Inside the Chieftain's Hatch: Super Kurassier, Part 1 

No thats just inconvinient. Consider this situation: boom you get the next enemy vehicle killed. You hear ICOMMING over radio from the artillery radar operator Your driver cranks in reverse and hits the accelerator. Ckrckrck is the message from the track - most likely the last sound you will hear in your short remaining lifespan.

Interestingly, I found out in you tube from a manufacturer's official cha nnel that an excavator's tracks need to be off the ground before being tensioned while an armored trac can be tensions while sitting on the ground

​@@shaider1982That may be required for some vehicles, but certainly not all. Looking quickly at Caterpillar guides, most of their vehicles are "roll to a stop, check track sag, adjust the amount of grease in a hydraulic tensioning system until appropriate tension is achieved". Much like how many different armoured vehicles have different systems, so do civilian vehicles. Now systems that need more time, equipment, or consumable resources make more sense in civilian practices than in a military vehicle so there is likely a broader array used in civilian equipment.

Ever had chain driven bike or motorcycle? Forgetting to keep an eye on its tension will end badly or even tragically. It's critical part of maintenance.

​@@karoltakisobie6638how right you are....the most deadly weapon on today's battlefield is that jumped chain ripping through the air off of the 10 speed bicycles which special ops use...need to take out a tank?! Slap rip boom! The ever deadly 10 speed bicycles chain strikes...hell from what I can gather you're not safe even at distances as great as 2ft away from the rear sprocket... You really cannot even fathom how dangerous a loose bicycle tire can be if it comes loose.....whooaaa dawgy you cannot put run them either

Im guessing it is usefull if you are being followed by a tank to be able to look behind and radio them if the tank driver is distracted and they are too far or about to run you over

Probably from WW2 : Soldiers on amphetamine would either doze off or not react to course changes.

Indeed, the only real problem with convoy lights on the front is in combat, where the lights can be used by the enemy to see one coming if one is too foolish to remember to turn off the front lights. Appears the US Army is one to say that they'd consider the combat risks more important to address than the peace-time risks; Slightly higher chance of pile-ups in a peace-time convoy is more acceptable than a chance of an unit being wiped out because one driver forgot to switch off his convoy lights.

@@tarjei99 What!?! ✋️😭

if you've ever tried to guide anyone who is a slower/less aggressive driver than you its an exercise in frustration. I'd imagine if you're doing a road march and you have say, an AMX-10 in front of one of these, it would be even harder to not leave them in the dust.

🥖 🤡

@@samholdsworth420 wsup karen !

@@davidlefranc6240 I identify as a Sharon

I saw a M88 tobogan down a road in South Korea. What it did to the farmer's house at the bottom wasn't pretty. P.S Hohenfels means high cliffs. I'm guessing the area lives up to it's name.

Bet they were glad of the BV ;-)

Skiing in the Austrian Alps, perhaps? ;-)

My main question is *which M1*

Pretty sure he has mentioned this before. Maybe third time will be the charm?

@@brianj.841 deja vu blasting in the distance

@@Ineptus_Mechanicus M1 Garand? ;)

So not accurate since it is Vienna and the Austrians have their weird accent? ;D

Pretty close. It's Heeresgeschichtliches Museum actually. Must be a horror for non-native speakers to pronounce.

I think you just volunteered to be the calibrated german speaker. May the Omnisiah have mercy on your soul!

@@residentgeardo hmm, not that hard tbh, not when compared to a polish surname at least

@@ravenouself4181 yeah you're right polish is something different entirely. There's always a language more complicated to be found. 😀

Ah, Americans... They are "Speshul", bless.😁

Yeah it's been what, 9 days since the last one? That's forever and a day ago....

@@MaverickBlue42 Notifications are hit and miss on here.

Not a classic one untill that loop music plays.

Make sense !

Ur time in the "Bundeswehr" jucks nobody, come back when u have some knowledge bout the austrian "Bundesheer". thanks

Do apply the laws of Physics different in Austria? Or are People of Austria able to see in the Dark? I don't think so. @@kasauerkrautimgulasch

If they both use front convoy lights, what difference does it make? If you had an answer I'd say your comment is worthwhile, but seeing as you have nothing to contribute, I'm not sure why you said anything.

Volvo c303/202....

@@01Bouwhuis According to wikipedia their manufacture was stopped in 1981. (So even earlier than the Pinzgauer.)

Drain holes, perhaps?

@@birlyballop4704 Maybe you´re right and they're intended to drain off water/condensantion. The bottom location would make sense for this.

I had a pub session as well, it was announced on my FB page. I'll post on YT Community as well

Oh ok the museum guides name is France or does he mean Franz?

