Bharat Rakshak

most tanks incl abrams have the same format, there are switches near the eyepiece
http://www.mihalko-family.com/Images/Mi ... tation.jpg

here is a T90MS article showing where the 18 rounds and charges are stored in bustle.
http://www.armyrecognition.com/russia_r ... tures.html

does it mean the rounds being two piece, the APDS long rod ammo is kept there and manually fed in by the commander or somehow the carousel feeds in both charges and the new longer ammo?

In this photo it looks like the main gun will fire if the gunner gets an erection.

That looks like SBC in the background.

Well, to me it seems that the crew needs to transfer the ammo from bustle to the carousel magazine. There does not seem to be any mechanism to transfer the rounds automatically from bustle to the gun or the magazine. Which brings me to the question - the crew needs to expose itself to be able to transfer the ammo?

The "black-thing" is where the forehead rests while the gunner sees through the sight - the one you're referring to as knob.

Ah it's clear now. That means there are several centimeters of space between the eyepiece that sticks out and the gunner can actually see the switches with his left eye. So the impression that his cheek will be resting on those switches and his nose jammed in front and that he won't be able to operate the switches is wrong and caused by lack of depth in the 2-D picture that makes it look that way. There appears to be another viewer/eyepiece like thing to the right at the edge of the photo.

Ok got your question.

Some pics and explanations of certain tank interiors.

Wiki Gunner peering

======================
Indian Naval officers look at Amur Class Submarine at DefExpo 2012

Ah it's clear now. That means there are several centimeters of space between the eyepiece that sticks out and the gunner can actually see the switches with his left eye. So the impression that his cheek will be resting on those switches and his nose jammed in front and that he won't be able to operate the switches is wrong and caused by lack of depth in the 2-D picture that makes it look that way. There appears to be another viewer/eyepiece like thing to the right at the edge of the photo.[/quote]

Shiv, allow me to extend my point further. Though the pic is very low res, I noticed the depth of switch position. If you look at the complete assembly you will notice the sight is a monocular sight and that too for the right eye. now consider eye position on human face. it is placed deeper when compared to cheeks and nose. so when touched to the sight cheek will be ahead and very much close to the switches. and operating them with fingers will be definitely difficult.
now when you look into monocular sight you need to close your other eye as human eyes cannot focus on 2 different things separately. so gunner cannot see into sight and at the switches at a time. he will have to divert his attention. well this case wont happen once he gets completely familiar with the switches position and feel then touched.

one interesting thing i noticed is the sight is optimized for right handed person. if the operator is left handed he will close his right eye by default and look using left eye (i know this since i am left handed). in this case there should not be any problem.

pardon if i am making rant.

Not rant. Assumptions. The assumptions you are making are that

1. The gunner must operate those very switches while he is looking through the sight, simultaneously
2. That the gunner must have his eye socket held against that sight.
3. That no adjustment of forehead rest is possible to allow the left eye to be used.

In fact the headrest appears to be a "stop" that steadies the head and holds the eye away at an optimum distance from the sight. For example sights in rifles do not require one to have an eye in contact with the sight but are optimized to allow the best view when the eye (left or right) is a few centimeters away from the sight. Looking through a rifle scope or even a monocular optical microscope needs the eye to be held away a bit - although the distance is greater for the rifle scope.
Image of sniper aiming

If you look at the image you will see that the forehead rest is mounted on a rail that extends way off to the right and appears like it can be adjusted left/right. In this photo it appears to be in its extreme left position. I don't think the designers are as dumb as you seem to be alleging based on one poor quality photo. Do you believe they would have goofed this up?

^^^The head rest is something like the head rest on device used to measure the eyesight electronically.

Check this pic of Merkava Gunner: http://www.supervideo.com/MerkavaMkIVgunner.jpg

The headrest is essentlal. The head must always be steady relative to the sight and "physically connected" to the sight. For a sniper/rifleman - the cheek rests against the grip. In this case it is the forehead. Putting one's eye socket directly against a sight in a moving/heaving tank means medical leave due to bruising and eye damage. Holding it away cannot be done without a headrest.

definitely not. they must have done some study before positioning the switches there. i am just thinking from the comfort point of view. i hope you may agree to the fact that those switches are better to operate when placed about 6 inches left from the sight.

i would rather prefer lcd screen of around 7 - 8 inches in size to display the view provided by camera/sensor and place the switches around the screen (if possible integrate them on the screen itself i.e. use a touchscreen). IMO, 1) it wont take more space than current setup 2) wont cost too much as such screens are in wide use in a passenger airplane for passenger entertainment. but frankly, i am dumb to understand what it takes to migrate from current sight to the lcd screen.

What, no one is gonna ridicule the beat-up SDRE looking helmet the guy is wearing? If it were a Indian guy sitting in the Arjun tank, it would be galore.

dont want to play devil's advocate here but the image link posted by rohitvats suggests the soldier's eye is connected to the sight at least at the eyebrow and to nose bone area. but i agree that headrest is essential.

