Can anyone identify the tank(?) pictured here?

The pic is a screen cap from the BBC news service, from "World-Philippines marine general removed" clip. (it won't be there for long)

It looks massive! Is it a tank? or some other vehicle?

I'd like to get reference pics of it, but I don't know what to google for..

Edited to add.. Cheers, Diolma :-))

Message edited on: 02/26/2006 17:46

Well, dont use this for a Google reference - Philippines marine tanks. I just got a page load of fish tanks!! LOL.

Attached Link: http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/706/2006/02/24/189@54820.htm

Battle Tanks Deployed at Philippine Military HQ 2006-02-24 10:41:47 CRIENGLISH.com At least eight battle tanks arrived at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) headquarters Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City Friday morning to reinforce government forces amid a plot to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from power. The tanks -- seven Simba and one armored personnel carrier -- that came from Capas, Tarlac, home of the Army's Light Armored Brigade stayed in front of the AFP grandstand. Apart from the tanks, two Humbee patrol vehicles and a company of soldiers in full-battle gear also arrived at the camp. The Humbees and reinforcing soldiers also came from Light Armored Brigade, officials said. Over a dozen of six by six trucks filled with soldiers were also parked at the camp's grandstand in anticipation of possible anti-government actions. "This is for the government, (this deployment) is upon the instruction of the chief of staff," said Northern Luzon Command spokesman Lt. Col. Preme Monta. When asked how many other soldiers have been deployed to Metro Manila as reinforcement, Monta said it is confidential but a substantial number of troops have been deployed. Meanwhile, armored cars were also deployed around the Presidential Palace. ============================ Hope this helps you. Marc :)

Difficult to tell from your cap, but it might be one of these devices: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/aavp7a1-pics.htm The Philippines Navy (Marines) have acquired some of these from the USA.

Some more your may like. http://www.timawa.net/armor.htm. Marc :)

It looks like one of the Marine amphibious vehiles, but there's not enough to really be sure.

AAVP is right, they are rather large amphibious APC's. The camouflage pattern is rather intresting, one of those newer urban patterns. They also mention Simba's as main battle tanks? Those are wheeled APC's and not MBT's

accidentally I live here in the philippines and that tank is here? hey quezon city is where i work!I did not see that!Jeezzz media can really cripple news and blow it over more than once...

I have found that what you see on the news, and what actually happens, are often quite different..;) (I had to put up with the Greensboro massacree all those years ago..wasn't there, but boy did it get twisted by the time it made the evening news..;)

Many thanks for the help guys! So it's not a tank, but a (marine) APC? (and I'd already guessed that it was made in USA):-) Sorry about the pic quality, but it was a screen cap from BBC news video. The vehicle was only shown for a second or two and the Video area is tiny, no way to enlarge it, the BBC want us to buy TVs so they can charge us a License fee. I don't have a TV..:-)) I just use their Internet site (too much cr*p on TV to be worth a license fee..) (Must remember to google "simba"...) Cheers, Diolma

Further thoughts, triggered by: "The camouflage pattern is rather intresting, one of those newer urban patterns." There you are standing in your living room, when a great rumble is heard in the distance. You look out and watch a strange, large pattern coming down the road towards you. From the shadow, it's obviously a large vehicle. Although there have been serious disturbances in the area, you don't see the vehicle, 'cos its got "Urban Camouflage".... OR.. In your fighter jet, you look down and see a strange pattern in the middle of the road (with shadow).. OR.. The resistance fighters are holed up in an abandoned building. They feel the ground shake under their feet, look out (carefully) and see a vehicle coming towards them along the road. Its outline is a little indistinct, but the vehicle is obviously larger than any normal civilian vehicle, so they attack it with everything they've got.. Not getting at you, RobertJ, just at the camouflage guys... Someone doesn't have their thinking-cap on straight... Cheers, Diolma

oh but that has always been the case. Bridge to far?

Maj. John Frost and his men has reach the nothern bridgehead of a bridge we now call the John Frost Bridge. They ring the bell of a house that they are going to occupy because it overlooks the bridge when Frost says:

"You know what occurs to me?", "We are wearing the wrong camouflage, it works fine for the countryside but i doubt it will fool anybody in the city". This while staring at his own helmet full of leaves and twigs.

What i learned about camouflage while i was in the Dutch army (almost 20 years ago) was that it is to break the patterns, hide sharp lines, to look like something else for a moment. Just an extra moment of confusion might be enough, but when you close and personal than it is not much of use anymore.
Anyway in a city the normal kind of camouflage would stand out, so they resort to grey, black and white instead of greens, black and khaki, straight lines and angles (just like buildings) instead of the flowing lines that you see normally. Its not to make it invisible, but to confuse and gain that extra moment of time.

I remember an excersize when we had to ambush a large patrol (platoon size), we actually gave them something to look at in the form of a vehicle in the distance that was badly camouflaged. The whole platoon passed without noticing us while we sat in a ditch about 7 to 10 meters from the road because they where distracted by the vehicle in the distance, once they passed we opened up fire with blanks and threw some thunderflashes (grenade imitators), it would have been a massacre if it was for real. Without that vehicle they might have spotted us before they passed us and we would have been the dead ones.

Our CO was rather pissed because the educational element was lost, but one thing was learned, things out of the ordinary might not be what it looks or what you are looking for.
Camouflage is just a small thing, but sometimes it might be just enough to make a difference.

"Its not to make it invisible, but to confuse and gain that extra moment of time."

Exactly right. Even a moment of confusion about a vehicle's range or course could be the difference between a hit and a miss. In WWI, ships were painted in fabulously bright and powerful patterns of colour to provide an edge against submarine attacks:
http://www.gotouring.com/razzledazzle/articles/dazzle.html

Disruptive patterns continued in use during WWII (and onward) but with neutral colours.