Australian Abrams Tank Arrival
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22 September 2006
Abrams Tank Arrival
The first 18 Abrams M1A1 AIM Main Battle Tank and five Hercules Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARV) have arrived in Australia and were unloaded at the Port of Melbourne.
The new Abrams will provide the Army with increased firepower, mobility and survivability for soldiers on the battlefield. The Abrams will improve the Army’s network-centric warfare capability, supporting the development of a networked combined arms approach to operations – where the armour, infantry, artillery, aviation and engineers work together to support and protect each other.
The Abrams tank has been delivered on time and on budget. This is a reflection of the improved acquisition process and very close cooperation between Army, Defence Materiel Organisation, Capability Development Group and Defence industry.
The Abrams will be moved from the Port of Melbourne to the School of Armour at Puckapunyal on the new Heavy Tank Transporter vehicles.
http://www.defence.gov.au/media/download/2006/sep/20060922.cfm -
first 18 of how many?
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I think is 58.
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59 of them at a cost of $530 million
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that's all they have to protect the whole continent?
what other tanks do they have? -
The have Leopard 1. Not sure whether these will be retired?
yeah. if u think about it, the country the size of australia, only have 59 MBTs even if they had bought the very best...
lessons to be learned also from this....
quality is very important,,, not just a 350 quantity. -
imho, the most effective logical way to DEFEND australia continent is to have a strong airforce and navy.
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last i heard they weight 68 tons, the aussies don't have railways and bridges to handle that kind of weight... -
Who is going to invade Australia?
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railways?i think their rail ways can handle that kind of weight......they move stacks of cars on those man.Plus other stuff.Originally posted by ferryman2393:last i heard they weight 68 tons, the aussies don't have railways and bridges to handle that kind of weight... -
I think the Japanese considered it a long time ago... heh.Originally posted by calvin2224:Who is going to invade Australia?
Did a lil Google... For those interested..
http://www.defence.gov.au/minister/Hilltpl.cfm?CurrentId=3643
These are the M1A1s. Not the M1A1HAs... which means they dun have the DU armor or the CITV. -
Makes me wonder....bottom line is that sillypore will never be able to defend itself
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Originally posted by |-|05|:railways?i think their rail ways can handle that kind of weight......they move stacks of cars on those man.Plus other stuff.
THE army's newest frontline weapon, the Abrams battle tank, arrived in Australia yesterday and immediately encountered problems, with no rail transport available to carry the tank to the Northern Territory.
http://www.railpage.com.au/news-5109.htm
Its deployment will be further hampered because, at 68 tonnes, the Abrams is too heavy to travel across road bridges in the Northern Territory.
As the first 18 of the tanks were delivered to Port Melbourne, the operators of the Adelaide-to-Darwin railway said they lacked the equipment to carry them. Adelaide-based Freightlink said the tanks were too big.
"Freightlink has participated in a rail study with the implication for new rolling stock to be acquired," the company said.
It did not say when or if it intended to acquire the required rolling stock and suggested it was waiting for contracts to be signed with the Defence Department before going ahead with the purchase. A total of 59 refurbished tanks were bought from the US for $500 million.
Transporting them north by road is likely to be problematic.
A senior Northern Territory shire engineer said road bridges in the Katherine Shire had a maximum capacity of 50 tonnes, 18 tonnes less than the weight of one Abrams tank. Road trains weighing up to 50 tonnes are able to use the bridges by disconnecting a trailer, he said. -
If I'm not wrong, the employment context of the Australian Defence Force focus quite a bit on regional stablisation, which mainly include peace keeping and enforcing mission on the small island states around the Pacific. So most of their equipment are aiming to be strategically mobile. The MBTs are therefore not the main focus of their forces and perhaps hence the small quantity.Originally posted by beavan:that's all they have to protect the whole continent?
what other tanks do they have? -
Ah, time for me to take a drive down to Paka and see if I can get a few shots. St the very least I'll get to visit the Armour Museum again.
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these are bulky, but light.Originally posted by |-|05|:railways?i think their rail ways can handle that kind of weight......they move stacks of cars on those man.Plus other stuff. -
With 59 tanks they can equip a tank Brigade, consisting of 3 operational Squadrons , with one training/ reserve squadron. Each sqaudron with 15 tanks, except for the reserve.Originally posted by beavan:that's all they have to protect the whole continent?
what other tanks do they have?
They still have the upgraded Leopards, which are still very capable.
This is adequate. There are only certain chokepoints on the battlefield that you will deploy your tanks to await your enemy. The Aussies are planning to deploy them to the North only. There is very small risk of an amphibious invasion from the South ! -
Invade Aus for they have the largest proven reserves of uranium.
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I think the enemy looking beyond uranium. Have you seen the blonde gals walking around Brisbane and sydney?Originally posted by pwnz0r:Invade Aus for they have the largest proven reserves of uranium.
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the M1A1 Abrams tank - could be too heavy to transport to Darwin.
---New tanks coming, if not too heavy,By Kasey Brunt,September 24, 2006
http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2006/09/25/1159036468575.htmlThe report said they can not travel by rail because the Adelaide to Darwin rail network does not have the equipment needed to carry such a heavy load.
2.my god!! They have plenty of time and have not considered optios,
And they cannot be transported by road because several Territory road bridges can not hold mass over 50 tonnes.
evaluated and decied the best options and do it.
How can they do things in this way.They hv few years to prepare
and still in tis way.What if a new siuation coming up........
