[skanchan95]

Neither the ZTZ-99 nor the Type 59 were involved in the standoff between India and China, but couldn't resist doing a photoshoot like this

Hellfire Away!!!!










Viper 5-1 in position for Gun Run

[FrozeninTime]

PLAN Liaoning CV 16 1:700

Liaoning belongs to Kuznetsov-class aircraft cruiser. Keel was laid in 1985 and launched on 4 December 1988 as Riga.Later it was renamed Varyag in 1990.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, construction was halted and the ship was put up for sale by Ukraine. The stripped hulk was purchased in 1998 and towed to the Dalian naval shipyard in northeast China.

The ship was rebuilt and commissioned into the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) as Liaoning on 25 September 2012 and declared combat ready in late 2016. It is comparable to INS Vikramaditya in size.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by FrozeninTime

PLAN Liaoning CV 16 1:700

A first for this thread!!!! Congratulations.

Beautiful model and really like background too - probably Hong Kong? Nicely taken photo. With that background, it looks almost like its sailing.

At 1:700, those J-15s must be really tiny. Which brand is this model?

Thr Chinese military as a whole, has come a long way from the 90s. So much so, that the PLAN has left the Indian Navy , which was the first post-WW2 Asian Navy to have an aircraft carrier, far behind. The Liaoning and Shandong are the pride and flag ships of the PLAN.

[FrozeninTime]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

A first for this thread!!!! Congratulations.

Beautiful model and really like background too - probably Hong Kong? Nicely taken photo. With that background, it looks almost like its sailing.

At 1:700, those J-15s must be really tiny. Which brand is this model?

Thanks.
It's a Forces of Valor model.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by FrozeninTime

PLAN Liaoning CV 16 1:700

Liaoning belongs to Kuznetsov-class aircraft cruiser. Keel was laid in 1985 and launched on 4 December 1988 as Riga.Later it was renamed Varyag in 1990.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, construction was halted and the ship was put up for sale by Ukraine. The stripped hulk was purchased in 1998 and towed to the Dalian naval shipyard in northeast China.

The ship was rebuilt and commissioned into the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) as Liaoning on 25 September 2012 and declared combat ready in late 2016. It is comparable to INS Vikramaditya in size.

Attachment 2278788

Attachment 2278789

More pictures please, I am guessing at 1:700 it should be almost a foot long.
How is the detailing of the aircraft?

Originally Posted by skanchan95

A first for this thread!!!! Congratulations.

But what about this? Comrade Narayan would not be pleased

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

IJN Akagi, aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. 1:1100 scale, plastic

[FrozeninTime]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

More pictures please, I am guessing at 1:700 it should be almost a foot long.
How is the detailing of the aircraft?

It has decent detailing but plastic parts are flimsy.
I expected it to be heavy but is quite light.

Originally Posted by Foxbat

But what about this? Comrade Narayan would not be pleased

It seems so.
On lighter note he is embroiled in Ukraine Russia conflict.

.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by FrozeninTime

PLAN Liaoning CV 16 1:700

Congratulations FrozeninTime. That is quite something. Certainly a handsome rakish ship. Please share some more photographs as Foxbat says. PLAN aircraft carrier and Chinese tanks - Comrade Foxbat has you & skanchan95 in his crosshairs :-):-)

One has to give credit to the Chinese that they succeeded to rebuilding the hulk of the Varyag into a fully functional carrier.

Originally Posted by Foxbat

But what about this? Comrade Narayan would not be pleased

Originally Posted by FrozeninTime

It seems so. On lighter note he is embroiled in Ukraine Russia conflict.
.

It's a second front on that thread !!

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

It's a second front on that thread !!

Originally Posted by Foxbat

But what about this? Comrade Narayan would not be pleased

Signs of me getting old, I guess. Let me re-phrase that - first ever modern day CV on the thread

[skanchan95]

1:72 M2 Bradley Operation Desert Storm (Panzerkampf)

The M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle(IFV), named after General Omar Bradley, was developed largely in response to the amphibious Soviet BMP family of infantry fighting vehicles, and to serve as both an Armored personnel carrier (APC), and a tank-killer. It entered production in 1981. The Bradley was designed for reconnaissance and to transport a squad of infantry, providing them protection from small arms fire, while also providing firepower to both suppress and eliminate most threats to friendly infantry. It was designed to be highly maneuverable and to be fast enough to keep up with heavy armor during an advance. The M2 holds a crew of three: a commander, a gunner and a driver, as well as six fully equipped soldiers.

One specific design requirement was that it should be as fast as the new M1 Abrams main battle tank so that they could maintain formations while moving, something which the older M113 armored personnel carrier could not do, as it had been designed to complement the older M60 Patton tanks.

The Bradley is equipped with the M242 25 mm Bushmaster autocannon as its main weapon. It is also armed with an M240C machine gun mounted coaxially to the M242. For engaging heavier targets (such as when acting in an anti-tank fashion), the Bradley has a TOW missile system on board.

The Bradley is highly capable in cross-country open terrain, in accordance with one of the main design objectives of keeping pace with the M1 Abrams main battle tank. Whereas the M113 would float without much preparation, the Bradley was initially designed to float by deploying a flotation curtain around the vehicle. This caused some drownings due to failures during its first trials. Armor upgrades have negated this capability.

During the Persian Gulf War, M2 Bradleys destroyed more Iraqi armored vehicles than the M1 Abrams. Twenty Bradleys were lost—three by enemy fire and 17 due to friendly fire incidents; another 12 were damaged.

In the Iraq War, the Bradley proved somewhat vulnerable to improvised explosive device (IED) and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attacks, but casualties were light—the doctrine being to allow the crew to escape at the expense of the vehicle. As of early 2006, total combat losses included between 55 and 150 Bradleys. By 2007, the Army had stopped using the M2 Bradley in combat, instead favoring more survivable "MRAP" (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles. By the end of the war, about 150 Bradleys had been destroyed.

Specifications
Mass : 27.6 tonnes (30.4 short tons)
Length: 21.49 ft (6.55 m)
Width: 11.82 ft (3.6 m)
Height: 9.78 ft (2.98 m)
Crew : 3 (commander, gunner, driver)
Passengers: 6 (7 in M2A2 ODS/M2A3)

Armor: Spaced laminate armor offering 14.5 mm all around protection. Hull base is 7017 aluminum
Main Armament: 25 mm M242 chain gun (900 rounds)
2 × TOW anti-tank missile launchers (7 missiles)
Secondary Armament: 7.62 mm coaxial M240C machine gun (2,200 rounds)

Engine: Cummins VTA-903T 8-cylinder diesel 600 hp (447 kW)
Power/weight: 16.18 kW/tonne (21.7 hp/tonne)
Suspension: torsion bar
Operational Range: 483 km or 300 mi
Maximum speed: 56 km/h or 35 mph; 40 km/h off-road; 7.2 km/h in water

[skanchan95]

1:72 M1A2 TUSK Abrams "Ghetto Blaster" 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment "Brave Rifles", US Army, FOB Hammer, Iraq, 2011 (Panzerkampf)

The M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT) is the namesake of the late General Creighton W. Abrams, former US Army Chief of Staff. The Abrams is the backbone of the armored forces of the United States military, and several of US allies as well. Over 8,800 M1 and M1A1 tanks have been produced for the US Army and Marine Corps, and the armies of Australia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq and Kuwait.

Although fielded in 1980, the Abrams remained untested for over 10 years. During Operation Desert Storm, there were concerns that the Abrams would fall victim to the sand and long months of continuous operation without the luxury of peacetime maintenance facilities. There were also doubts about the combat survivability of the extensive turret electronics. Immediately following President Bush's decision to commit US forces to the Gulf region in defense of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, American armored units began the difficult process of relocating to the threatened area. Due to the shear size and weight of the Abrams, the C-5 Galaxy, the largest cargo aircraft in the US Air Force inventory, was only able to handle one tank at a time. This meant that nearly all of the Abrams tanks deployed in the Gulf War were shipped by cargo ship.

