Don't bring up U.S. ABRAMS W/APS without expecting a response.
There is no mention of the USMC in the first ref. from 2017.
A BCT was equipped with
APS TROPHY under an emergency funding measure and deployed to Europe for an exercise and to be forward deployed in Europe.
I reported on this all along in this thread at the time. The problem for the
USMC is that these articles blow the notion that the CORPS had them "
out of the water" as there's no mention of them (USMC) and it doesn't
fit the timeline (When the USA got them as compared to the game and also as related to when the
USMC "Sunset" their tanks.) the at all based on these articles and
MANY others.
Introduction: Meet Col. Glenn Dean from ref. 1 2017.
The U.S. Army has
decided to equip a brigade’s worth of Abrams M1A2 SEP 2 tanks with the
Trophy Active Protection System and
urgently field them to the European theater,
Col. Glenn Dean, the
program manager for
Stryker, who
also manages the service’s (USA) effort to install APS on combat vehicles, told Defense News.
As reported on 09 Oct. 2017
https://www.defensenews.com/digital-...ection-system/
As reported on 20 Jul. 2020
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army...system-europe/
https://militaryleak.com/2020/07/20/...ps-to-germany/
I have
never said the
USMC wasn't involved in the testing and the following bears that out so...
The next is from the
USA as released on
30 Jan. 2020 it is an Executive Summary of the Army's
APS/IRON FIST Programs.
I start with the
2ND PAGE/LEFT SIDE under TROPHY APS ...
"In
September 2017, the Army completed
Phase I testing.
Phase I testing
also included 10 Marine Corps Abrams tests
with moving vehicle and inert threats."
Next below ...
"In
September 2019, the
Army completed Phase II testing,
which included:
- Operational testing at Fort Bliss, Texas, from November
28 through December 14, 2018. An armored platoon
outfitted with Trophy APS-equipped M1A2 SEPv2 tanks
successfully conducted maneuver and gunnery test events.
The
test unit completed Trophy APS familiarization training,"
After the Phase I testing the USMC and the
M1A1 ABRAMS are no longer mentioned
except in the "washout" further below. As you can plainly see this document covers
FY 2019 which as a reminder means it covers the period from
Oct. 2018 - Sep. 2019.
For the USMC in the "
washout" portion...
"The Army and Marine Corps completed 62 live fire tests..."
"Live fire testing included inert unguided threats fired against either a fully functional Abrams SEPv2 or Marine M1A1 tanks (
Phase I testing in 2017.) equipped with Trophy..."
Lower Right Corner in preparation for continued Phase III testing ...
"Recommendations
The Army should:
1. Ensure Trophy Phase III testing is designed to examine
areas identified as a concern in Phase II.
2. Continue to develop and advance the appropriate modeling
and simulation tools needed to support the test planning and
evaluation of systems equipped with APS.
3. Include test events designed to assess logistical
considerations for maintenance and counter munition
resupply.
4. Conduct additional testing to further assess installation and
transportability considerations"
https://www.dote.osd.mil/Portals/97/...0of%20vehicles.
Who generated the above?
https://www.dote.osd.mil/
USMC TANKS
The first tanks were already heading to Army depots in the
Summer of 2020.
The final tank unit (U.S. Marines'
1st Tank Battalion Camp Pendelton, Ca.) was officially deactivated on
21 May 2021.
https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/202...1381622057088/
The
50 remaining
M1A1 tanks were located in different locations globally (Somewhere near Europe and Asia.) on forward based
Pre-Positioning ships (We called them "
Fasts" or "Faster Targets" in my world.) curtesy of the
USN.
They were turned over stateside to the Army between
Oct. - Dec. 2022
Regards,
Pat
