European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 2, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday february. 19b7 the stars and stripes Page 9 to viewing helps train dutch tankers by Joe a Bureau Bergen Germany watching television might teem a frivolous Way to prepare for nato s Premier Lank gunnery contest but it s Standard operating procedure for observers with motherland s 43rd tank in. Television has been a Way of life with dutch tankers Ever since they began using the German built Leopard ii main Battle tank four years ago. The Canadian army trophy cat Competition this june at inc Grafen. Wocher training area is not going to change that said capt. Hans Bowmans. Bowmans battalion cat project officer believes television and tanks make a Good team. With Good reason. His battalion spawned inc highest scoring platoon among Northern army group participants at the pre Vious cat. Held in 198s. Watching to played a part in that showing. The nature of the video beast is a training system developed by the German firm Wugman. It allows Range lower observers to Monitor what n tank fun Nersses on the right hand screen of the unit while viewing inc target on a screen located inches away. As Many As is target positions can be pre programmed into the system to allow observers to keep Pace with the rapid firing Leopard. Targets also can be located manually using a Joystick. A major advantage of the system is thai it allows observers to Monitor a Crew s firing run on video and with voice communication without the tank actually firing. Mistakes can be picked up by monitoring a dry run and corrected before a live fire run. The system has enabled the dutch to reduce the average number of rounds fired annually per Lank by about 40 percent Bowmans said. In an age when som types of Lank ammunition cos More than per round the benefits Are obvious. Electronic lire control data can be displayed on the Monitor screens. The voice link allows observers to Tell a gunner if any primary system has Cone Down and whether he is correctly compensating Lor the loss. The system can make a videotape of a training run. Night firing results can be tracked by using a second tank s Thermal image or image intensifier. The to system can translate Iofi picture into a Clear fall of shot assessment. American observers from the 2nd in 66lh army regt 2nd army div pud were impressed. It. Col. John Caldwell commander of the Carl Stedl based battalion said the closest thing to the Ger Man system in his electronic training Arsenal is the unit conduct of fire Trainer