The Iraqi Army had a considerable array of tanks, mostly purchased from the former Soviet Union. Chief among these were about 500 T-72's. Despite it's advanced design, the T-72 proved to be inferior to the M1A1's deployed during the Gulf War, and compared more closely with the older M60A3 tanks used there by the US Marine Corps. In addition, Iraq had a number of T-62 and T-54/55s, both of which were developed in the 1960's. These tanks were widely regarded as clearly inferior to the Abrams.

As the Gulf War shifted pace from Operation Desert Shield to Operation Desert Storm, and the preparatory bombardment lifted, U.S. Abrams tanks spearheaded the attack on Iraqi fortifications and engaged enemy tanks whenever and wherever possible. Just as they had done in the Iran-Iraq War, the Iraqi Army used it's tanks as fixed anti-tank and artillery pieces, digging them into the ground to reduce target signature. However, this also prevented their quick movement and Allied air power smashed nearly 50% of Iraq's tank threat before Allied armor had moved across the border. After that the Abrams tanks quickly destroyed a number of Iraqi tanks that did manage to go mobile.

During the Gulf War, 18 Abrams tanks were taken out of service due to battle damage: nine were permanent losses, and another nine suffered repairable damage, mostly from mines. Not a single Abrams crewman was lost in the conflict. US armor commanders maintained an unprecedented 90% operational readiness for their Abrams Main Battle Tanks.

The TUSK Upgrade
The Tank Urban Survival Kit (TUSK) is a series of improvements to the M1 Abrams intended to improve fighting ability in urban environments. Historically, urban and other close battlefields have been poor places for tanks to fight. A tank's front armor is much stronger than that on the sides, top, or rear. In an urban environment, attacks can come from any direction, and attackers can get close enough to reliably hit weak points in the tank's armor or gain sufficient elevation to hit the top armor.

Armor upgrades include reactive armor on the sides of the tank and slat armor on the rear to protect against rocket-propelled grenades and other shaped charge warheads. A Transparent Armor Gun Shield and a thermal sight system are added to the loader's top-mounted M240B 7.62 mm machine gun, and a Kongsberg Gruppen Remote Weapon Turret carrying a 12.7 mm (.50 in) caliber machine gun is in place of the tank commander's original 12.7 mm (.50 in) caliber machine gun mount, wherein the commander had to expose himself to fire the weapon manually. An exterior telephone allows supporting infantry to communicate with the tank commander.

The TUSK system is a field-installable kit that allows tanks to be upgraded without needing to be recalled to a maintenance depot. While the reactive armor may not be needed in most situations, like those present in maneuver warfare, items like the rear slat armor, loader's gun shield, infantry phone , and Kongsberg Remote Weapons Station for the 12.7 mm (.50 in) caliber machine gun will be added to the entire M1A2 fleet over time.


U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams with production TUSK explosive reactive armor package installed

M1A2 Abrams Specifications
Designer: Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems)
Mass: 73.6 short tons (66.8 t)
Length:
Gun forward: 32.04 ft (9.77 m)[6]
Hull length: 26.02 ft (7.93 m)
Width 12 ft (3.66 m)[6]
Height 8 ft (2.44 m)[6]

Crew: 4 (commander/machine gunner, gunner, loader, driver)
Armor: composite armor
Main Armament: 120 mm L/44 M256A1 smoothbore gun (42 rounds)
Secondary Armament:
1 × .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2HB heavy machine gun with 900 rounds
2 × 7.62 mm (.308 in) M240 machine guns with 10,400 rounds (1 pintle-mounted, 1 coaxial)

Engine: Honeywell AGT1500 multi-fuel turbine engine 1,500 shp (1,120 kW)
Power/weight: 26.9 hp/t
Transmission: Allison DDA X-1100-3B
Suspension: High-hardness-steel torsion bars with rotary shock absorbers
Ground clearance : 0.43 m (1 ft 5 in)
Fuel capacity : 504.4 US gallons (1,909 L)
Operational Range :
Road: 265 mi (426 km)
Cross country: 93–124 mi (150–200 km)

Maximum speed:
Road: 42 mph (67 km/h);
Off-road: 25 mph (40 km/h)






























Guardian Angel above them...an US Army Apache( Ok, I cheated as the Longbow wasn't operational during Desert Storm)




Desert Storm collection:




Had lots of fun playing Armored Fist 3, 20 years ago, in which you got a play as a gunner/driver/commander of an M1A2 in different scenarios. Into the Storm was a book about the ground assault of the Persian Gulf War. I had got from Mangalore for Rs 300 odd 15-16 years ago ..still have the bill in that book!!!

