A v a l a n c h e

C o n t r o l ,

R e s c u e

a n d

E d u c a t i o n

finder can be dangerous and cause blindness ifit enter
the eye,either directly or reflected froma flat mirror-
likesurface.To minimizethepossibilityofanysuch
accident, you must have had laser safety training prior
to operation ofthe laser.

TheTankThermalSight (TTS) can acquiretargetsbut is
coupled tofirecontrolcomputerand laserforpin-point
accuracy.TTS work well at night when not snowing, and
can be used while snowing light to moderate but harder it
snows the less you can see.It's based on thermal differen-
tial,any temperatures with 4 degrees difference from 270
degrees F and up will be displayed.

Firing weapon system

Unlike recoilless rifles orhowitzers breach operations on
tanks are much easier, however iffingers orgloves are in
way of breach closing you will loose them.Whenloading,
place tipofroundin breach,makefistwithrighthand,
andthrowroundintochamber.When round comesin
contact with closing mechanismbreach slamsclosed.
Atendofrecoil,breach automatically opensejecting
empty shell casing on turret deck.The shell hitting deck
actually makes more noisy than gun firing.Do notpickup
empty casing with bare hands, it's extremely hot and will
burn you.

Stevens Pass weapon/ammunition testing

Byplacingonaramp wehad concernsthetankwould
displace when fired moving itdown the ramp orat least

rockingandnotreturningbacktooriginalorientation
making accurate blind firing impossible.
Several rounds were fired at lazed targets with ranges,
elevation, and azimuth recordedto build blind fire tables.
Selected targets were at different elevations and ranges to
document affectof divers tub angleandorientation on tank
movement.
Using blind fire data we shot targets again.Ourobjec-
tive wastoachieve accuracy comparable to recoillessor
howitzer's.
We encounteredmuchimprovedaccuracyoverany
weapon system we have every used even under simulated
nightblindfiring.Targetacquisitionwasfasterthan
crewing recoilless orhowitzerwith three people, cutting
down overall mission time.

Mobility

Plannedmovement from TyeValleyto summer storagearea
was to take place as soon as snow cover was favorable for
transit.Five feet of snow was near summit, small patches
of snow covered ground at firebase.
Tank didn't have trouble being mobile in these condi-
tions.Climbing over slide debris easy, not a problem.Near
the summitwe began dragging the under-side of the hull
but didn't slip orspin a track.

Costof M60-A3 tank project

Washington State DOT has not incurred any cost out side
oftimeandlaborforDOTemployees.WAANG hasab-

sorbedcostofpreparing,transporting,ammunition,and
training under our agreements.
It is ourintention to use the tank operationally forthe
96/97season.Thiswill provide valuable facts on direct
operational cost and problems.
DOThasinquired intothe possibilityofreductionin
price per round of ammunition.Currentlymarket price is
$176.00/round.Wehopethis will bereducedsubstantially.
It'sdifficulttoestimatecostforthisvehicleuntilit's
used under our environmental factors.Toomany variables
differbetween use asa battletankwithhardutilization
andan avalanche controldevice thattasktheunitvery
little.Also,under what circumstances woulditoperate
under?Ifit's to remain parked and never moved, the pack
can be removed.If powercan be supplied to the tank,a
heater could be placed in turret to keep equipment warm
andcondensationto aminimum.A converters from 110vac
to24vdcwouldprovidepowerfornormalturret opera-
tions.

Ammunition availability

At this time 80,000rounds of C518 HEP-T are being held
inreserveforthe newadvanced gun system.Congress
pulledall funding forthisnew systemwithnoplans to
reenact the project in the future.
Tankgun systems no longer fire HEP-T ammunition be-
cause it will not defeat modern heavily armored vehicles.

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