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Old 07-23-2009, 01:44 PM
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Webstral Webstral is offline
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Standardizing ammunition types is one of the most critical aspects of modern war. It might seem easier to set up a factory for 125mm ammunition as opposed to swapping out the 125mm gun, but the real trick is getting the right ammunition to the right units at the right time. The above-mentioned Israelis regunned captured T-55s partially because the 105mm main gun is superior to the 100mm gun but principally because the fewer types of main gun ammo in the supply system the better. If everyone uses 105mm or 120mm, then in a pinch (the only time that matters in war) a given tank unit can be given a neighbor's supplies. Not so if the neighbor fires different ammunition.

It's no coincidence that NATO settled on standard calibers for some of the most important items: 155mm and 105mm for artillery, 120mm and 105mm for MBT guns, 7.62x51mm for general purpose machine guns, and so on. Equally, it's no coincidence that the Warsaw Pact uses identical calibers, even if their hardware isn't as uniform as Moscow would like.

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