Quote:
Originally Posted by Sanjuro
Did the export version of the T80 have the same gun as the Soviet's own equipment? I remember talking to a tanker after GW1; he described vividly the loud clang as a main armament round from a T80 (Manually traversed or not, they traversed fast enough) bounced off the front of his Challenger I; the T80 was then taken out by the first shot they fired in return.
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Although
Armored Cav by Tom Clancy is liberally sprinkled with apocrypha and fervor, one statement he made in the book I've heard corroborated elsewhere by a guy I worked with who was in GW1: the Iraqi long rod penetrator rounds were made from local tungsten, not imported. While the guns were likely entirely identical to what was in Russian/Soviet tanks of the day, the ammo was most definitely not.
I also seem to recall a story about a guy who received a silver star (or may have even been a DSC) after the M2 he was in took a direct hit front from a T55's main gun. The vehicle was an immediate loss and the driver and gunner (I believe) were killed instantly, the rest of the crew survived with injuries. As he was the only ambulatory passenger he was able to get everyone out of the track and away, and go back in and get TOW and gun rounds out to prevent an ammo explosion from killing them all due to their proximity. Now, the T55 mounts a 115mm main gun; I'm not sure if the Brad was sporting reactive armor or not, but if not a direct hit should have blown it off the face of the earth - unless perhaps it was an inferior locally manufactured round.