idea to use a mineplow in this manner, but we needed battle positions dug, and it was determined that we could live without the plow if it breaks. Luckily it didn't.
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Comments: 24
Ah ive always been fascinated with the attachments that can fit onto tanks, i remember having an old book of WW2 tanks and there were some truly odd inventions in there.
Long live the Challenger 2, Cos blatantly its the best. lol
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Not biased at all! 
It's a good machine though, and yea...they had some really crazy stuff back then. Some of that has lived on to today, as we see with Alpha 23 here.
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Me biased? never...
I remember going to this tank museum and they were demonstrating some kind of mine sweeping device, that just resembled an oil barrel with chairs spinning very fast at anything in its way, seemed far more dangerous that it should of been.
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Ah, the chain flail. Well, if you're inside the armored vehicle, then it's not so dangerous to you....but it'd suck if you were the poor guy who happened to be just a little too close and that thing hit a mine, which happened to take out a piece of chain. @_@
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Your tank photos are very impressing. Thanks for sharing such decisive memories.
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Dangerous work, but somebody's got to do it. Cool shot.
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We got tired of waiting for the engineers to appear, so we took the risk and did it ourselves hehe.
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When a tank company comes across a minefield, a mineplow tank takes the lead, lowers the plow into the ground, and creates a furrow through it. The great amount of soil will saftely lift the mines away to the sides, leaving a clear path down the center. Works pretty good.
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lol, good to know.
If a tank goes over a mine... will it break and fall apart and stuff? Does the mineplow tank ever blow some of the mines up when lifting them away?
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It depends on where the mine goes off at, and what type of mine it is to begin with for both questions.
There are those that go off when a certain amount of pressure is put on them, and those wouldn't go off when the mineplow shoves them away. Those that use a tilt rod though can go off if the rod is tilted just enough for the contact to be made in the fuse. Though that would still damage the mineplow instead of the tank (and I'd rather lose the plow than the tank and crew myself).
Pressure mines usually go for tracks, which will blow them apart, causing some pretty bad damage and stalling the vehicle in place. A mine with a tilt-rod though usually is going for directly underneath the tank itself, at one of the weakest points in the tank's armor. It's quite thin there, as well as in other places, and if the mine goes off in just the right spot it can kill the crew with the blast.
There are other kinds of minds as well, but I couldn't tell you about them as I'm not up to speed on all the mines out there, much less their uses.
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Mine plows can push away the pressure and the tilt rod mines right fine???
if not, that blows... So who ends up driving the mine plow tanks?
Is there a mine plow tank to every platoon of tanks er battalion...er? GROUP of tanks I mean. (lol)
haha, sorry so many questions, lol.
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Quite alright. It's not something that is very well known, so the questions are understandable.
Mineplows are designed to push all mines possible, be they anti-vehicle or anti-personnel, away and create a clear corridor for them to go though.
As for how many there are, that varies from Battalion to Battalion. Mine had at least two plows per company, as well as at least one mine roller (that I never saw get used). Who ends up driving them? One tank out of two platoons will be picked to be the mineplow vehicles, and the lucky crew that was on that tank in each platoon gets it.
I've driven one before, at least with the clamshell attachment anyways. With the plow on it makes the tank kinda lean forward a bit, for good reason. The thing is kinda heavy.
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Wow the landscape is so flat... i only remember flat land like that in the center of the states, so trippy... tis hilly and mountainous here
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Hehe, the pictures shown here are deceptive. The area we were training in is anything but flat. Rollling hills, some mountains, deep valley's and crevices...
Matter of fact we were digging in on top of a hill in these pics.
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Wow, oh, well very cool, so you were in a tank then?
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Yes I was. For two years I drove tanks.
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Wow, may i ask how old you are?
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25. I've been in service almost 7 years now.
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Heheh, ironically enough the plow is made so as to avoid pain. Mines are not a tankers friend.
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