The 2S3 Akatsiya (2C3 Акация) was developed by the Soviet Union in the late 1960s. It is a self propelled howitzer that fires a 152.4mm round. It is still in use by Russia, Ukraine and about 15 other countries.
2S3 launches one near Yavoriv, Ukraine, 11APR2019. Royal Canadian Forces photo by Aviator Stéphanie Labossière.
2S3 dug-in near Yavoriv, Ukraine, 11APR2019. Royal Canadian Forces photo by Aviator Stéphanie Labossière.
11APR2019, Royal Canadian Forces photo by Aviator Stéphanie Labossière.
11APR2019, Royal Canadian Forces photo by Aviator Stéphanie Labossière.
11APR2019, Royal Canadian Forces photo by Aviator Stéphanie Labossière.
2S3 lights up the night near Yavoriv, Ukraine, 11APR2019. Royal Canadian Forces photo by Aviator Stéphanie Labossière.
Direct firing a 2S3 in Ukraine, 02APR2019. Royal Canadian Forces photo by Aviator Stéphanie Labossière.
Direct firing a 2S3 in Ukraine, 02APR2019. Royal Canadian Forces photo by Aviator Stéphanie Labossière.
02APR2019, Royal Canadian Forces photo by Aviator Stéphanie Labossière.
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Hanah Abercrombie, 27DEC2021.
On 27DEC2021, U.S. led Coalition ‘partners’ and Iraqi commanders met in Baghdad, to conduct an annual review of the ‘progress’ of Operation Inherent Resolve.
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Matthew Marsilia, 21DEC2021.
On 21DEC2021, a U.S. designed Iraqi C-130J Super Hercules landed Iraqi officials to inspect Erbil Air Base, as part of the official end to U.S. led coalition combat operations.
U.S. Army photo by Major Alexa Carlo-Hickman, 18DEC2021.
On 18DEC2021, U.S. and Iraqi military commanders went over the ‘new’ rules for ‘divestment’ of U.S. taxpayer funded stuff, as part of the ‘new’ Biden U.S. advise, assist and enable mission on Al Asad Air Base.
USA photo by Major Alexa Carlo-Hickman, 16DEC2021.
On 16DEC2021, ten pallets worth of small-arms ammo was off-loaded.
USA photo by Major Alexa Carlo-Hickman, 16DEC2021.
U.S. Army photo by Major Alexa Carlo-Hickman, 15DEC2021.
48 pallets of free (U.S. taxpayer funded) stuff for Iraq’s military was off-loaded on Al Asad Air Base, on 15DEC2021.
USA photo by Major Alexa Carlo-Hickman, 15DEC2021.
USA photo by Major Alexa Carlo-Hickman, 15DEC2021.
USA photo by Specialist Adaris Cole, 13DEC2021.
On 13DEC2021, a U.S. designed Iraqi C-130J picks-up cargo at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. It has been revealed that since February 2021, Iraqi C-130Js have picked-up more than $18-million worth of U.S. taxpayer funded stuff on Ali Al Salem Air Base.
USAF photo by Senior Airman Hanah Abercrombie, 11DEC2021.
On 11DEC2021, French commanders met with Iraqi commanders in Baghdad, to discuss the so called new advise, assist and enable mission.
An M712 Copperhead cannon-launched laser-guided projectile is fired from a modified M198 155mm howitzer, 27FEB1984. White Sands Missile Test Range, New Mexico, photo by Tom Moore.
White Sands Missile Test Range, 27FEB1984, photo by Tom Moore.
3-112th Field Artillery, New Jersey Army National Guard, unload M712 Copperhead cannon launched guided projectiles at Fort Drum, New York, 08JUN2000. New Jersey National Guard photo.
Idaho National Guard COLT of the 1-148 FA (HQ in Pocatello), identified by the AN/TVQ-2 Ground/Vehicular Laser Locator Designator (GVLLD, usually called a ‘glid’) mounted next to the .50 cal machine gun on this HMMWV, in 2016.
The GVLLD (‘glid’) used by artillery forward observers can be used to guide the Copperhead on-target.
Iowa Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Zachary M. Zippe, 16DEC2020.
While doing time with NATO’s Kosovo peace enforcing operation (KFOR), some Ukrainian troops decided to bring a little friend to some crowd/riot control training on Camp Marechal de Lattre De Tassigny.
Iowa Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Zachary M. Zippe, 16DEC2020.
The training took place on 16DEC2020, and include the Iowa Army National Guard (Troop B, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment).
Iowa Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Jonathan Perdelwitz, 16DEC2020.
It is called BAT-2 путепрокладчик, it is a heavy tracked engineer vehicle equipped with a crane, a ground/road ‘ripper’, a 25 metric tons winch, and a multi-angle dozer blade. The Ukrainian/Russian word путепрокладчик translates to ‘tracklayer’ in English, even though it has nothing to do with laying track (perhaps something lost in translation as the English word ‘track’ has multiple meanings).
