In August 2019, the governors of New York and Connecticut made an agreement to join their respective National Guard forces in case of disasters. This is called New Mutual Aid Emergency Management Inter-State Compact, and also involves state police. No justification was given other than that the two states needed to “collaborate” for future cross-border emergencies.
2020’s pandemic-panic-attack delayed joint training for wildfires.
Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Andrew Valenza.
During the first week of May 2021, New York and Connecticut helicopter crews finally joined-up with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers, for training over the Mohawk River.
Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Andrew Valenza.
“Our procedures vary a little bit compared to what they’re used to, and there’s a lot of terminology they use we have to get used to. We have to get used to working them to develop that crew mix and synergy. One thing we learned is that our previous spot-drop techniques are often not a good course of action due to the way the rotor downwash can fan out the flames.”-Captain Forest Thrush, 3rd Battalion, 142nd Aviation Regiment
Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Andrew Valenza.
The Bambi bucket used by the New York/Connecticut National Guard UH-60 Blackhawks can weigh 2.8-tons when full.
“If we didn’t do this training to get the federal Red Card certification, we wouldn’t be able to support the state in every possible scenario. This gives the state the full flexibility to use resources in the National Guard regardless of who’s managing the fire.”-Lieutenant Colonel Michele Edwards, Alaska Army National Guard
Alaska Army National Guard photo by Specialist Grace Nechanicky.
Red Card is also known as Incident Qualification Card, it is a type of fire fighting training that is accepted by various federal and state agencies. Alaska Army National Guard CH-47 and UH-60 helicopter crews conducted Red Card training on 09JUN2021.
Alaska ANG photo by Specialist Grace Nechanicky.
1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment, CH-47 Chinook dragging a 2-thousand-gallon Bambi bucket: “There are no civilian helicopters in state that provide the high-volume, heavy lifts that our CH-47s provide.”-Lieutenant Colonel Michele Edwards, Alaska ANG
Alaska Army National Guard Red Card promotional video by Victoria Granado:
Alaska ANG photo by Dana Rosso.
1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment UH-60 Black Hawk hoisting a 550-gallon Bambi bucket over Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
Video by Victoria Granado, Alaska ANG Bambi bucket ops:
California Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Michelle Ulber.
During the first week of May 2021, California and Nevada Air National Guard C-130H and C-130J crews took part in Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) training on San Bernardino Air Tanker Base, California.
California ANG photo by Senior Airman Michelle Ulber.
California Air National Guard video ‘explainer’ interview, by Technical Sergeant Nieko Carzis:
California ANG photo by Senior Airman Michelle Ulber.
California ANG photo by Senior Airman Michelle Ulber.
California ANG ‘nat-sound’ video by Technical Sergeant Nieko Carzis:
California ANG photo by Senior Airman Michelle Ulber.
Wyoming Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Jon Alderman.
U.S. Air Force Reserve and Wyoming Air National Guard C-130 crews took part in Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS) training during the week of 10 thru 15 May, 2021.
Wyoming ANG photo by Technical Sergeant Jon Alderman.
The weeklong training and certification took place out of U.S. Department of Agriculture-Forest Service’s Jeffco Airtanker Base, with the C-130s conducting water drops on nearby Arapaho/Roosevelt and Pike-San Isabel National Forests and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands.
Wyoming ANG photo by Technical Sergeant Jon Alderman.
Video by Technical Sergeant Justin Norton, ground test of the U.S. Forest Service’s MAFFS unit 10MAY2021 at Peterson Air Force Base (AFB), Colorado:
Wyoming ANG photo by Technical Sergeant Jon Alderman.
Video report by Michael Dougherty:
Wyoming ANG photo by Technical Sergeant Jon Alderman.
Video by Staff Sergeant Laura Turner, MAFFS training drop over Hayman Burn Scar:
Wyoming ANG photo by Technical Sergeant Jon Alderman.
Wyoming ANG photo by Technical Sergeant Jon Alderman.
March 1982, U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate Petty Officer First Class D. Brockschmidt.
U.S. Department of Defense photo by Al Chang.
Wargame Team Spirit, March 1982. Main gun tube is facing over the rear deck. Also, notice the type of muzzle brake, and then compare to the muzzle brakes seen on the M47s in 1985.
U.S. Department of Defense photo by Al Chang.
A Korean M47 that desperately needs a haircut. Team Spirit ’82.
U.S. DoD photo by Al Chang.
Team Spirit, March 1983.
U.S. DoD photo by Al Chang.
This one has a spotlight, Team Spirit ’83.
March 1983, U.S. DoD photo by Al Chang.
U.S. DoD photo by Al Chang.
Team Spirit, March 1985.
U.S. DoD photo by Al Chang.
Korean M47s had both types of muzzle brakes.
U.S. DoD photo by Al Chang.
March 1988, photographer unknown.
U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Jerry Baker.
M47 rolls off KI RIN (LSM-658) during Team Spirit ’91. Reportedly, the last Korean M47 was retired in 2007.
A photo from sometime in the early 1970s, an inflatable decoy (dummy) M47.
White Sands Missile Range photo by Warren Weaver.
December 1977, a M47 about to get taken-out by an M198 artillery fired M712 Copperhead on the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
WSMR photo by Tom Moore.
February 1984, another M47 about to bite the dust as an artillery fired Copperhead zeros-in, on the White Sands Missile Range.
WSMR photo by Tom Moore.
‘On the way!’
WSMR photo by Tom Moore.
‘Target, cease fire!’
U.S. Navy photo by Master Chief Petty Officer Terry Mitchell.
