Twilight 2020

[RN7]

Originally Posted by CDAT

I have served in the Middle East for about 5 years out of my 20 in uniform, and spent a lot of that time working with the locals, yes they have learned somethings from us, but other things that we keep trying to teach them they (as of 2013 when I got out) had not picked up in the more then twenty years that we had been trying to teach it to them. For example there tanks shoot a lot, probably more then even we do. However getting them to practice maneuver warfare training is like pulling teeth, they just do not want to do it. From what I am told it has something to do with the differences in culture and how we look at situations or something like that (never really made clear to me).

I am aware that Arab forces in general do not respond well to Western training and instruction methods, and a lot of that is due to a lack of education and the local culture and weird social stratification in their society. There are also major class divisions between officers and their troops and political rivalry within their armies, and there are definitions of authority that do not exist in the west. But they can fight when they want to. Just ask the Israelis in the Yom Kippur War. However this is a minor point in this discussion. The Arab Abram's do not use DU armour, which is why they have lost quite a few of them.

Originally Posted by CDAT

Now as I said I have been out for some time now, but to the best of my knowledge (and I will admit that I have not been tracking it) my understanding is that the US has never sold any DU equipped tanks, now if they were I would think a strong allies like Australia would be one to do so, but if we have not before and due to internal politics it is not a good way to make the sale, I have a hard time buying that they are just trying to sneak it in, when the troops with issued gear can tell if they are or not, and you know that if so someone would spill the beans. But this is just my thoughts worth what you paid for them.

This is well known and the Australian government has stated that their tanks don't use DU armour. But then it wont vote against the use of DU in UN resolutions. Then we have the issue of the weight of the Australian Abram's which are just two heavy not be fitted with DU armour.

The Australian military must be aware that the Arab armies have lost a quite a few of their Abram's tanks in the Middle East. Australia is a Western country and like other Western countries has a high regard for the safety of their soldiers. The Abram's listed as used by the Australian Army is generally the same in armour protection as that used by the Arab's, and without the DU armour it will take losses in a combat zone against a well armed opponent.