U.S. Marine Corps photo by Robert Jackson, 10JUN2020.
Apparently only 49 were made before he end of World War Two, and this is supposedly the only one left alive.
USMC photo by Robert Jackson, 10JUN2020.
It was based on the Type 95 hull, and was originally intended to carry personnel and supplies from ship to shore and back again. However, somebody decided to also use them in suicide attacks on U.S. ships, but testing in 1944 showed they were much to slow and noisy for such a sneaky job.
The Japanese AmTrack could carry 13mm machine guns, and during the Kamikaze testing was able to carry and launch two torpedoes (after setting sail from its submarine transport).
The USMC originally had the Ka-Tsu on display on Camp Pendleton, also in California.
“This year, we conducted 11 joint exercises through the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.”-Colonel General (U.S. equivalent Lieutenant General) Alexander Lapin, Central Military District, December 2021
In Russia’s Central Military District there were 11 wargames held in 2021. They spread across Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The wargames also included military units from Armenia, Belarus, China, India and Pakistan.
This covers some of what went down in Tajikistan.
Russian Defense Ministry video, January 2021, first Mi-24P & Mi-8MTV5-1 operations of the year:
Russian Defense Ministry video, January 2021, first live-fire gunnery of the year; T-72s (notice the T-72 T-C is wearing a damn Pandemic face mask!) & BTR-82As:
Russian Defense Ministry video, February 2021, live-fire gunnery for mechanized infantry:
Russian Defense Ministry video, March 2021, all those BTRs and T-72s are thirsty:
A full-on wargame was held in Tajikistan, at the end of April 2021, involving more than 3-thousand-5-hundred Russian and Tajik personnel.
Russian Defense Ministry video, April 2021, Sukhoi 25s arrive for the games:
Russian Defense Ministry video, April 2021, BM-21 Grad rocket launchers (the Russian word translates to ‘flamethrower’):
Russian Defense Ministry video, April 2021, load, aim and fire your BM-21:
Mi-8MTV5-1s were busy working training sorties along with Mi-24Ps. Central Military District photo.
Russian Defense Ministry video, April 2021, Mil 24P (NATO reporting name Hind-F):
Russian Defense Ministry video, April 2021, BTR-82A:
BTR-82A, in the Khatlon region at the Kharb-Maydon training ground. Central Military District photo.
1-thousand targets were set-up for the August 5-10 wargame in the Khatlon Region, on the Kharb-Maydon training ground.
Anti-tank rocket launchers. The Russian word translates as ‘flamethrower’, this is confusing because in English a flamethrower is a different type of weapon.
The scenario of the August Tajikistan wargame was that the Central Asian country was invaded. About 2-thousand-5-hundred personnel from Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan took part, with about 5-hundred vehicles.
T-72, Central Military District photo.
In November, Russian troops from the 201st Military Base in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, got to try out their new 5.45mm AK-12 assault rifles during the Cobalt 2021 wargame. Central Military District video:
On 02FEB2022, Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, Commander of Russia’s Central Military District, reported that “Since the beginning of the year, 76 company tactical exercises have been conducted with the part of motorized rifle and tank units, including 11 ostentatious ones, during which the number of practical tasks performed has been increased by 12%, and the number of group tasks has been increased by 24%.”
On 31JAN2022, Russia’s Southern Military District reported that crews operating BTR-82A and BMP-3 armored vehicles began warming up their guns with live-fire drills.
The vehicles are armed with guns of 100mm, 30mm and 7.62mm calibers.
Southern Military District video, BTR-82A live fire gunnery:
Southern Military District video, BMP-3 live fire gunnery:
Western Military District photo.
On 31JAN2022, a NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) competition began in the Kursk Region, as part of the 2022 Army International Games.
Western Military District photo.
On the same day, in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the first qualifying stage of the communications competition ended.
Russian Western Military District photo.
On 30JAN2022, Western Military District engineers took part in the 2022 Army International Games, in the Voronezh Region.
