Great history and "Tour" of an important vehicle. Thanks to Les Critchlow and Sofi for this video!

One of the best UK Mod Buys ever , 40 years on they still have life left in them , bit like the 432 ...we knew how to buy properly back then.....as opposed to the Ajax fiasco now . Scimitar, very quiet very low , very quick only 7 tons, and less track pressure than the crewmen ....Ajax .....oh FFS ....lets go on recce in a four bedroom house that can't go back wards or climb a 50 cm step .

Used to carry members of 23 and 22 SAS in the back of my spartan. Its nick name was the battle taxi .

The Black/Red Rat is actually a Jerboa, an African rodent that was adopted as a symbol by Montgomerie's 7th armoured brigade, hence The Desert Rats.

Thank you Les Critchlow for the tour. Sofi you're the best for getting veterans to talk about their vehicles.

One day, we were driving along a West German road at top speed in our Scorpion. The left track split, I watched it skidding along the road behind us briefly, then the driver (I was gunner) slammed the brakes on. This sent us in to a spin. We did a 360, and ended up in a ditch upside down. O what fun!

The UK is retiring this family over time. A very modular family, served really well. We don't have replacements..

I love that Sofi is taken seriously as a military archivist by all the people she deals with.

Also used by Royal Air Force Bomb Disposal teams in the Airfield EOD role, specifically the Spartan and Scimitar. Used for post-attack reconnaissance of the airfield to track and record airfield damage and unexploded ordnance , which would then be plotted and dealt with accordingly. Essentially they were used as mobile bunkers. The Scimitar was used for penetrating shotes on unexploded bombs outside of areas such as explosive storage areas and bulk fuel installations. If the resulting deflagration/detonation left a big hole then so be it, there would be Royal Engineers Airfield Damage Repair teams following the EOD teams as they worked. Target time was 4 hours from "Hostiles Clear" to getting your aircraft back in the air.

Thank you for your service, Staff Sergeant Critchlow.

OmG that's taken me back, I loved my waggon... I think of her often 😊 thanks for sharing this mate 👍

Have you got your kettle on? Probably the most common and important question a solder from that part of the world can ask! This gentleman was a joy to listen to. Well done Sofi!

@Vince_A_Bull

11 ай бұрын

Or boiling vessel, as they call it.

Dear Sofelin, How interesting is it to know more about British armored tracked vehicles from the 1970s. Although lightly armored, they will be quite fast vehicles due to their low weight, certainly compared to heavy armored vehicles such as the Leopard 1 from that period. Thanks again for sharing this and I look forward to your next vlog plus send you love from the Netherlands

@wessexdruid7598

11 ай бұрын

As the Ukrainians have found out since then.

I saw one burned out in Bosnia in 1993. It had been stolen and set on fire by youngsters. The aluminium armour had melted, it looked like a candle that had run……silver coloured candle wax.

Best review of vehicle family by someone with great experience of using the vehicle

Hello! The striker was my dad's vehicle during the gulf war, very cool tank. Great video!

The same Jaguar engine is also fitted into the E type sports car. The J60 is a D rated version of the XK series engines. They sound great in this CVRt.

@vladimirmihnev9702

11 ай бұрын

Gasoline powered - a more modern Tomy cooker!

Only time I had seen this vehicle before was the version of Top Gear with Clarkson Hammond and May as presenters. Love hearing the pride in his voice as he takes us around it. Great video!

Glad you mentioned the BV

Brilliant video! Best walkaround of bins ever :-). Great to see more of the interior of the Swingfire/Sultan/Samson. (I did want to see more of the Spartan in the end, though, but it's all good.)

Great work Les. Good to see breaker Breaker in the back ground having a tab ....lol. Hussar

Interesting to hear about . Been in the field with the British Army during the Cold War days in West Germany on some Reforger's ...Good to see you on Sofi !

