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Originally Posted by QRQ 30
A basic premise in the military is: "If its new it won't work."
I can remember, at Hohenfels, the TCs wouldn't use the new fangled radar on their M-60 tanks..
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Very interesting memory you have QRQ. Especially considering that no model of the M60 tank
ever mounted any sort of radar, and no tanker in your lifetime ever used "flash to bang" as a serious method of ranging.
You'd have to be a heck of a lot older than I am to even have seen a tank with the old Flying Geese rangefinder system. The M60 series originally came with the coincidence rangefinder (inherited from the earlier M48 series). The M60A3 introduced the laser rangefinder. Tank Commander's loved the laser rangefinder because it was faster and easier than the old coincidence rangefinder. It was also more accurate if you were at least basically competent.
Yes, there were specific occasions when the LRF didn't work worth a damn, and it was just possible to encounter a situation where the old coincidence rangefinder would have done a better job. But there was never any situation in which any tank commander would have even considered flash-to-bang as a serious ranging method.
The only issue that ever existed with TCs using the LRF was that they tended to play around using it in situations where it was supposed to be prohibited (such as ranging on friendly troops). But TCs "not using the LRF" was
never a problem.