[skanchan95]

1:72 Boeing CH-47F Chinook #A15-307, C Squadron, 5th Aviation Regiment, 16th Aviation Brigade, Australian Army Aviation, RAAF Base Townsville, Queensland, Australia (Forces of Valor)

The CH-47 Chinook - the King of Pinnacle Landings, is a tandem rotor helicopter developed by American rotorcraft company Vertol and manufactured by Boeing Vertol. The Chinook is a heavy-lift helicopter that is among the heaviest lifting Western helicopters. Its name, Chinook, is from the Native American Chinook people of Oregon and Washington state.

A Pinnacle Landing is a landing maneuver in places where there is not enough space or there is difficult terrain around for a helicopter to land safely. In this maneuver, the Chinook sort of balances on its rear two wheels and the crew drops the rear ramp to have soldiers embark/disembark.

Pinnacle Landing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWb40UEXGMU

A maritime variation of the maneuver called the "Delta Queen" is used to rapidly recover special operations teams in small boats. Chinook lowers its empennage into the water, drops the ramp, and a team of special forces in their rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) "beaches" directly into the Chinook's cabin.

It's a fast but dangerous way of plucking a boatload of operators out of a high-threat environment and America's military is not the only one that practices it.

Seen below are a group of Spanish special forces executing a Delta Queen extraction, shot from an incredible helmet-cam point of view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sFG6ANsiX4

The Chinook possesses several means of loading various cargoes through a wide loading ramp located at the rear of the fuselage and a total of three external ventral cargo hooks to carry underslung loads. Capable of a top speed of 170 knots (200 mph; 310 km/h), upon its introduction to service in 1962, the helicopter was considerably faster than contemporary 1960s utility helicopters and attack helicopters, and is still one of the fastest helicopters in the US inventory.

The first CH-47F is the most modern variant ofthe Chinook that first flew on 23 October 2006.Upgrades include a 4,868-shaft-horsepower (3,630 kW) Honeywell engines and the airframe featuring greater single-piece construction to lower maintenance requirements, New avionics include a Rockwell Collins Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) cockpit, and BAE Systems' Digital Advanced Flight Control System (DAFCS).The CH-47F features the composite-based Advanced Chinook Rotor Blade (derived from the cancelled RAH-66 Comanche), 20% more powerful Honeywell T55-715 engines, and the active parallel actuator system (APAS); the APAS enhances the digital advanced flight-control system, providing an exact torque split between the rotors for greater efficiency. A new fuel system combines the three fuel cells in each sponson into one larger fuel cell and eliminating intracell fuel transfer hardware, reducing weight by 90 kg (200 lb) and increasing fuel capacity. There is also an option for a Bendix weather radar and/or a terrain following radar (these models get a diferent nose).


Boeing CH-47 Chinook in Australian service
The Australian Defence Force has operated Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters for most of the period since 1974. Thirty two of the type have entered Australian service, comprising twelve CH-47C variants, eight CH-47Ds and twelve CH-47Fs. A further two CH-47Fs are scheduled to be delivered in 2022. The helicopters have been operated by both the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Australian Army.

An initial order of eight Chinooks for the RAAF was placed in 1962, but soon cancelled in favour of more urgent priorities. The Australian military still required helicopters of this type, and twelve CH-47C Chinooks were ordered in 1970. The CH-47s entered service with the RAAF in December 1974. The eleven surviving Chinooks were retired in 1989 as a cost-saving measure, but it was found that the Australian Defence Force's other helicopters could not replace their capabilities. As a result, four of the CH-47Cs were upgraded to CH-47D standard, and returned to service in 1995 with the Australian Army. The Army acquired two more CH-47Ds in 2000 and another pair in 2012. The CH-47Ds were replaced with seven new CH-47F aircraft during 2015, and another three were delivered in 2016. A further four CH-47Fs were ordered in 2021, with two being delivered that year and two others being scheduled to arrive in 2022. The Chinooks are operated by C Squadron, 5th Aviation Regiment, 16th Aviation Brigade of the Australian Army Aviation based at RAAF base Townsville, Queensland.