@@mitchanthony1548 I'm sure it's Franz, I'm just making a joke

@@mitchanthony1548 Took me halt of the video to realize it. 😬

Why? Vienna was not part of Imperial Germany. It was the capital of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

@@tubarlog Because it would imply that France was in control of Austria, and imperial Germany would not be particularly happy to see a France-controlled state on its southern flank

I sit corrected...

To add: the barracks in which the museum is located were built in the moorish style. Fantastic complex, as such alone worth a visit. And among the exhibits is the car, in which the Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne was shot in Sarajevo starting WW I.

It's actually simple hydraulics. Uses a lot of grease though

?

@@DrLoverLover ?

They aren't bright enough to project light. They are designed to be just visible to an observer.

@@TheChieftainsHatch I’m flattered you took the time to respond to my post, even if it was to debunk it. Keep up the good content.

That's the entire point of the convoy light on the back of the vehicle ahead of you, so why would you need that? And why would you just make something up and post it as an answer if you didn't know?

@@justforever96 I appreciate the response but the last sentence was unnecessary.

One of the reasons for the design of the Kürassier was for it not need a Military Police escort in peace time on public roads. Most training in central Europe (Germany) was done on public roads.

Sure. Example m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bowtCs5j6lQ.html

Most tanks are street legal in the US depending on local road weight regulations and whether tracks at an issue. They are just registered as agricultural vehicles and are mostly exempt. In most of Europe they have stricter regulations about what can be driven on the road, you are required to have certain lights, etc, whatever you are driving, whoever you are. So even the military had to install marker lights, etc, to legally drive on the roads, or yes, the police could pull them over and fine them. So he means the tanks are street legal in Central Europe, not that Central European tanks are the only ones you can drive on the road. Unless you live in Central Europe. And have a lot of money for fuel and insurance, especially once you have inevitably totalled a few cars because you can't even see where you are going in a 40 ton armored vehicle on the way to work every day, getting a half mile per gallon or worse in fuel mileage.

What?

This came from that period in the late 60's where people were scatching their heads and trying to come up with a way to stop early heavy ATGM's and 115mm guns with RHA alone without busting every bridge or pontoon in the army. The Leo 1, AMX-13 the Panzer 61 and the Kurassier where all based on the idea that this was not possible. Thus they are MBT's which are only proof of autocannon rounds.

​@@benlewis4241That is simply not true. The Kurassier was not a main battle tank, the Austrians had M47s and (later) M60s serving alongside the Kurassier. Just like the French had M47s before developing the AMX-30 as main battle tanks alongside their AMX-13 light tanks. The Leopard 1 (which originated in the same joint development program that would result in the AMX-30 after the Germans and French went their own ways) would also have substantially more armour than the AMX-13 or Kurassier.

Flatbeds have their own lights But if you are Infront of a tank in a convoy you can check if he is still there

@@ara8692 Hmm, well dedicated military trucks might have, but in wartime you sometimes have to take civilian trucks too, so then those wouldn't have military-standard convoy lights?

@@baryonyxwalkeri3957 Maybe that's part of it but I doubt there's going to be a lot of civilian truck-trailers that can handle a modern tank, those melon farmers are heavy. And besides the weight, you'd have to have a trailer of the correct width (pretty sure your average skinny European commercial trailer isn't wide enough) and getting the tank on to and off of the trailer is also a concern. I mean, I'm no expert, maybe it's easier than I imagine, but I mean, I do believe most armies have dedicated specialized tank-trailers, for some of the reasons I mentioned.

@@Kinzarr4ever I just checked this and a Kürassier is just a few cm wider than a regular ISO container, otherwise it fits in that space completely. And the weight, a Kürassier weighs 18 tons, and a regular truck trailer can carry up to 36 tons from what I googled.

The trailer has its own convoy lights.

The chassis is actually a modified APC, SPz A1 / Saurer 4K4FA / Leonidas

@@stefanm886 Was this a cheap vehicle? The assumption is yes just because of the AMX 13 heritage, but a lot of engineering effort is on display to use every inch of space as much as possible... And that means complicated to manufacture, which means expensive... But this up-armored variant is probably 20 tons or 22 at best, so it's a nearly unarmored light tank, and who wants to buy expensive light tanks? Like, artillery fragments are going to be an issue without add on armor. But there's a ton of them all over South America where the AMX 13 reigns just because nobody has good artillery, so clearly they were cheap enough.

