A VERY brief future Balkans 'What if'

[Loony Toon]

Fire & Manoeuvre

The Serbian tank commander surveyed the valley ahead of him through the telescopic optics of his T-72 tank. Through this magnified panoramic view everything looked quiet but his unit had been warned to expect the remaining troops of the British UNFOR to be hiding up in this area in an effort to slow the Serbian advance into Macedonia. He knew the Brit’s were only trying to ensure that the Balkans would not flair-up into a full-scale war again as it had in Bosnia 15 years ago. But the U.N. was having trouble getting the regional heads of state to come to the peace table. Until that time he knew they would only be facing a small number of UNFOR British and German armoured forces somewhere in the border region.

The U.N. troops were very good but he also knew that the Serb’s had weight of numbers on their side. However he was not happy at the thought of stalking a troop of British Challenger 2 tanks in his 35-year-old Russian tinderbox. He also knew that if he questioned his orders he would simply disappear and this tank would have a new commander. So he would do his job and continued to scan the horizon. He noticed a sudden puff of smoke coming from a small copse of trees by the side of the road some distance away. He never even had time to compute in his head what it might be as a British ‘fin’ round turned him, his crew and his tank into 39 ton’s of burning scrap.

3000 metres away the gunner of the Challenger 2 was just completing his validation “Target Stopped” he screamed without taking his eyes from the Target Laser Sight. “Well done Tom, keep scanning for his mates though he will not be on his own,” his sergeant informed him just as the loader shouted, “Fin loaded” over the intercom (I.C.). Sergeant Dave ‘Killer’ Kilban looked around the fighting compartment of his tank smiling inwardly to himself. He had served with the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars since the early 90’s and was now on his third war, as always his crew were again acquitting themselves very well with only the minimal amount of prompts from himself. As it should be he thought. “Kelly - prepare to move after we fire off a few more shots. We will move back to that defile 800 metres back that you saw on the way in.” A heavy Ulster accent responded over the I.C. from the drivers cab position - hull front centre “Will do Sarge, just say the word”.

‘Killer’ who’s feet as always were just touching the back of his gunner, seated in front and below him to the right of the main gun could feel the man tensing up through his boot. Quickly he returned his gaze to the sight. “It’s alright Tom I see them, what do you think we have?” When it came to vehicle recognition he always trusted his gunner Lance Corporal Alan ‘Tom’ Jones. In the 6 years he had known him he had never wrongly ID’d a vehicle, he was without a doubt the best in the regiment. “Easy boss, we have got quite a mixture up on the ridge line about 3 K left of that rocky outcrop up there. On the left flank we have a couple of old T-62’s with three BMP-2’s in support. Another T-72 near to those pine trees and a few Ural trucks full of infantry behind that …. Wait one, look at the trees I can see light glinting off something?”

“What do you think then Tom? Take you time at this range they still think were a few trees and are still trying to figure out why matey their just had his turret popped!” The gunner pondered for a while before commenting “Could just be a guy with Bino’s or it could be vehicle optics, I can’t say for sure”. It suddenly dawned on him that it was early spring out there and still very cold “I have an idea boss!” he called as he pulled the small monitor screen for the thermal gunnery night sight across his face.
By looking through the TOGS night vision system the trees no longer provided cover for what was hidden within them and after a few adjustments a ghostly black and white image could be made out.

With a predatory grin Jones informed the crew what he could see “The sneaky twats have got two more tanks hidden in those tree’s. They must be waiting for us to reveal ourselves by taking on the 62’s so that they can have a pop from cover. Judging from where the heat plume from the engines are and the shape I would say we are looking at a pair of ex-Russian T-90’s.”

“Laze all five tanks into fire control and engage them from right to left. I want those two nasties hidden in the trees popped first. The 62’s will have to close to less than 500 metres before they even start to pose a threat, so pop them last” He turned to the loader and smiled “lets get busy people – engage when ready” With all five targets in memory the gun laid itself onto the primary T-90. Jones checked within the TOGS sight that everything was as it should be before starting shouting his validations into the I.C. “Fin tank on, firing, firing NOW” . With a roar the breach of the 120mm CHARM rifled gun recoiled and the tank felt like it had jumped into the air – Jones continued with his head in the TOGS monitor “target – target STOPPED!”

It had taken only 6 seconds but the first tank was already dead ‘Killer’ could see it’s turret fly into the air even at this range through is commanders cupola’s vision block’s. He could feel the turret auto-laying itself onto target two and wham their gun had fired again with the same devastating result, the 72 and the pair of 62’s also met their fate in double quick time. In an engagement lasting less than 40 seconds Sergeant Kilban's crew had killed five main battle tanks without a single shot being returned in anger.

He knew that the enemy infantry would surely have made his position and gave the command that Trooper Danny Kelly had been waiting for “Bug out Danny boy, you know were to go” Without even a response the Challengers diesel engine roared into life as the tank reversed out if it’s concealed position. ‘Killer’ then engaged his radio unit and spoke into the microphone “Hello 3 – 2 Delta this is 3 – 1 Delta” a slight pause and he heard the response in his right ear “3 – 2 Delta, send over” the radio chatter continued “3 – 1 Delta, we have engaged and destroyed five enemy tanks and are now falling back to the RV. Stay and engage enemy BMP’s and infantry before you bug out – OVER” again the slight pause and then “3 – 2 Delta, OK – OUT”

50 metres away across the road 3 – 2 Delta sprang into life from its hull down position destroying the BMP’s and the trucks with high explosive squash head (HESH) rounds before it too stalked out of it’s defile position and started for the RV point. From his vantage point in the cupola ‘Killer’ could see that 3 – 2 Delta had finished up his allotted task safely and was joining up for the short trip back to the RV point where the other two tanks from third troop D squadron would be dug in and waiting for them.

[fgalkin]

Oh noes, my Slavic brothers are getting their asses kicked!

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Loony Toon]

Just stating the facts what would you rather be sat in a nice and cozey Chally 2 or a T-72? Bit of a no brainer that one really. Its sad to think that the successors to the T-72 line (the T-80, 90 and the M-84 Degman's are all just product improved versions of the the '72 which was itself just a simplified T-64) the 'Black Eagle - MBT' for e.g. will probably never be built due to economic reasons.

That would mean many Eastern European countries having to soldier on with old an suspect (the T-72 for e.g. has many known faults, they LOVE to burn when hit) equipment. Just as in the original Bosnian conflict were many armoured units were using WWII vintage ex-Russian T-34/85 tanks against modern anti-tank weapons, must have been hell for the crews.