Subject:
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Re: A really simple technical question
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.build.military
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Date:
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Thu, 20 Mar 2003 22:18:10 GMT
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Viewed:
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382 times
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In lugnet.build.military, Dave Schuler writes:
> In lugnet.build.military, Dan Boger writes:
> > In lugnet.build.military, Dave Schuler writes:
>
> > > What distinguishes a tank from a self-propelled howitzer?
> >
> > From what I know (as a guy that used to ride in those howitzers :), tanks are
> > much more heavily armored, faster, and can shoot while in motion. In contrast,
> > howitzers have very light armor, and have to be "deployed" in order to fire -
> > they have to know exactly where they are. They usually fire to MUCH longer
> > ranges (at least 10x), and often fire at a much highre gun elevation than
> > tanks.
> > Depending on the howitzer, they usually have much lower fireing rate - a good
> > crew can fire 6 rounds/minute for a short time, 4 rounds/minute sustained.
> >
> > That help?
>
> Yes indeed! I've been looking at pictures of armor, and I couldn't figure
> out the specific differences, though I'd noticed the greater range of
> howitzers. Some of them are just downright scary, shooting over the horizon
> and whatnot.
I am no expert, other than what I have seen on the History Channel, but I
think it should be clarified that not all tanks can fire while in motion.
That was one of the advantages of the M1 Abrams during the first Gulf War.
With it's high-tech laser targeting system it could select future targets
and compute how to target them while firing at the first and all while
moving at higher speeds than most armored vehicles. However, this was
advantagious because of the very fact that opposing tanks could not do this.
I seem to recall that most earlier models required little or no movement of
the tank to achieve any accuracy.
Tanks are designed to move into enemy occupied areas and fight relatively
close (thus the heavy armor designed to protect the crew). ...As for
howitzers, they function as artillery, which means they bombard enemy
positions from such distance that the enemy cannot easily threaten the gun.
Spotters (infantry or aircraft) are often used to determine the coordinates
needed for artillery to aim at.
That's my point of view on it anyway... Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
-Hendo
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Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: A really simple technical question
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| (...) Yes indeed! I've been looking at pictures of armor, and I couldn't figure out the specific differences, though I'd noticed the greater range of howitzers. Some of them are just downright scary, shooting over the horizon and whatnot. Thanks for (...) (22 years ago, 20-Mar-03, to lugnet.build.military)
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