@@cheyannei5983 I don't know the exact price, but given it used an existing chassis already in use, and the Austrian Bundesheer had always been on a pretty tight budget, it probably wasn't particularly expensive. Its export success in South America and the middle east (Tunesia, Morocco) also points to the fact that countries considered it to be decent bang for the buck compared to the base AMX 13. Armor was worse than that of an actual tank, but it wasn't a tank but a TD and scout vehicle, and compared to other vehicles of this category its armor was actually above average having thiker side armor than the PT-76 had frontal armor, in addition it had the advantage of an extremly small silhouette when hull down (0,44m² 3 times smaller than the Leo 1 or T-55 4 times smaller than an S-Tank or Jagdpanzer Kanone)

@@stefanm886 The AMX 13 armor is *really* bad. A step above an armored car, but only from the front. I actually think this thing probably had slightly better protection, probably a big deal when autocannons are the primary threat. The drum brakes are actually a really neat side advantage; spare parts. There isn't a machine shop in the Americas that can't make replacement drums or anything else, and hydraulic drives are very common and easily understood here, too. In effect, you don't need original spare parts, which would save a lot of money and ease logistics.

@@cheyannei5983 Slightly better, 20-25 instead of 15-20 mm hull front the rest pretty similar in thikness, I have a book that claims the turret front received some add on armor, but can't find its thikness

I'm not sure I entirely agree with the premise. Yes, it does require an additional part to be repaired to like-new, but the tank will not be immobilized. It is possible to short-track an M1 if the first road wheel www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fmgpy5kpozfg61.jpg or even first and second both are destroyed. www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2F9iwmuqrozfg61.jpg%3Fwidth%3D750%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D0dc6e484025562a40ff30defcf6a103d843d5372

I partially agree with you the difference is that if the system as shown to you is put in place there is a loss of ability to move and mobility which requires driving at a very low speed and makes impossible to cross a wall or any obstacle the slightly high with the arm inverted moreover by accelerating the caterpillar pulls the suspension arm in the opposite direction which is all the more limiting whereas a more classic system by screw or at least dissociated from the coupling with this suspension arm will encounter almost no problem apart from an unequal distribution of the masses of the vehicles and will be able to drive faster and cross higher obstacles because in this case the system always works and is not affected by the absence of this special suspension arm. Then another argument why this system has not been adopted is quite simply because the engineers of other countries have judged that even if it could be interesting they could do without it and not use it as the return rollers for the CV90 and preferred to develop active tensioning systems for future tanks or just the hydraulic system of the Challengers with a simple button to reduce the workload even if it does not bring any other advantages for mobility. I have another question had you information on the Belleville suspension system of the Swiss panzer 68 that you had presented a long time ago, I did not find any and I do not know how their suspension is arranged because it differs from the E-50 series that Germany tried to develop at the end of the war. This is precisely the main attraction of these tank panzer 68 and I do not remember that you mentioned it. Thank you for having answered me and for all other information on the Belleville suspension of the panzer 68 I am interested.@@TheChieftainsHatch

No, that doesn't happen. If your tank is penetrated you only fight long enough to withdraw. Your armor is compromised, you probably have significant damage and wounded or dead crew. That's just a video game thing. Although if a crew member is incapacitated by spalling or concussion or hit outside the vehicle, you might fight with a reduced crew if you can't find a volunteer to replace him, but only until you can find one .

Depressing how many of you seem convinced that makes any sense.

They are for traveling in convoy. If for some reason a tank was being transported on a trailer in a convoy, the trailer would have it's own convoy lights, you wouldn't need ones on the tank. Do the lights on your car serve as taillights when it's on a flatbed truck? And again, they are convoy lights, you aren't going to be crossing obstacles in convoy, especially not in reverse. If you are crossing obstacles you are in combat, and no one needs to keep proper spacing on you. In fact, you are trying to be invisible, so you aren't going to be running exterior lights on your vehicle to give the enemy a nice target to shoot at.

Deeper, flatten the earth!

Char future 4 never left the drawing board so I am not sure it counts. The actual french oscilating turret that was built and thus 100% counts that solved the problem was the FL-20 turret (which unfortunalty never received sales), fully stabilised and nbc protected.

That's not how those lights work, though. They glow just enough to be visible, they don't project lights. The four small slits split two and two will appear as one light, two lights or four lights depending on how close you are. Correct distance is two lights. If you see all four slits individually you are too close, if you can't see any separation at all, you are too far

Why didnt you use the the front lights? The small ones above the bigger. They are the same that leopards have

Front lights give away your position too much, the marker lights less so although they still show up huge if viewed through infrared. @@taistelusammakko5088

No That would be your night drive light

Easier for you to slow down than for someone behind to catch up? The TC could also use rear -facing periscope (or stick head out) to check and then ask his driver "Why are we suddenly all alone? You got somewhere to be?"

@@lukedogwalker Maybe you don't wanna slow down but want your subordinates to keep pace? ..and sure you can stick your head out and see them but with the addition of the column light you can immediatly see if they are at the correct distance. Maybe it's also a driving school thing?