NATO holds armored guns competition in Latvia to test capabilities of tank forces

Tanks have shown their limits in the war in Ukraine, but they remain central to the battlefield, Italian Army Captain Antonio Cornacchi told The Canadian Press on Thursday.

Kornacki will be in charge of the four-day armored gunnery competition, which will take place at the Adazi base, about 200 kilometers from the Russian border and a 45-minute drive from Riga, with troops from 13 NATO member states, including Canada. I’m here. The capital of Latvia, a NATO member state.

The military exercise, dubbed Iron Spear, involves the multinational NATO battle group eFP Latvia, acting both as a persuasion and a shield during attacks.

34 crew members from 13 NATO armies are testing the tank’s attack power and maneuverability. Debates over the relevance of armored vehicles have intensified following the setbacks suffered by Russian tank forces in the invasion of Ukraine.

Cornacchi said the tank is “very competitive” during exercises that involve firing on the move or from fixed positions.

Kornacchi, commander of the Italian Combat Company, said in an interview, “Although light infantry is also important to our armed forces, tanks… continue to be a focus.

On Thursday, NATO crews competed in a multi-square-kilometer field made up of mounds and passes to see who had the most accurate tank fire. Firing from over 100mm tank guns caused a deafening explosion at a surveillance bunker where a jury composed of Italians and other her NATO nation representatives judged the exercise.

The judges are there to “test the abilities of each crew member in a very professional manner”. he added. But he said there is still competition.

“This is just the first step, we’ll see what happens.”

On Thursday morning, British and Polish soldiers maneuvered over the border, firing while moving or firing from fixed positions. I was watching my colleague from the roof.

Canadian units competed with German-made Leopard tanks, a model used by Canadian forces during the war in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, tank warfare is common in Ukraine, but new weapons threaten the battlefield dominance of tanks, including drones and an arsenal of anti-tank missiles supplied by Ukraine’s Western allies. Among the weapons is the Javelin, which has become a symbol of the Ukrainian War, a formidable American-made anti-tank missile. The Javelin is small, easy to use, and has been a devastating blow to Russian tank forces.

The Ukrainian military has released several videos showing Russian tank turrets exploding in the air like champagne bottle corks due to the impact of Javelins and other anti-tank missiles (Nlaw, Himars or Carl Gustavs). . Canada has donated 100 of his M2 Carl Gustavs to the Ukrainian Army.

Just over 100 years after its invention, this heavy, expensive, and cumbersome tank remains a prominent and sometimes vulnerable battlefield weapon, but still plays an important role in NATO’s defensive arsenal. .

This report by the Canadian Press was first published on November 18, 2022.

— Patrice Bergeron is a Quebec-based journalist with The Canadian Press. In addition to his 20 years of political and general news experience, he served as his CP war correspondent in Afghanistan in 2009.