Aircraft/Armor Surplus Storage

[Olefin]

Its amazing how much WWII equipment the Soviets kept around - its one reason their WWII films were more accurate as to equipment versus ours (think the tanks that were used in Patton as to what I am talking about) - when Enemy at the Gates was made they used a lot of old WWII equipment for the movie that they got from Russian sources that was still in perfect working order

[ChalkLine]

There is a window where a failing industrial state would see these stored vehicles as more than just scrap value.

In World War 2 Australia was in a parlous state before the US joined the war and every rusty gun available was being dragged into government workshops to see if it could be made serviceable in any way. It was so bad there was a proposal to bring in civilian trucks, convert them to armoured cars for the length of the emergency and then deactivate and return the trucks to the civilians after the war. In my mind at least all the big powers reach this state during the Twilight War.

Working ex-military vehicles, especially armoured vehicles, can be given a modern weapon and placed in an Ad Hoc Emergency Defence Force unit for the duration. M551s could be given a low pressure 105mm gun, as could a Sherman (it actually has better armour).

Are these weapons going to Europe? No. They will be used when the final decline is imminent and the administrations are trying to (alas unsuccessfully) stave off collapse. They might never operate more than 50km from their refurbishment site.

An M3 Half Track might be 50+ years old but given an new M2, slat armour and desperate troops it's still a force to be reckoned with.

[Olefin]

Keep in mind that Mexico was still operating WWII equipment in their army in our real timeline - meaning that the invasion of the US would have had Stuart tanks and other fun pieces of hardware as part of their forces. And while Shermans and other older tanks would be easy meat for modern AT weapons the fact is that by 2000 you arent going to be seeing too many of them left - even among regular military units that are still intact.

[lordroel]

Originally Posted by Olefin

Keep in mind that Mexico was still operating WWII equipment in their army in our real timeline - meaning that the invasion of the US would have had Stuart tanks and other fun pieces of hardware as part of their forces. And while Shermans and other older tanks would be easy meat for modern AT weapons the fact is that by 2000 you arent going to be seeing too many of them left - even among regular military units that are still intact.

But would you agree Olefin, a Sherman is much easy to maintain and the build spare parts for than a modern tank like a Abrams.

[Olefin]

Definitely Roel - for one it was to be easy to maintain in the field - that was one reason the Germans had such a big problem during WWII - great tanks but maintenance was a real problem

[StainlessSteelCynic]

lordroel & Olefin - the article I was reading (details below) implies that the likely reason so many of these T-34's could be recovered and used in parades was because they are relatively simple to maintain compared to modern armoured vehicles and thus had lower amounts of vital equipment and less technologically demanding equipment in regards to manufacture & maintenance requirements.


Issue 211 of Classic Military Vehicles, December 2018,
pg 74-80, title: Old Soldiers On Parade.

[Legbreaker]

Can't assume every old Soviet AFV will be in close to fighting order though, even if the engine still runs. Plenty of vehicles kept by Russian museums in supposed "near complete" order have had vital systems removed such as breach blocks, sights, telescopes, periscopes, intercom (for those that had them to begin with), even ammo and equipment racks, not to mention crew seating. From the outside they look the part, but in reality they're not much more than an empty shell with an engine.
Basically anything you might be able to use in a newer vehicles (particularly things like radios) is often stripped out and reused, and anything else that could be pried loose before the hatches welded up scavenged by the workers and sold off for scrap. After all, who's going to know they took it all if nobody can climb in to check?

[lordroel]

Originally Posted by Olefin

Definitely Roel - for one it was to be easy to maintain in the field - that was one reason the Germans had such a big problem during WWII - great tanks but maintenance was a real problem

So would having tanks that from WW II era be much easy to maintain than tanks who where build around the period of World War III and thus more sought after.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by lordroel

So would having tanks that from WW II era be much easy to maintain than tanks who where build around the period of World War III and thus more sought after.

I wouldn't think so. There's a reason they're not used any more, and it's got nothing to do with ease of maintenance....