Iowa Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Jonathan Perdelwitz, 16DEC2020.
Bash! The old Cold War era engineer vehicle bashes not one but two small SUVs, that were being used as an impromptu road block during the riot control training.
BAT-2 was designed and built in the Soviet Union, specifically for creating and removing obstacles, entering service in 1988. Apparently the word BAT (Бат) is a reference to engineering vehicles. The full Russian word is Батмастер, which translates to English, probably incorrectly, to BAT-master. Another name for BAT-2 (Бат-2) is Батмастер-Истра (BAT-master[?] Istra).
U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Cody Harding, 11SEP2013.
This isn’t the first time a Ukrainian BAT was doing time in Kosovo, in September 2013 the Ukrainian BAT-2 was used to clear a landslide on a road outside Zubin Potok.
Idaho Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedee Wilds.
The Idaho Air National Guard’s 124th FW, 190th FS, decided to light up one of their home based (Gowen Field) A-10Cs with end-of-year holiday colors, starting on 20DEC2021.
The ID-ANG has been flying the A-10 since 1996. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedee Wilds.
The Rheinland-Pfalz Impfbus (immunization bus) at U.S. Army Rhine Ordnance Barracks 10DEC2021. Photo by Gina Hutchins-Inman.
On 10DEC2021, the State of Rhienland-Pfalz sent their Impfbus (immunization bus) to the U.S. Army’s Rhine Ordnance Barracks, despite the fact that the Barracks has a 96% vaccination rate: “I really appreciate the German Red Cross and the 21st TSC [Theater Sustainment Command] helping us with this second iteration of the corona vaccination. The garrison has a 96% vaccination rate including service members.”-Daniel Nagel, Garrison Works Council Chairman
U.S. Army photo by Eleanor Prohaska.
On 08DEC2021, U.S. Army and Air Force medical personnel conducted a Booster Rodeo in the city of Kaiserslautern. The so called Victory Medics helped spend U.S. funding to vaccinate approximately 1-thousand-6-hundred people! On top of that, Lieutenant Colonel William Murray reports that the U.S. Army’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center is vaccinating as many as 1260 people per day!
U.S. Army photo by Corporal Froylan Grimaldo, 13DEC2021.
U.S. Army medics are working in Beaumont Hospital, Dearborn.
The U.S. Army’s Detroit Arsenal began Rapid CoViD-19 Testing on 10DEC2021.
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Ty Baggerly, 09DEC2021.
FEMA deployed the U.S. Army’s 214th Medical Detachment (based on Fort Bliss, Texas) to Covenant Healthcare in Saginaw.
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Ty Baggerly, 06DEC2021.
U.S. Army medics are working at Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital in Grand Rapids.
Minnesota:
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael H. Lehman, 07DEC2021.
U.S. Air Force medics are working at Hennepin Healthcare, in Minneapolis.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael H. Lehman, 27NOV2021.
U.S. Air Force medics (wearing non-protective surgical masks, meaning not N95 masks, see more below under New Mexico) arrive at CentraCare St. Cloud Hospital, in Saint Cloud.
Montana:
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Andre Taylor, 09DEC2021.
U.S. Air Force medics working at Benefis Health System in Great Falls.
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Andre Taylor, 06DEC2021.
U.S. Navy medics are also deployed to the Billings Clinic Hospital, in Billings.
Montana National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Michael Touchette.
National Guard/U.S. Army Dual Status Commander inspects Providence Saint Patrick’s Hospital in Missoula , 02DEC2021.
New Jersey: On 09DEC2021, the new(?) Burlington County COVID-19 Vaccine Mega-Site was opened, being operated by New Jersey Army National Guard, U.S. Army and Burlington County. Interestingly the military press release states it is a “newly opened” facility, while Burlington County’s website says it is a “reopened” facility. Notice in the photo above that in the widow they’ve posted the phrase “here for good”!
New Mexico:
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Nicholas Goodman, 14DEC2021.
U.S. Navy medical personnel from San Diego, California, are working at San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington.
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Nicholas Goodman, 09DEC2021.
An Afghan child refugee gets vaccinated at the Brooke Army Medical Center COVID-19 Vaccine Site, on 03DEC2021, three days before the site was shut down due to lack of demand! U.S. Army photo by Jason W. Edwards.
Despite government/news media ramping up fear mongering over Omicron, on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston Brooke Army Medical Center switched to vaccinations by appointment only on 06DEC2021. Hospital administrators admitted that the reason for ending the mass-vax operation was due to lack of demand by military personnel, despite being mandated to get the shot!
