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The British army has more horses than operational Challenger tanks
by KineticLensman 3y ago
The British army has more horses than operational Challenger tanks
- jacquesm 3y agoSo what? So does the Dutch police. But that still doesn't mean you're about to ride your horses in quantity into war. Especially not as long as the opposition has (1) tanks and (2) operational machine guns.
- KineticLensman 3y agoI know. My comment was really a somewhat cynical view of the state of the UK's armoured vehicle capability. Our primary infantry fighting vehicle (Warrior) is about 40 years old now, and its upgrade programme has recently been canned after it proved impossible to fit modern turrets onto the antique hulls. But the cavalry regiments (who use tanks but ride horses ceremonially) would get very upset if the state of their horses was so parlous. They must be one of the few modern organisations that actually has a career path for farriers and other horse-related trades.
- jacquesm 3y agoAh, sorry I totally mis-interpreted your comment.
- rjsw 3y agoI don't think the Warrior upgrade programme was cancelled due to it not working, just that the government wanted to save money.
- KineticLensman 3y agoSaving money was definitely an excuse as well but my understanding was that the old hulls had all been modded / bodged over the years and didn't therefore present a uniform integration target for new components. A bit like the failed programme to upgrade the engines in the Nimrod aircraft, where it eventually transpired that the different planes were essentially unique in terms of dimensions and design (thus requiring multiple (expensive) solutions). [Edit] Not saying that engineering difficulty was the only factor behind these cancellations, but it clearly was a significant cost driver.