Comments for Tossing Javelins

Tossing Javelins

2008-03-19T12:32:03Z

Many of you have probably seen this video of a Javelin missile being fired at a fully combat-loaded T-72 tank.

One of the things to notice is the little object that flies into the air above the smoke cloud. That would be the turret - the part normally containing guys like MajMike (Sorry, dude, hadta say that).

Continuing that theme - at 28 seconds into it, you see the tank get hit from a rear angle... at 37 seconds, you see a small eruption of dirt on the right side of the frame. That would be the turret landing...

All in all, the thing looks like this when the smoke clears.

The rest of it is somewhat scattered about.

Comment from Justthisguy on 2008-03-19

2008-03-20T03:21:52Z

Yup, yer Perfectly Safe (Tm) in a tank until somebody brings up an effective anti-tank weapon. Then it gets like naval warfare, in which weapons sufficient to damage the hardware do horrible icky violence on the soft(pink)ware. I mind a story I read about an M4 brewing up in the Second World War. After the fires went out, the hull glowed brightly enough to read by, for a while. When it cooled off enough to look inside, all that was left of each of the crew was a little puddle of congealed silver, consisting of the change in his pockets and maybe the fillings in his teeth. The Moving Foxhole does attract the gaze

Comment from XBradTC on 2008-03-19

2008-03-19T17:57:17Z

Holy Cow! That's pretty astonishing. Makes me glad I'm not a Soviet Tanker. I was expecting what you usually see- Warhead detonation followed by cookoff of ammo, fuel, crew, etc. In this case, every single thing went off immediately. I wonder how often that would happen on the battlefield?

Comment from KCSteve on 2008-03-19

2008-03-19T17:57:04Z

So you're saying it won't be ready next week? Bummer!

Comment from MajMike on 2008-03-19

2008-03-19T14:35:15Z

note that no boot straps were injured during the filming of this presentation.... had stringy laces been used, they would surely have been torn asunder.