Very cool, but I was really looking forward to seeing Sofi's beautiful face 🙂

I thought the second one was the Saber with the Fox turret. Although it makes sense that they would convert the Scorpions to be more like the Simitar, by adding the Fox turret.

Looking forward to the video. Hope all is well on your end. Missed the last museum but will be at the next. Take care sofi.

That was great - nice one. There were some other developments after the initial 7 variants: Spartan-MILAN: a Spartan with a twin MILAN ATGW turret on top. Sabre: the Scorpions had to be taken out of service due to a) fume levels in the turret not meeting new H&S rules and b) provisions of the CFE Treaty. At about the same time, the 4x4 Fox armoured cars were being taken out of service. The Fox turret was very similar to the Scimitar's, with a 30mm RARDEN (smaller turret ring though), so they fitted the Fox turets to the Scorpion hulls and called it the Sabre. Scorpion 90: export version with a 90mm Cockerill (Belgian) gun in place of the 76mm. Some export sales, but they suffered with turret cracking after a while due to the recoil. Stormer: stretched version with 6 roadwheels. The basic APC could carry 8 dismounts, unlike the Spartan (4 dismounts). It wasn't bought by the British Army, but there were a few export sales. Stormer load carrier: a Stormer chassis with a flat-bed load area at the back. Some of these were bought in a hurry for GW1 in order to carry a scatterable mine system called Shielder. Starstreak: Stormer hull with 8 Starstreak SAMs on the roof. Standar British SHORADS system to this day. Recently seen action in Ukraine. Scorpion's 76mm turret was also used on the Canadian Cougar 6x6 fire support vehicle, and on an M113 hull as the Australian Medium Recce Vehicle (probably some of the inspiration for Tank Girl's tank in the original comic strips too...)

@VitoDepho

5 ай бұрын

Also, Scimitar Mk2, with the Scimitar turret put atop a Spartan hull, for improved mine protection, plus had bar armour. Modified hybrid vehicle used by the British Army in 2010's Afghanistan. Retired, with some sent to Ukraine.

LOVE being able to see the whole vehicle family covered in one place and time!! WOW!

Interesting toys, sadly controlled goods here, there was a striker for sale recently, the one that was in the trailer park boys show. They started that T-72 talk much earlier than they were supposed to so I missed the beginning of it because I went to the Hetzer one first, had I noticed you filming I would have hid from the camera better lol (although I accidentally seem to have done a good job anyways). Thanks for the vid, I didn't manage to ask the guys many questions about them since we ended up shooting the shit about other things instead.

The best light tank ever ! Used to be the workhorse of my former unit..

That was a great tour! Thanks for interviewing him.

he was my troop sgt in basic training at catterick 19 86

Sofi, thank you very much for this tour. This was so fascinating to watch.

Another great and detailed video. Thanks, Sofi!

Brilliant walk round. Thanks Sofi for sharing this ❤

Thanks to you & Les, very concise & informative! 🙏🙏

Outstanding work thanks

Very cool commentary. Thanks as always!

Thanks Sofi and Les. Excellent video.

Fantastic vid Sofie, thanks for your effort

Great tour. Excellent presentation. Thanks

Very good.thank you for covering the cvrt series

An excellent review of this series of vehicles, very interesting and informative, thanks

Thank you both to Les and Sofi for this video. Great learning history from those who BTDT.

ty Sofi very interesting

Great video! Tons of info, and Les Critchlow is an awesome presenter! Thank you!

Impressive video, Mr Critchlow really knew his stuff.

There was equally the FV-180 Combat Engineer's Tractor (or C.E.T), basically an Light Armoured Amphibious Specialist Tracked Vehicle for the Royal Engineer's, which would operate with CRV"T" family of vehicles and heavy Armoured Regiments and Mechanised Infantry Battalions too.

@timhannah4

11 ай бұрын

Frogs were crap!

Cheers Les. Good drills mate. 👍🏻

Fascinating

I FREAKING LOVE THE FV101

thank you Sofi

Awesome showcase of the vehicle series

Excellent video!

