Most heavily defended docks in the World

[formercia]

What a deal....

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20460399-2,00.html

$500m Abrams tanks in the wars

By Mark Dodd

September 23, 2006 12:00am
Article from: The Australian


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.
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.

[RC]

1. And no one checked before hand?

Powered by a turbine? A glorified jet engine?
Turbines at low altitude are notoriously inefficient. I know this from my Navy days from over 40 years ago. What were these people thinking?

Oh, that's right, they were war mongering, greedy, right-wingers, they can't think.

[formercia]

2. The Aborigines must be a threat.

East Timor should be a lot of fun too.


Keep from being invaded. Make sure your bridges won't hold the weight of enemy armor.

[hootinholler]

3. Won't stop the invasion, but it will slow it down a lot.

We need to sell them bridging tech now.

-Hoot

[rodeodance]

4. sound familiar? No plans

[achtung_circus]

5. Brown-nosing Aussies.

The Leopard 2 weighs 55 tonnes, but it's German. Support the AMerican machine, wherever possible. There are several different design choices in the Leopard vs. the Abrams. It's probably a toss-up as to which is the best tank.

The Australian Army has been operating Leopard 1's which would also have made the transition a little simpler.

http://www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/20051123.asp

[RC]

8. And since the Aussies already know English

but not Germain, they chose the tank with the English labels on the controls. Yeah, that makes sense. :eyes:

[rodeodance]

6. maybe Port Melbourne will bring the fight to them?

[rodeodance]

7. Howie needs the Weiner Mobil-----te he

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. So, they delivered them to the wrong port

(why not just tell the ship to go to Darwin in the first place?), they can't move around the country easily (memo to the USA's enemies - keep the weight bearing capacity of your bridges down, and you won't even have to sabotage your own bridges if America invades - they'll collapse the bridges themselves), they drink fuel like a fish, and put out so much heat they're apparently a danger to your own side in cities. Sounds like a brilliant purchase.

[RC]

10. Brought to you by the same people that brought you the

Star Wars Missile Shield. We all know how well that works. Can't even hit the target in fair weather when there is an active homing device on it.

[formercia]

11. Perhaps the Aussies can ask the Vienamese Army

how to take the M1's apart and carry them by bicycle.

[dkofos]

12. Brilliant