January(?) 1993, U.S. Marines discover an orphaned M47 in Somalia, during Operation Restore Hope. They removed the live ammo.
USN photo by Master Chief Petty Officer Terry Mitchell.
U.S. Army video still by Specialist S. Paine.
December(?) 1993, U.S. Army troops found more orphaned/destroyed M47s during Op Restore Hope.
On 01AUG2012, personnel on Fort Carson, Colorado, moved a M47 gate guard from its spot on the Kit Carson ‘tank’ Park to a new location in front of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division’s headquarters building.
USA photo by Specialist Shardesia Washington, 14MAY2015.
In May 2015, U.S. Army personnel on Hohenfels, Germany, used a shot-up M47 target to practice their heavy lifting.
USA photo by Specialist Shardesia Washington, 14MAY2015.
USA photo by Specialist Shardesia Washington, 14MAY2015.
Towards the end of August 2015, the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, on Fort Riley, Kansas, got two M47s to perform guard duty in front of the unit’s motorpool headquarters.
USA photo by Specialist Courtney Hubbard.
Czech soldiers of the 74th Light Motorized Battalion, 7th Mechanized Brigade, reassemble a shot-up M47 target tank during exercise Allied Spirit-2, at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, 09AUG2015.
New Jersey Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Andrew J. Moseley.
Shot-up M47 on New Jersey Air National Guard’s Warren Grove Bombing Range, April 2019.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Rachel Simones.
M47 target on the Edwards Air Force Base Precision Impact Range Area, August 2019.
Also, this is actually for the U.S. Air Force, to test the ability of new aircraft targeting systems to identify enemy tanks. The crazy guys were ordered to create a Fake-News BTR, BMP and T-72.
WSMR photo by John Hamilton.
The test run was made on the Condron Army Airfield. Whoa, slow down there plastic tank, five miles per hour please!
The crazy-guys took what was once a static (stationary) corrugated plastic target, used for radar acquisition, and adapted it to fit over a small utility all terrain vehicle (ATV). They then altered the ATV to be remote controlled, in other words, they created a giant R/C toy.
Video by John Hamilton of highly paid engineers playing with their giant R/C tank:
It also has tactically placed metal strips and heat generators to simulate the radar and heat signatures of a real tank. The experimental giant R/C tanks went to Edwards Air Force Base, California. I have not been able to find any info on what happened to the corrugated R/C tanks, but I suspect they were used to test the F-35’s ability to identify and attack ground vehicles, that is because the F-35’s ground attack testing (at Edwards AFB) began about the same time that the fake-news tanks were created.
The latest T-84, the BM Oplot. Although it has a large exhaust port that would indicate a turbine engine, it actually has a complicated turbo-supercharged 6-cylinder ‘double-stroke’ piston (meaning each cylinder actually has two pistons) engine.
MorozovKMDB photo.
MorozovKMDB photo.
MorozovKMDB photo.
This tank is called by several names, it was developed for militaries that use the NATO 120mm ammo originally developed for the 120mm Reinmetall gun. It is known as Yatagan, KERN2-120, or T-84-120.
MorozovKMDB photo.
MorozovKMDB photo.
This MorozovKMDB promo video is called Oplot, but it shows the T-84 and the Yatagan. The visual difference is that the Yatagan’s turret extends over the engine deck:
Ukrainian Ministry of Defence video from 2014 showing Oplot and Bulat:
Photo via MorozovKMDB.
T-80UD.
Photo via MorozovKMDB.
Photo via MorozovKMDB.
Self-entrenching tool in use.
Photo via MorozovKMDB.
The upgraded/up-armored T-64 known as BM Bulat, looks very much like the T-80UD. The visual give-aways are the position of the smoke grenade launchers, and the type of roadwheels .
Photo via MorozovKMDB.
Canadian Forces photo by Aviator Stéphanie Labossière.
T-64B at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, Ukraine, 11APR2019.
Canadian Forces photo by Aviator Stéphanie Labossière.
Canadian Forces photo.
An old T-64, International Peacekeeping and Security Center, Ukraine, 07DEC2018.
Canadian Forces photo.
T-80BV at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, Ukraine, during Canadian sponsored Operation Unifier, 29NOV2018.
Canadian Forces photo.
Canadian Forces photo.
Canadian Forces photo.
Canadian Forces photo.
Ukraine’s 36th Naval Infantry Battalion Tactical Group conduct a night-shoot, 25OCT2018.
U.S. Army (USA) Photo by Kevin S. Abel.
T-84s at the Strong Europe Tank Challenge at the Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, May-June 2018.
USA photo by Markus Rauchenberger, 06JUN2018.
USA photo by Kevin S. Abel.
Size comparison, T-84 versus Leopard 2A6.
USA photo by Markus Rauchenberger, 06JUN2018.
USA video by Christian Marquardt, Ukraine’s T-84 joins NATO tanks from Austria, France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, in a shoot-out. It is hard to see because of the smoke, but the T-84 is the small one:
USA video by Kevin S. Abel, new track pad installation on T-84:
New York Army National Guard (ANG) photo by First Lieutenant Derrick Garner.
March 2018, T-64BV at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center.
New York ANG photo by First Lieutenant Derrick Garner.
New York ANG video, I had to edit out the extremely boring narration (no audio), and edit just to show the T-64BV:
USA photo by Specialist Javon Spence.
Leclerc versus T-64BV at Strong Europe Tank Challenge, May 2017. The USA photographer incorrectly identified this T-64BV as a T-64BM (Bulat upgrade).
Ukrainian Defence Ministry video about the evolution of the T-64:
