US Army’s Tank Gunners Need to Improve Their Aim

• The US military’s tank skills have fallen two decades after the anti -uprising.
• “Many staff struggles with the basics of tanks gunmen,” said an armor expert.
• The military is focusing on training its staff to take the most of its modern tanks.

The US military can have the best tanks in the world. But there is a problem: its tanks are rusty.

Robert Cameron, a historian of the US Army’s Armor Branch, warned that “there is a gap between the tank weapons system’s capabilities and the ability to work in the maximum effectiveness of staff.” Article For Army Magazine, Army Tank Force Professional Journal.

Cameron wrote, “Tanks have the ability to engage diverse goals, whether it is stationary or moving.” “Still, many staff struggle with the basics of tanks.”

Two decades to focus on the counter -insurgency in Afghanistan and Iraq have achieved their success on military skills in the mechanized war. For example, Iraq started with an armored charge in Baghdad, but it turned into an anti -uprising battle where highly trained tank staff Used as an infantry For foot patrols. Now the US military must prepare for the fight that is the World War and its characteristic War: Operation through major mechanized units-brigade, divisions and carpus against good armed opponents like Russia and China.

“We have a new or re -dynamic focus on large -scale combat operations, which includes long limits and engagement distances, and maximum training to use our fire control system, ammunition and optics.”

But it requires brushing basic skills like guns. Cameron identified a 2019 study, as well as the 2022 Sullivan Cup results, which is a two -year military competition in Fort Benning for the best M1A2. Abramus Main Beetle Tank The staff wrote, “The staff struggled with Borisite, target detection and identification, machine gun engagements, and target sensing.”

A tank needs 120 mm cannon-several steps to target its target with a central gun. The target (or multiple goals) should be detected and identified, and the correct ammunition must be loaded. The staff needs to know how to handle the problems such as estimating the limit and hitting the target.

This is not the first time that the US military faced a tank gun problem. In World War II, a large expansion of America’s armored force is also needed to train in Canscript.

In the 1960s, Army Tank Gunnari faced fairy training and his demands Vietnam WarIn which the tank staff was used as alternative shoes on the ground. By the 1970s, the military had to counter the possibility of a massive Soviet attack against a large -scale NATO coach. Cameron wrote, “This possibility for tank units in Central Europe was really horrible, since the popular forecasts of tanker life expectancy were measured in the event of war.”

In the 1980s, Army Marcus Manishp has greatly improved with the introduction of tightly compatible tank staff, improved simulators, laser range finders, and better training facilities such as the National Training Center in California. These efforts created substantial fruits in the Gulf War in the 1990s, when American tanks The demolition Iraqi coach In the Armer Fighting on the last big coach of the United States.

But still, the doll’s skills bowed down to the requirements of the anti -uprising in the 2000s. Cameron wrote, “The Armor Brigade Fighter teams faced training time timelines and repeated appointments, had little time to plan traditional guns and joint weapons.” “The gun frequency fell from half to three years or twice.”

For the past 25 years, US military active duty staff is allowed to fire from the tank’s main gun to 102 rounds each year. Each tank company has 18 direct fire training days per company, plus they have additional opportunities for home station and abroad, as well as a four -hour simulator time per month (“which” is equivalent to squeezing 2000’s main gun triggers inside their simulator, “which was in 1986).

The result is that the US military is in contradiction. Its tanks are better than ever. Current M1A2 SEP (System Increased Package) V3 and Come on M1e3 – A tank designed by the Army and General Dynamics Land System, which is the maker M1 Abramas – Be proud of firepower and protection, which looks like the 1940s Sherman or the 1960s Patten Tank like Flystone vehicles.

Nor is the tank staff ineligible. “I think our staff is performing qualityly quality right now,” said Crotsky.

Cameron warned of reading too much in the results of the Sullivan Cup. “It is not necessary that the entire tank force cannot work,” he told the Business Insider. “This directly means that a particular staff is struggling skillfully at this particular time.”

The real question is, are they able to get the most out of them? Stock. It is clear that the battlefield is becoming less tank friendly: Russia is Estimated More than 14,000 armored vehicles, including tanks, were lost in a three -year fighting in Ukraine.

Yet the trained tank staff can do a lot despite severe difficulties, as Israel proved to Golden Heights In 1973. The US military wants a tanker that can shoot to a long extent – 1,800 to 2,400 meters (2,000 to 2,600 yards). “In general, the average time to defeat any kind of risk for our staff is about 31 31 seconds,” said Crotsky.

Army coach standard and training strategy 2030 Plan Improve skills and training. A new gun manual – which came out in the last 2015 – is ready to be released within the next four months.

The modern Army Tank Force has the advantage that it did not have the predecessor of World War II: a comprehensive tank gun program. Cameron said, “You didn’t have a tank gang program going to World War II.” Often, you used to do the unit yourself. “

The opportunity to dismiss the tank’s cannon is alone. “I liked to be a tanker,” said Crotsky. This was the best thing I had ever done. “

Michael Pack is a defensive writer whose work has been published in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy Magazine and other posts. He organized an MA in Political Science from Rotors Uni. Follow him Twitter And Linked.