How to steer the tank, track the target, run an effective fire – among others, the participants of the ten-week course for K2 crews, which has just started at the Center for Training of the Land Army. It is attended by future instructors from the Poznań centre and students from the Academy of Land Forces.
K2, besides called the Black Panther, is 1 of the newest acquisitions of the Polish Army. Ministry of defence bought 180 specified tanks in South Korea. any have already gone to linear units, where crew training takes place. A fewer days ago, this trial besides active CSWL.
By the end of last year four K2 went to Poznań. For respective weeks, vehicles were being prepared for service. In December They fired the test shots. At the Biedrusk camp. Soon, they will be utilized during courses for crew members. The first started on 7 January. – Our soldiers, who will power a group of instructors in the close future, are taking part in them, but besides subjects of armored direction from the Academy of Land Forces in Wrocław. As future officers, they gotta learn from the lining of fresh equipment of the Polish army – he explains Colonel Maciej Łukarski, Commander of the conflict Vehicle Battalion at CSWL.
The course is run by instructors from the Poznań centre, who obtained qualifications mainly under the guidance of South Korean specialists. Class will take 10 weeks. Their participants will learn about the construction of K2 and its systems. They will besides learn how to steer the tank, track the target, lead an effective fire. – They will pass through all positions in the crew – from driver, gunman, to commander. The aim is that they should be able to carry out tasks on each of them, if necessary," said Colonel Łukarski. specified substitution of functions importantly increases capabilities during combat. Any losses in crews are easier to replenish.
However, students went to the Tank Crew Underwater Training Centre in Black. There is simply a swimming pool and trainers for the exercise of evacuation from the flooded vehicle. 1 of them mimics the inside of the tank. The crew enters a tight space and assumes ATE-1 Fames oxygen cameras. The compartment is closed and flooded with water. Soldiers spend a fewer minutes inside him. They then open the hatch and flow outwards – consecutive into a more spacious cylindrical tank. That's where they get to dry land.
The ability to evacuate must be mastered by tankers whose vehicles have been adapted to push rivers and lakes. And that's what K2 has. – The tank can overcome water obstacles up to a depth of 4 meters. Then it passes through the bottom. And soldiers should be prepared to leave the vehicle rapidly in the event of an accident," noted Lukarski.
After completion of the current course, CSWL will begin another. This time for soldiers of linear units. The inclusion in the training of another institution will let for a adequate number of crews to be prepared for service. Then the tankers will be able to improve in Poznań. For now we have 4 K2 tanks, but our resources will grow. shortly we will receive further vehicles of this kind – said Colonel Łukarski.
Meanwhile, CSWL is not just focusing on the Black Panthers. – For over 2 years we have trained crews and technicians serving Abrams tanks. Initially, only instructors from the United States provided courses. Now this task rests increasingly on the shoulders of our specialists," explains Lt Aneta Kurowska, spokesperson for CSWL. Another course in Abrams Academy It'll start in January. Specialists from the centre besides train tank crews and armored vehicles of the older type.
