moca SG If I'm not wrong, only Israeli tanks use this sign. It's a recognition symbol that's easy to distinguish from a distance, from the air, or through the smoke of the battlefield. I don't know if the US or any other countries uses this symbol. From a distance it is often hard to recognise a vehicle as friend or foe. And to make things worse, the Israelis and their Arab enemies used many same types of tanks during the wars. Therefore, it was necessary to have a large, simple symbols for recognition.
[email protected] SG this? US tanks have it too. but mostly only seen on their desert paint schemes?
saline SG if i am not wrong, it means it has commanders in it. the arrows indicate which veh have commanders (PC/PS,etc) in it.
bcoy SG Those symbols or markings indicate the company of which the tank belongs to. Eg - V is first company, > is second company, ^ is third company and < is fourth company. In addition - Israeli tanks have hebrew letters and numbers to indicate the platoon and individual tank.
tankee1981 SG I agree this is a good and simple way to identify friends from foes. But why didn't the SAF armour adopt this method as well? Or is it that our communications are so good until no need for such large prominent symbols to give the presence of the vehicle away?
CenturionMBT SG The special mark on the marker skirts of the tanks used in Israel is used to show which way the tank is going. It may be pointed <>^V although i dunno what they mean when they say ^ or V...heaven or hell? This is taken from my centurion manual.
CenturionMBT SG well that was the somewhat official explaination. but i still wonder what up and down means.
ferryman2393 SG bcoy had already gave the answer. scroll up. in some armies, those signs are also thermal. any suggestions as to why?
lwflee SG He gave *one* of the answer. This was heavily debated on another forum as well and the consensus is that no one really knows. Some say it is for recognition purposes (useful when working with yanks!). That it is thermal suggests that it is for recognition purposes.
BadzMaro SG or its telling the enemies that thier artillery is -------> that way... he he... so the planes wont bomb them ~
fudgester SG It might be a cheap, low tech form of IFF. But as with tracer ammunition, such distinctive signs work both ways. It helps your friend recognise you easily... but it helps your enemy recognise you easily too.