The Chinooks have mainly been used to support the Australian Army, though they have performed a wide range of other tasks. Three Chinooks took part in the Iraq War during 2003, when they transported supplies and Australian special forces. A detachment of two Chinooks was also deployed to Afghanistan during the northern spring and summer months for each year between 2006 and 2007 and 2008 to 2013, seeing extensive combat. Two of the CH-47s deployed to Afghanistan were destroyed in crashes. The helicopters have also frequently been assigned to assist recovery efforts following natural disasters and undertook a range of civilian construction tasks while being operated by the RAAF.

India & the Chinook
In September 2015, a deal worth $3 billion which included 22 Boeing AH-64E Apache Longbow attack Helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy-lift machines were signed and it has an inbuilt clause for follow-on orders for 11 more Apaches and seven Chinooks. The contract for the Chinook helicopters was for $1.1 billion.

Boeing completed deliveries of all its CH-47F(I) Chinooks to the Indian Air Force in March 2020, just before the nation-wide lockdown. The Chnooks are now in service with IAF's No. 126 Helicopter Squadron "Featherweights".

India, which had relied on a small fleet of Russian-built Mi-26 heavy transport helicopters, opted for the Chinook to expand the fleet of heavy-lift helicopters. India had opted for the advanced H-47 Chinook multi-mission helicopters as it felt that the choppers would provide the Indian Air Force with unmatched strategic airlift capability across the full spectrum of combat and humanitarian missions.

The model
My first FoV model and I was highly impressed just looking at the box!!! It has been designed tastefully with lot of thought put into it and the graphics and design prove it. The background too is very thoughtful as Australian Chinooks held trails on RAN's HMAS Adelaide- a Canberra class amphibious ship, to ensure the safe operation of the helicopters onboard the ship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh-HE2n_0HI

The models looks superb, with great amount of accuracy and detailing. Interiors too have been modelled with great deal of details. It comes with a stand and small display base(that represents deck of HMAS Adelaide)

[skanchan95]

My 1:72 helicopter fleet







Unfortunately my Eurocopter Tiger got damaged beyond repair after a bad landing(fell off a table when I was cleaning/re-organizing models in my display cabinet)

Armed Escort.







During a mission, the Chinooks always get an escort by attack helicopters like Apaches or Cobras to protect them from ground fire. If not, the yare highly vulnerable. A well know US Army Chinook against loss against ground fire was in Afghanistan when a CH-47 on a mission to extract a for man SEAL team came under fire and was lost with all on board

The loss was dramatized in the movie Lone Survivor about the unsuccessful US Navy SEALs counter-insurgent mission Operation Red Wings, during which a four-man SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team was given the task of tracking down the Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. The CH-47 was lost during the rescue. The lone survivor of the 4-man SEAL team - POFC Marcus Luttrell was saved by a Afghan villager - Mohammad Gulab

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S3ocI_iCm8

[Foxbat]

Currently work in progress: An aircraft of the Indian armed forces was able to carry these two missiles but it rarely did (no pictures exist in the public domain) and my research shows a more practical configuration was one fuel tank one missile.

These missiles were also adapted for use on propeller driven aircraft.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Currently work in progress: An aircraft of the Indian armed forces was able to carry these two missiles but it rarely did (no pictures exist in the public domain) and my research shows a more practical configuration was one fuel tank one missile.

Indian Navy Sea Harrier FRS.51.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

Indian Navy Sea Harrier FRS.51.

Correct I made them white because it was easier to paint this scheme and I came across these pictures of an Indian Navy Sea Harrier and Sea King with Sea Eagles. Later I looked at them closely and they seem to be training rounds with "DRILL" written on them.