Also on Joint Base San Antonio, the U.S. Air Force not only ordered the return of mask wearing, but inadvertently revealed that mask wearing is now permanent by issuing guidelines on which color mask to wear with which uniform!
Utah:
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Richard Barnes, 03DEC2021.
The Utah Air National Guard has taken over monoclonal antibody infusions at a Utah Department of Health site in Saint George. Previously, the U.S. Air Force was administering the monoclonal treatments.
Virginia:
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Jessica J. Mazzamuto, 09DEC2021.
U.S. Marine Corps Base Quantico continues vaccinating Afghan child refugees.
Washington:
Photo by Sergeant Yesenia Barajas.
On 21NOV2021, the U.S. Navy’s Surgeon General, and other Navy officials, inspected Confluence Health’s Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee. Navy medical personnel from Florida and Virginia are working in the hospital.
Wisconsin:
U.S. Army photo by Private First Class Caitlin Wilkins.
An Afghan child refugee gets a Pandemic shot on Fort McCoy, 08DEC2021.
1-148 FA HQ in Pocatello, Idaho, got hit with a wind/snow storm, 14DEC2021, giving a new look to their armor displays.
Wind & snow storm hit Southeastern Idaho on 14DEC2021. Sustained winds hit 42mph, wind gusts hit 68mph, at the Pocatello Airport (which is actually in Power County, not Bannock County). HMMWV at the Idaho National Guard armory in Pocatello (Bannock County), 1-148 Field Artillery, 116th Cavalry Brigade.
Watching over the cities of Pocatello and Chubbuck, Bannock County, Idaho.
Cold War era M60A3.
Conducting ‘bounding overwatch’ of the cities of Chubbuck and Pocatello.
U.S. Marines Corps LAV lit-up for the Camp Fuji, Japan, xmas tree lighting ceremony, 12DEC2021. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Katie Gray.
Arriving a little early, Santa rode onto Camp Fuji, Japan, on a Light Armored Vehicle, 12DEC2021. USMC photo by Katie Gray.
M1/M116 Pack Howitzer, 2nd Cavalry Regiment at Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany, 08DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Christian Carrillo.
Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany, 08DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Cory Reese.
2nd Cavalry Regiment decorate dozens of tactical vehicles on Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany, 08DEC2021. USA photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.
M3 Scout, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.
M3 Scout, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.
M3 Scout, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.
Stryker, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Dragoon Ride Holiday Parade at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.
Stryker Snowman, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Dragoon Ride Holiday Parade at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.
Stryker Grinch, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Dragoon Ride Holiday Parade at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.
Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.
Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.
Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Markus Rauchenberger.
The M4 Sherman display, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Black Horse), Fort Irwin National Training Center, California, 08DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Bradley Parrish.
M26 display, 11th ACR (Black Horse), Fort Irwin NTC, California, 08DEC2021. USA photo by Sergeant Bradley Parrish.
M48 display, 11th ACR, Fort Irwin NTC, California, 08DEC2021. USA photo by Sergeant Bradley Parrish.
Bradley Fighting Vehicle nicknamed Bob Ross, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment (Quarterhorse), 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Hohenfels, Germany, 05DEC2021. USA photo by Staff Sergeant George B. Davis.
New Hampshire Army National Guard High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during the Queen City’s holiday parade in Manchester, New Hampshire, 04DEC2021. New Hampshire Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Charles Johnston.
Ādaži, Latvia, 30NOV2021. Actually, this 3rd Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment (Burt’s Knights), 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division’s M1A2 SEP Abrams isn’t trying to look like an Xmas Tree, but ’tis the season. It’s all part of the war game Winter Shield 2021. USA photo by Corporal Max Elliott.
From xmas 2019, German Tiger Tank holiday lights on Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
Before the U.S. Army settled on using the M551 Sheridan as the basis for its ‘fake news’ Soviet tanks, they tried out the self propelled artillery unit called M109.
U.S. Army photo. Fake News ZSU-23-4, Fort Hunter Liggett (photo info says Fort Ord, I believe that is incorrect as the terrain looks like Fort Hunter Liggett [I’ve been there done that], also, the JAWS-2 war game took place on Ft. Hunter Liggett), California, November 1977.
Actually, the special M109 was created just for the JAWS/JAAT programs of the U.S. Air Force/U.S. Army. Notice that the radar antenna looks like an actual radar off a ZSU-23-4. It could be that the M109 ZSU-23-4 could generate ‘fake news’ radar signals so that attacking aircraft could practice their ECM (electronic counter measures).
This M109 was converted for the November 1977 Joint Attack Weapons System II (JAWS-2) war game on Fort Hunter Liggett, California. Photo via U.S. Army.
