VI_XII (@VI_XII)

Fans of the tank restoration enthusiasts on the YouTube channel Mr Hewes will recognize the decommissioned light tracked vehicles of the FV107 family. "The FV107 Scimitar was a light reconnaissance tank Britain scrapped as a Cold War relic, until it reached Ukraine and began hunting Russian artillery. This military-history documentary from Forgotten Armour - Ukraine tells the engineering and combat story of the little British tank Britain threw away, and the crews now using it against Russia's guns. Weighing under eight tonnes, barely two metres tall and pressing under a kilogram on every square centimetre of ground, the Scimitar was never built to trade blows. Its aluminium hull stops splinters and little else. Its real protection is that you cannot see it. We follow how Ukrainian reconnaissance crews slip these fifty-year-old machines into the tree lines, locate Russian batteries and counter-battery radar, and pass the coordinates to the drones and rockets that finish them, inverting the reconnaissance-fire complex Russia spent decades building. The film sets Britain's decision in its full context. Retiring all 170 Scimitars in 2023 while its own troubled 5.5 billion pound Ajax replacement ran roughly eight years late meant giving up a capability at the worst possible moment to be without it. We weigh the 30mm Rarden cannon against a BMP-2's volume of fire, trace the vehicle's service from the Falklands to Iraq and Afghanistan, and give an honest account of what is actually destroying these vehicles at the front, from Lancet loitering munitions to FPV drones. TOPICS COVERED The FV107 Scimitar and the CVR(T) family, and why Britain retired the fleet in 2023 The 30mm Rarden cannon, thin aluminium armour and sub-one-kilogram ground pressure Russia's reconnaissance-fire complex and the Zoopark counter-battery radar How light reconnaissance vehicles locate and finish Russian artillery The troubled 5.5 billion pound Ajax programme and the capability gap it left The donation story, from government tranches to Ukrainian volunteers and Latvia The disputed Falklands jet claim and fifty years of Scimitar service Honest losses, from Lancet and FPV drones to mines and electronic warfare MAJOR RESEARCH SOURCES UK Ministry of Defence statements and UK Parliamentary records Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land and manufacturer documentation Operator and combat reporting from ArmyInform, Militarnyi and Defence Express Oryx open-source equipment-loss tracking Analysis from the Royal United Services Institute, with Jack Watling and David Hambling FURTHER READING RUSI reporting on the Russian reconnaissance-fire complex and the artillery war National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee reports on the Ajax programme Oryx loss databases for British-supplied vehicles and Russian equipment Defence Express and Militarnyi coverage of CVR(T) vehicles in Ukrainian service Military-history documentary, presented for educational and analytical purposes. #Scimitar #Ukraine #MilitaryHistory 27m15s Aug 3, 2026 Forgotten Armour - Ukraine and Forgotten Naval History The Light Tank Britain Scrapped Is Now Hunting Russian Guns In - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmw8IDdA21o