# On these tanks on an exercise, what is covered by a shroud? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2018, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-these-tanks-on-an-exercise-what-is-covered-by-a-shroud/815816 "2018-06-10T12:53:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-these-tanks-on-an-exercise-what-is-covered-by-a-shroud/815816/21 "2018-06-11T17:42:27Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > IIRC, the .05 isn’t a coaxial, strictly speaking - it’s there for training purposes, to simulate firing the main gun. The gunner aims the 120mm, but instead of firing a very expensive tank round, he shoots a much cheaper 0.5 bullet. If it was for training purposes it wouldn’t be mounted all the time. In the Abrams we had an in-bore subcaliber device. It was mounted right in the gun tube and the bullet was fired through the tube for training. Those M2s mounted over the main gun are for combat. Either firing spotting rounds or for engaging targets that don’t require the main gun. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-these-tanks-on-an-exercise-what-is-covered-by-a-shroud/815816/22 "2018-06-11T17:55:54Z")
> [@bump](#): > > That’s got some kind of weird perspective going on; those tanks look HUGE- like 15 feet tall or something, when in reality they’re not quite 9 feet tall. That’s what I was going to say- they look like something out of a game. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-these-tanks-on-an-exercise-what-is-covered-by-a-shroud/815816.md?page=1)