Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: MBT Tank Turrets - (question)
Message-ID: <7606@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 20 Jun 89 03:47:38 GMT
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From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
>... Part of the reason the Russians can get
>away with small crew compartments is that they select tank crews
>differently.  We design our tanks so that men of a bit greater than
>average height can operate them.  They select tank crews from among their
>smallest soldiers ...

It's not just a difference in selection procedure; they've also got a
rather different pool of manpower to draw on.  For one thing, the pool
is much bigger (they have universal conscription), so picking the smallest
few percent still gives large numbers of tank crew.  For another, the
sort of mechanical background that one would prefer a tanker to have --
tank crew spend a *lot* of time making repairs -- is rare in the Soviet
Union, so they don't have the complicating factor of trying to select
tankers with the best background.  It wouldn't work in the US.

                                     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
                                 uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu