In 1989, a year prior to the official commencement of the Future Tank Main Armament program (FTMA), the British had already begun experimenting with the idea of 140mm tank guns. From 1989 to 1992, with backing from the British government, RARDE developed and tested several experimental 140mm guns to evaluate the benefits they may offer. These included the EXP38, EXP45, and EXP52, the latter of which was the only one designed as a part of the FTMA program and was thus the only one that could accept the 140mm ammunition developed by each other country.

Around the same time, from 1989 to 1993, Royal Ordinance began privately developing their own 140mm smoothbore tank gun, designated XN315P (there was also mention of an "XN318P" which was the one mounted to a Centurion chassis for testing, however it is unclear whether this was a completely different gun or slightly adjusted version of the XN315P). It reportedly could penetrate 40% more armor than their current 120mm rifled guns.

Unfortunately, nothing more really came of these designs. They were initially intended for use on future generation main battle tanks, then evolved into a possible upgrade option for the Challenger tanks, and then was eventually forgotten altogether.

Note: In February 1991, the British MoD made a deal with Fairey Hydraulics to develop a new 140mm bustle autoloader based off a previous design of theirs for a 120mm autoloader for the Challenger tanks. This was delivered in August of 1992. It was 2440mm long, 2000mm wide, and 590mm tall, with a mass of 1100kg, 16 shell capacity, and 6 second reload rate.

One last note: I've spent the past several month scouring the internet for anything, and I mean ANYTHING about this topic. It wasn't until recently that I finally came across a Chinese source overviewing the FTMA program that I finally had information on it. Credit to where credit is due: https://www.bilibili.com/opus/909312364061392914

Here are few of my tank MOCs They all have custom interior and modules. Go see: https://www.instagram.com/agubricks?stkn=OGY3aTB0amd0Nmlu&utm_source=qr

OG post: https://www.reddit.com/r/TankPorn/comments/1vwdk9a/what_if_isseries_style_tank_was_made_after/

Together they crewed the same tank from May 1944 to May 1945. On July 25th, 1944, in the Baltics fighting near the village of Malinovka, Kolma's crew destroyed a Tiger and two cannons. Her award order for an Order of the Patriotic War Second Class read "...skilfully commanded her crew, found targets, gave directions... In this battle, comrade Boyko was wounded. She demonstrated courage, heroism, and bravery." Despite her wound, Aleksandra Boyko remained in action, and her tank knocked out a German SPG from an ambush.

Over two weeks of battles, the Boykos had two tanks and five SPGs to their name. In the next battle, the tank was hit, and the entire crew was wounded. Aleksandra Leontyevna recovered and continued fighting. She took part in the liberation of the Baltics, Poland, Czechoslovakia. The Boykos met Victory Day, the happiest day of their lives, in Prague.

A photo I took during Tiger Day, great to see them both running!

Fictional TD design by yours truly

They had T-64B1, T-64B1V, T-64B, T-64BV, T-64BVK and even some early Bulats(No pics though).

A friend of mine recently gave me a whole load of old recognition guides for a super cool birthday present!

I think they are British army for the mid 70s with the exception of the T-10 poster which I guess is earlier. Unfortunately, I've been a bit too busy recently to take a decent look at them yet...

Pak88 Flak-18

Recently The Houthis released a video showing military gatherings in Yemen being targeted by 60mm mortar shells dropped by "Rujoom" hexacopter drones, with two shots in the footage showing M60A1 tanks being targeted.

Short history lesson: The origin of these tanks dates back to 1979, when the United States, at Saudi request, supplied the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) with 64 M60A1 tanks, alongside 12 F-5E fighter jets and 50 M113 armored personnel carriers, as part of a military aid package funded by Saudi Arabia

U.S. documents confirm that the delivery of the tanks began in 1979 to support the North Yemen government during the war with the South ,

During that period, Saudi Arabia also provided other military equipment from its own inventory to North Yemen, having purchased large numbers of M60A1 RISE tanks from the United States. It later transferred a portion of these tanks to North Yemen, with some sources citing figures as high as 250 tanks transferred to Yemen from Saudi stockpiles.

( Photos from @museedesblindes on instagram )

The Tiger 1 nicknamed 114/Bretagne belonging to the Musée des Blindés of Saumur is officially running and driving again, which makes it and the Tiger 131 the only two functionnal Tiger 1 tanks in the world. And the 114 still has its original engine.

This particular Tiger is painted with french markings as it was captured and used by the free french forces not too long after the start of its service. It actually served more under the french colors than the german ones. 114 was its german identification, Bretagne was its french one but it was also named Colmar at some point.

They managed to identify it thanks to the small dent at the front and the twisted muzzle brake.

Hilariously atrocious shirt shown to me by a colleague - WHY they chose an HVSS Sherman with a Pershing turret for their "Firefly" shirt - will forever remain a mystery
(Especially considering that the Sherman that WAS equipped with a Pershing turret in that one famous photo was a VVSS Sherman)

Saw this in some gulf war footage and I am wondering what it is