That would be a lousy design. That soldier is doing the worst possible thing while looking down a monocular sight - that is trying to close his left eye. He looks positively uncomfortable. Mouth gaping. Eye closed. Should be the other way round. Eye open. Mouth shut. Constipated almost. wtf. The way to keep the sighting eye wide open is to keep both eyes wide open and ignore the image in the free eye. That is actually made easier by turning the head slightly to the opposite side of the eye being used. This does two things, it moves the eye being used forward. It moves the nose off to one side and the opposite eye has half its view blocked by the bridge of one's own nose and will not cause both pupils to constrict by changes in light ambience. This is standard advice given to anyone who is taught to use either a monocular microscope or any other monocular device like dozens of varieties of medical scopes or even a gunsight. This particular soldier may not be a real gunner. He does not know how to look down a sight. Looks like he has lifted and folded up the headrest and is struggling.

http://www.supervideo.com/MerkavaMkIVgunner.jpg

OK. Gentlemen, since I have irrefutable upper hand in this, let me pontificate. I have been INSIDE the ARJUN (eat your hearts out...evil laugh..hahahaha) and I have put my eye on that monocle. The eye actually rests on the monocle but not on the metal. The thick black rubber thing around the monocle is what supports (and cushions) the eye with forehead resting on the band above. Same arrangement in Arjun and same arrangement in T-72.

Here is a much clearer pic of gunner's station: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/837/38740144.jpg/

The red-button on left grip of the control stick is for the main gun while one on the right is for co-axial machine gun.

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Brahmaputra Class Guided Missile Frigate, INS Beas of the Indian Navy in Russia [Photographs]
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http://www.aame.in/2012/04/brahmaputra- ... igate.html

Vikramaditya pics:
(Warning for slow net users - these are big pics)
http://pics.livejournal.com/kuleshovoleg/pic/000b9wfy
http://pics.livejournal.com/kuleshovoleg/pic/000b8s5c

^Superb HQ pics.
For a moment I couldn't find INS Vikramaditya in the second picture.

labels on the switches suggests those are to be used while looking into the sight.

^^^To me, they look like settings to be put in place before using the main sight.

just think of a point and shoot camera where you can see on its screen and can select picture mode as normal, sepia, black & white, inverted etc. consider the gunner is looking using normal optical mode and senses there is something at some long distance but cannot make out what that object is due to camouflage/ dust. he just operates the switch without moving his eye off the target and changes the mode to thermal to check heat signature. then switches to IR (or something else more appropriate) and confirms the object.

What is the ugly looking beast on the right side of Vik with rows upon rows of missiles?

err one of the Slava types

Don't call it Ugly

Philip saar wants it in the Indian battle group along with some Kirovs

You have got to admit, there is oomph factor in that meanicing ugliness. I wouldn't mind a heavy missile cruiser in our battle groups either. A made in India, stealth cruises, with 1000 KM hypersonic Brahmos in vertically launched array. With a Electromagentic rail gun (or two) for fast firing anti-missile counter measures. Couple of heli's in fully covered docks. A full anti-sub suite, etc.

(Guess Singha's thought process are contagious)

In fact they don't look complex at all and anyone who has played a computer (or cellphone) game should be able to master those controls and use them even with his eyes on the eyepiece. They are mostly to shift between day sight and thermal sight, with contrast and brightness enhancement and a laser ranger down below. There is one control for field of view.

The whole system seems to be a standard off the shelf item made by some OIP sensor systems (or some European desh). This seems to be one of Arjun's imported components

Never seen the INSAS in this colour before. Needs a scope though.



http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BTEOwez9vgI/T ... SHAN-5.jpg

Viv S.
Thats part of sniping demonstration by Assam Rifles during Ex Sudarshan Shakti 2011. This is the spotter which explains the lack of scopes. The following pic shows the actual sniper carrying an SVD.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BqzfAYCD5Zk/T ... SHAN-4.jpg
Do you remember the "flying sniper" pics posted during that exercise? They are the very same guys.
http://media.courierpress.com/media/img ... n_t607.jpg

http://www.france24.com/fr/files_fr/ima ... 44-1-0.jpg

One good pic I found

F/A-18F recovers aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson during Malabar Exercise 2012

I've been inside Arjun too and partially inside T-90.
Didn't go all the way inside T-90 as I was carrying a heavy DSLR around my neck and was not so sure about getting it safely in and out. Arjun is much more spacious than T-90 which in turn is very cramped.

Defence Minister of Kyrgyzstan checks out the Modern Sub Machine Carbine [MSMC]
http://t.co/PA6RhKrJ

Cannon-launched Guided Missile
http://t.co/Twv7skU6



it appears Facebook now openly offers itself as a convinient platform for trading in Russian weapons

This is the first time I am seeing a portion of IAF base being censored in google maps. (gr8 initiative by IAF)
[img http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/306/bagh.png[/img]

Another thing I am curious about is the Mig-21's in the image below. Are they dummy or retired Mig's . If anyone can identify.

[img http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/650/bagh1.png[/img]

an IAF MiG-29 [Fulcrum]

http://t.co/fo7hMsIo

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Malabar 2012

http://t.co/KMu9gpa6

^Very nice pikchures.

^^From the malabar 2012 album:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/compacflt/6926837142/

Blue M4? Is that real?

Used for practice/exercises IIRC

Two cool pics:
IAF’s Air Warrior Drill Team at Select City Walk Saket

IAF’s Air Warrior Drill Team

Some More