ETA - loach popped up while I was typing with a lot fo this but I left it as is to avoid lot’s of editing.
Not often but it’s not absolute. I am aware of other units in my National Guard tank battalion that used the one tank at their armory in support of their community’s local parades at times. I also know one that crushed a couple donated cars as a combined fundraiser for their Family Readiness Group and recruiting event. That was just in a typical parking lot though.
It’s a less clear issue that some might expect from the weight alone. During the Cold War we drove tanks all over Germany using the civilian road network. We use rubber track pads to prevent all the weight being focused on small portions of the steel track that would then dig in. The result is that the ground pressure (pounds per square inch) is actually lower than the peak ground pressure of an average sized male Soldier marching. It’s a lot more weight but it’s spread over a much larger contact area. A typical car has much higher ground pressure than an Abrams. Something like driving straight across a relatively typical asphalt parking lot (to say crush a couple cars :D) basically doesn’t do anything to the pavement. Hitting something that sticks up above the level, like a curb, changes the dynamic drastically. I’ve seen a section of concrete curb that wasn’t quite missed get obliterated. Driving down an old and uneven cobblestone brick road could be very ugly.
Overall weight does matter too. The pavement and ground below have to be able to support it. For typical road builds on relatively solid ground it’s not necessarily a major issue although it bears looking at during the planning phase.* Things like bridges and overpasses can be major issues. I’d imagine there are issues in a major metro area like DC with the subway, sewers, utility tunnels, etc that need to be looked at very carefully for weight bearing capacity.
There’s one other issue that is unique to tracked vehicles. They can exert a lot of lateral pressure. Turns push sideways along a large surface area. All that surface area can also allow them to stop much faster by exerting more lateral force than a car that locks up its brakes does. A tight turn on asphalt with a lot of power applied can easily tear up the road surface, especially if it’s summer when things are warmer and softer. I’ve got a wild-assed idea of using steel plates at any corners where the parade route turns. I’d really want an Engineer to assess whether that idea is remotely feasible since it is still warm from the orifice I just extracted it from.
Tanks in parades certainly are rare but it’s not an entirely new idea in the US. The differences are international visibility and the optics of this being an entirely military parade. There aren’t necessarily serious road damage issues from tanks either.
As I typed that I couldn’t help but think about an Engineer officer assigned at the Pentagon. One morning they go to work not realizing that they’re at the bottom of this particular shit rolling hill. Next thing they know they are responsible for a parade route assessment with international and NCA attention. Sometimes “Hooah” can mean “Fuck my life.”
It’s a reasonable assumption, since Trump has apparently stated that he had been impressed with the Bastille day parade in France. I’ve been to a few of those and they’re pretty heavy on the armored vehicles.
Some with more knowledge may know differently, but I am under the impression that rubber pads can be installed on tracked vehicles if they are going to be driven extensively on paved surfaces.
For the US it’s standard and checking/replacing them is part of preventative maintenance checks and services. That’s the main point for this thread. It’s not a universal rule though. Worldwide it can vary on whether they are optional, or even available.
ISTR they were issued, but not typically installed, to units in Korea based on the weather, terrain, and threat.
lol, what the hell are those North Korean soldiers holding at 0:55 in that video? It looks like some kind of package, bearing the “nuclear” symbol, and held together with duct tape.