2.Armoured white elephants,Date: September 26 2006,
http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2006/09/25/1159036468575.htmlTHE arrival of the army's new Abrams tanks makes one wonder who, if anyone, is in charge of spending at Russell Hill, the defence headquarters in Canberra. Although the 59 second-hand tanks were projected as a bargain at just $550 million, including training, spares and some maintenance, this is just the start of the spending. The defence forces are being altered to accommodate them, to no convincing strategic purpose.
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The 68-tonne behemoths may provide the ultimate in air-conditioned battlefield comfort and security for their four-man crews, but the difficulty for Australia will be getting them to battle, or anywhere. They are too big and heavy for existing rolling stock on the railway to Darwin, where they will be based, or for any ships or aircraft in the present navy or air force inventory. They are too heavy for any road bridges in the Northern Territory, let alone those in the South-East Asian or Pacific neighbourhood. They chew up four times as much fuel as the army's existing Leopard tanks to travel the same distance.
But not to worry, those helpful American arms salesmen have sold us four C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft that were awaiting buyers on the Boeing production line, for just $2 billion. And anyway, we don't need to transport them anywhere. They are just for training the crews. When we assign our tank forces to the next American operation, the US army will have identical-model Abrams tanks positioned on the battlefield for Australian crews to operate. Presumably they'll be allowed to fly their own flag.
The Abrams deal is a sign of the way the Iraq intervention is distorting defence policy, quite aside from the debate about its place in the campaign against terrorism. The army-based expeditionary force has been raised to cult-like status. Defence doctrine has been shifted significantly with little scrutiny.
Where defence chiefs once envisaged a nimble, "knowledge-based" force for the new century, using intelligence and communications to make up for limited numbers and firepower, now there is talk of a "hardened" force able to take part in high-intensity battle of a kind we are unlikely to see in our region, outside perhaps in Korea.
This profligacy is coming at a time when "block obsolescence" has put heavy demands on the defence budget, not to mention the billion-dollar fiasco of the navy's helicopters. Spending on capital equipment for the defence forces over the next 10 years is already slated at $54 billion, assuming no major overruns or hidden costs. In addition, Canberra recently announced a $10 billion plan to raise two new army battalions, one of them an armoured unit, at a time when the forces are struggling to maintain their present modest strength of 52,000 and just before a demographic shift will reduce the traditional recruiting pool of 17- to 20-year-olds. Despite past claims by government ministers that geography no longer matters, policy reviews still endorse the longstanding, bipartisan agreement that the defence priority is Australia and its immediate region. The Abrams tanks don't fit into this, and seem destined for white elephant status. -
The 59 tanks will be part of a Brigade.. doesn't mean they will "form" a brigade... most probably it is a tank Bn or two tank Bns with some amoured infantry.Originally posted by specfore:With 59 tanks they can equip a tank Brigade, consisting of 3 operational Squadrons , with one training/ reserve squadron. Each sqaudron with 15 tanks, except for the reserve.
They still have the upgraded Leopards, which are still very capable.
This is adequate. There are only certain chokepoints on the battlefield that you will deploy your tanks to await your enemy. The Aussies are planning to deploy them to the North only. There is very small risk of an amphibious invasion from the South ! -
First Abrams now in Puckapunyal
(Source: Australian Department of Defense; issued Sept. 26, 2006)
On Friday, 22 September, Army took delivery of the first 18 Abrams M1A1 AIM Main Battle Tanks and five Hercules Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARVs).
These first 18 Abrams were moved by road, on the Heavy Tank Transporters, to the School of Armour at Puckapunyal, where they will be stationed and used for training. These vehicles were moved via Westgate Bridge, Western Ringroad and the Hume Highway without incident.
In March 2007, the next shipment of 41 Abrams and two ARVs will arrive by sea in Darwin. ArmyÂ’s fleet of 14 Heavy Tank Transporters will be on hand to move them by road when and where required.
Army has been assured by the Chief Transport Inspector of Northern Territory Roads that we will be able to access our normal training areas, as required.
Army is well practiced in deploying tanks by road from Darwin via Katherine to training areas in the south of Australia. Army is well practiced in deploying tanks by road from Darwin via Katherine to training areas in the south of Australia. The current Leopard tank and transporter exceeds 50 tonne and has moved through Katherine with the approval of the NT Chief Transport Inspector without issue.
An extensive rail study has been undertaken and a request for tender will soon by released to obtain the necessary rolling stock to support the movement of the Abrams family of vehicles in Australia. This rolling stock will be delivered in a timely manner and will not only support the Abrams but will also be able to lift a range other armoured vehicles, artillery and heavy engineering equipment.
The Australian Abrams weighs less than 62 metric tonnes in its combat configuration, which includes a full complement of fuel, rations, ammunition and crew. The transit weight without these is far less.
The Abrams is powered by a gas turbine engine and operates on diesel fuel. In its current configuration, fuel consumption and engine-wear has been reduced by around 40 per cent due to improved mechanical efficiency and the use of simulation. Indeed, by using simulation for basic training, the amount of actual driver on-road training can be reduced by 65 per cent.
http://www.defence.gov.au/media/DepartmentalTpl.cfm?CurrentId=6029 -
The Australian purchase of these tanks may signal the eventual deployment of these vehicles to Afganistan as the war on terror is far from over.
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I think the australians would be still at least 1 year away from being operational after recieving the tanks.
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Are the tanks second handed and old model?