BTR-80 undergoes NBC decontamination. Russian Southern Military District photo.
On 28JAN2022, Southern Military District reported that NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) competition had begun, as part of the 2022 Army International Games taking place in the Volgograd Region.
Russian Ministry of Defense video of arrival of some of the S-400 vehicles:
The S-400 Triumph units will be based in the Brest Region of Belarus.
Russian Western Military District photo.
On 02FEB2022, Russia’s Western Military District announced it began wargames using the S-400 systems. The ‘live-fire’ wargame is being held across the Leningrad Region of Russia, and includes other anti-aircraft systems like the S-300 Favorit, Pantsir-S, Tor and Buk-M3.
The S-400 Triumph is an anti-aircraft missile system comprised of many types of vehicles.
Russian Western Military District photo.
On 01FEB2022, Russia’s Western Military District completed an anti-aircraft wargame in the Moscow Region using the Tor system of the Guards Tank Army. The wargame scenario was that U.S./NATO was trying to bomb an important target in the Moscow Region.
Russian Western Military District photo.
On 31JAN2022, Russia’s Western Military District reported that the Baltic Fleet had completed anti-aircraft training for its Bal system. The Bal system is specifically for defense of coastal areas.
The XA series of armored vehicles first came alive back in 1980, during the unofficial Cold War, when Finland was part of the Soviet ‘Eastern Bloc’. They were made by a company called Suomen Autoteollisuus, which became Sisu Auto in 1981, which then became Sisu Defense in 1995, which then became Patria in 1997. Today Finland still uses the XA series of vehicles, and despite Finland being an officially ‘non-aligned’ country, it allows, and even takes part in, NATO wargames on its soil.
The XA numbers change depending on specific versions, and foreign users.
Finnish XA-180 working as part of the IFOR mission in Bosnia & Herzegovina. U.S. Army photo by Private First Class Luis A. Deya, dated March 1996.
A Finnish officer explains the electronics on his XA-180 Command Post to U.S. Army personnel in Lager Aulenbach, Germany. U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Jim Varhegyi, 09MAY2000.
The Patria Pasi XA-180M is the latest version of the original Sisu Pasi XA-180 from 1980. Everything was upgraded, including the armored body.
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo.
Does the ‘M’ in XA-180M stand for mud? Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo.
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo.
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces XA-180M promotional video from 2014, including sliding it on ice, and notice that a motorcycle looking clear shield is used on the TC coupala:
The XA-181 was used to create the 90M (aka ITO90) Crotale anti-aircraft system.
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo.
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo.
2014 Puolustusvoimat video explaining Finland’s air defense systems, including the ITO90:
The newer XA-202 and XA-203 were first delivered in 2003. The XA-202 has more interior room than the XA-203, and is used mainly as a command post/communications vehicle. The Puolustusvoimat says the 202/203 were developed specifically for ‘crisis management operations’.
XA-203 during NATO’s Trident Juncture 2018 in Norway. Finnish Defense Forces photo by Ville Multanen, 30OCT2018.
Finnish XA-203 crews prep their vehicles in Sweden for road-march to next-door Norway. Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo by Sergeant Alec Orko, 27OCT2018.
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo by Ville Multanen, 26OCT2018.
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo by Ville Multanen, 26OCT2018.
2018 Puolustusvoimat video showing XA-203 ops in Sweden, and they finally admit they are a NATO ‘partner’:
In February 2017, Finland agreed to buy 48 used K9 self propelled artillery guns from the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo.
They began arriving in 2017, with the final delivery expected by 2024.
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo.
The Finns call it the 155 PsH K9, the PsH is for Panssari-Haupitsien (which means Armored Howitzer in English).
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo.
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo.
The 155 PsH K9 uses 155mm ammo.
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo.
Hour long K9 PanssariHaupitsien presentation video that was recorded live in 2019:
Finland also operates the Soviet era 2S1 self propelled artillery gun, the Finns call it the 122 PsH 74.