The JAWS (Joint Attack Weapons System) exercises of the late 1970s helped develop anti-tank tactics for today’s NATO air forces This was important as the U.S. Air Force (USAF) was just breaking in its new A-10 Thunderbolt-2 tank killing aircraft. JAWS exercises also included U.S. Army (USA) AH-1 Cobras and OH-58 Kiowas.
An OH-58 Kiowa during a USA/USAF Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise (CALFEx) on Fort Hunter Liggett, December 1986. Photo by Staff Sergeant Gustavo A. Garcia.
JAWS also coincided with JAAT (Joint Air Attack Team), which tried combining fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft into a single anti-tank operation. JAWS-1 took place at Fort Benning, Georgia, and focused on aircraft gun cameras. JAWS-2 took place on Fort Hunter Liggett (formerly Hunter Liggett Military Reservation), California, using a Range Management System that linked with aircraft gun cameras in an attempt to calculate real-time ‘hits and misses’ during war games.
An A-10 Thunderbolt II fires a burst from its 30mm tank busting gatling gun, during a USA/USAF Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise (CALFEx) on Fort Hunter Liggett, December 1986. Photo by Staff Sergeant Gustavo A. Garcia.
It was during the JAWS/JAAT exercises that USA and USAF personnel learned each other’s tactical language for anti-tank operations.
Less than one year after the 1977 JAWS-2 wargame took place on Fort Hunter Liggett, the one-off M109(M108?) ZSU-23-4 made an appearance in West Germany, during FTX Certain Shield 1978. According to the info that came with the photo below, its appearance had ‘tank spotters’ speculating that it was an new experimental U.S. Army anti-aircraft tank inspired by the Soviet ZSU-23-4.
Photo attributed to Bernd Hartmann, Raum Herbstein, Germany 1978.
Does anybody know what happened to the one and only M109 ZSU-23-4?
This is a real Soviet made ZSU-23-4 Self Propelled anti-aircraft gun. Photo via U.S. Army.
The U.S. Army began reducing its inventory of M551 Sheridans in 1978, remaining Sheridans were relegated to the role of ‘bad guy’ for war games, being modified to look like various types of Soviet tanks for use on the U.S. Army’s then new National Training Center, in the early 1980s.
Two Sheridan ‘fake-news’ ZSU-23-4, National Training Center-Fort Irwin, California, September 1982. U.S. Army photo by Ben Andrade.
NTC, California. USA photo.
Photo attributed to Stefanowicz.
A ‘ZSU-23-4’ spotted in a convoy of fake-news Sheridans, National Training Center-Fort Irwin, California, January 1986. U.S. Army photo.
A 177th Armored Brigade ZSU-23-4- M551 Sheridan, parked next to a real BTR, NTC-Fort Irwin, California, March 1988. USA photo.
I remember when I was part of the 1st/185th Armor, CSC Company (armory in Apple Valley, later becoming Delta Company) of the California Army National Guard, we routinely used Fort Irwin for weekend drills. In the early 1980s, NTC was literally a dust bowl with almost no facilities, we used the giant boulders as our targets for live-fire tank gunnery. Finally, in 2003/2004 the M551 was retired from the OpFor (Opposition Forces) role, with the very last Sheridan seen being hauled to the U.S. Navy’s China Lake in March 2004 (probably to be used as a target).
Parked inside the Opposition Force’s (OpFor) vehicle compound, NTC, California, January 1991. USA photo.
In the last decade of the use of Sheridans as ‘Krasnovian’ OpFor vehicles, the M551s were kept alive by cannibalizing parts from other M551s, and the unusable parts were sold as scrap. My last encounter with the Krasnovians was in 1998, with the Idaho Army National Guard.
An obviously staged photo of an 11th Armored Cavalry M551, along the border between Ost und Westen Deutschland, May 1979. U.S. Army photo.
The M551 Sheridan was not considered a main battle tank, it was officially a Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle, beginning service with the U.S. Army in 1967.
A too clean looking 11th Armored Cavalry M551, West Germany, May 1979. USA photo.
Made out of mostly aluminum (the outer hull was ‘high density foam’ encased in aluminum), it was meant to be air droppable and amphibious.
Another obviously staged USA photo, border of Ost und Westen Deutschland, May 1979.
The 152mm main gun could fire low velocity HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) or ‘canister’ rounds, or the Shillelagh anti-tank guided-missile. The low velocity rounds were useless against fast moving and distant enemy tanks, and by the 1970s the U.S. Army had newer and better anti-tank missiles, so the Sheridan got relegated to other jobs like playing the bad guy in war games, or posing for propaganda photos.
“Halt!”
The U.S. Army began reducing its inventory of M551s in 1978, retiring it from front line use in 1996. Remaining Sheridans were relegated to the role of bad guy for war games, being modified to look like various types of Soviet tanks. Finally, in 2003 it was retired from the OpFor (Opposition Forces) role.