Finland calls their 2S1s the 122 PsH 74. Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo.
They are former East German 2S1s, purchased in 1992 and 1994, thanks to the unification of West and East Germany, and the end of the unofficial Cold War.
Puolustusvoimat / Finnish Defense Forces photo.
The 122 PsH 74 uses 122mm ammo.
Video from 2014, getting a tour, and ride, on a Finnish 122 PsH 74:
2007 video of a ‘cold start’ of a 122 PsH 74, pay attention you might recognize somebody that is also in the 2014 tour/ride video:
On public display, next to a tiny FV107 Scimitar, in the city of Cesis, 21AUG2021. Latvijas Aizsardzības Ministrija (Latvia Ministry of Defense) photo by Gatis Dieziņš.
Latvijas Aizsardzības Ministrija photo by Gatis Dieziņš, 26OCT2021.
In February 2010, personnel with the U.S. Army’s 26th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, pulled a dead T-55 from a junkyard near Forward Operating Base Marez, Iraq.
USA photo by Specialist Gregory Gieske, 16FEB2010.
The T-55 was being brought back to life for the Iraqi Ground Forces.
USA photo by Specialist Gregory Gieske, 16FEB2010.
Prior to 2010, many dead Iraqi T-55s were brought back to life for the reborn Iraqi Ground Forces (القوات البرية العراقية), and were ready for action by 2005.
A resurrected T-55 heading out on patrol on 09JUL2005.
Another reborn T-55, 09JUL2005.
A reborn T-55 patrolling outside the village of Al-Tahimah, 09JUL2005. Notice that the T-55s don’t yet have the U.S. antenna mounted.
Patrol of T-55s arrive at Camp Taji, 12APR2007. USA photo by Staff Sergeant Jon Cupp.
Reborn T-55s on Camp Taji, 12APR2007. USA photo by Staff Sergeant Jon Cupp.
This photo was released in the United States in late 1986-early 1987 (date when photo was made is not known). The U.S./NATO called it the M-1973 SMP 1987 152mm Howitzer, of course it is the 2S3.
From a U.S. Army vehicle I-D poster.
To make things more confusing, U.S./NATO also called the 2S3 the SAU-152.
This photo was released in the United States in late 1986-early 1987 (date when photo was made is not known). In this photo release the U.S./NATO correctly called it the 2S3 152mm self-propelled howitzer.
From U.S. Army Graphic Training Aid, Armored Vehicle Recognition, 1987.
From U.S. Army Graphic Training Aid, Armored Vehicle Recognition, 1987.
Soviet promotional video for the 2S3:
M-1973 (another name the U.S. military sometimes called the 2S3 during the Cold War), on display on Fort Irwin, National Training Center, California. U.S. Army photo taken in late 1990.
A lone abandoned Iraqi 2S3 sits next to a line of AMX-30 AuF-1 self-propelled guns, in the Taji tank graveyard of Iraq, photo dated October 2005.
2S3 artillery unit, based in Primorsky Krai, fire-off some rounds. Russian Eastern Military District photo, June 2015.
Video of Russian 2S3s conducting live-fire training in Tajikistan, September 2015:
Column of Ukrainian 2S3s heading into disputed Donbas area, sometime in 2018.
Russian 2S3 on one of the many training grounds spread from the Ural Mountains to Siberia. Russian Central Military District photo, September 2020.
Since 19JAN2022, Russian ground forces (Eastern Military District units and Pacific Fleet marine units) began arriving in the Republic of Belarus, which is just north of Ukraine. The official reason is to ‘inspect’ Belarusian forces for readiness, which is expected to take until the end of February. It is in compliance with the Vienna Document of 2011. This is Russian Defense Ministry video, recorded on 25JAN2022, showing the arrival of the 2S3:
Russian 2S3s arrived in Belarus, 25JAN2022. Photo via Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