Nice one Les.

used spartan and sultan for years in germany and first gulf. perfect for use

Another Great vid! Good length! Cheers!

@Sofilein

10 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

Always interesting.

wow great Video. thanks.

Thank you for the excellent informative tour, I served on Saladins which I really enjoyed, but unfortunately left as the Scorpion was being introduced, would have loved to get my hands on one!

Your my favorite tank content creator Sofi.

Very interesting!

Great Vid 👍👍 Thank You…..Not Forgetting the RAF Regt Spartans 😀👍

At 9/12l the samson was crewed with 2 driver was the reccy mech and commander was either a reccy mech again or a trade it was one sammy per sqn and the foden with hq i used to drive 00gm 82 and 00 gm 83 the winch by the way was a 4.1 max pull about 25t all in

Remember driving on the M6 near Carlisle I was driving a 4 ton and a scorpion passed me as if I was stoped

@vladimirmihnev9702

11 ай бұрын

Funny thing, our driver at work has quite the same story only from inside of a T-54or55 passing a zil or kamaz on the Trakia motorway. Happen a back in the day actually during the exercise of the Warsaw pact when the USSR showed the BMD to the world, he called them "those small Russian tanks were waiting for us already dug in, when we arrived they pulled out and we took their places..." On of the less talked about times when Greece almost started WW3.

Great perfect Sofilein :)

Good stuff lad.

There is equally the Sabre a hybrid of FV-101 Scorpion chassis, mounted with a Foz Armoured Car 30mm Rarden CannonTurret, plus the turret included redesigned smoke discharges and installing an L94A1 (Hughes EX-34) 7.62mm Chain Gun in place of the standard 7.62mm Medium Machinegun too. Thet were assigned to Reconnaissance Troops, of Armoured Regiments and/or Mechanicised Infantry Battalions too, around 35 or 36 of these hybrid Light Reconnaissance Vehicle were created as well! So the CRV"T" family, is much large, in fact, there was even a protype Light Tank with a 105mm Tank Gun Turret design too, Also some Scorpion Light Tanks, had their 76mm Light Tank Gun, either replaced with a 90mm Light Tank Gun, or were ordered from new with the 90mm Light Tank Gun too!

A new generation of this family of vehicles could be useful even today. Not as part of armoured forces but as all-terrain, light armoured vehicles to support light infantry. With 21st century updates like hybrid electric drive, rubber tracks, newer sensors, composite armour, remote weapon station instead of turrets, active protection system, and so on. There would also be many possible variants.

this man LOVES his Bins

CVR-T Sabre. Scorpion chassis mounting the turret (also 30mm cannon like Scimitar) from the Fox wheeled recce vehicle.

Ahhh. That accent kicks ass! I sound like Midwest, U. S. and A. I WANT AN ACCENT!

Monsters !

Automotives, weapons and electrics. Or as we used to say "walk, talk and shoot". Talk being radio - i.e. electrics.

What about the derivative of the Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle "Tract" (CRVT) family, or the FV-108-AD Stromer SP-HVM (self-propelled high velocity missile) Air Defence Variant for the Royal Artillery, with a roof mounted and remote operated Multiple Launch Turret (MLT), with on either side twin 4 missile launch tubes. Which itself was based on the FV-108-TR Stromer Troop Reconnaissance Vehicle (TRV), which is based on the Spartan FV-103 Armoured Personnel Carrier too. There is also the Shielder "VLSMS" too, or the Velicle Launched Scatterable Mine System, based on the FV-108 Streaker High Mobility Load Carrier (HMLC). There was not just FV-101 Scorpion 76mm Light Tank, or FV-102 Striker Anti Tank Guided Missile Vehicle, or FV-104 Samartain Armoured Ambulance Vehicle, or FV-105 Sultan Armoured Command & Communication Vehicle, or FV-106 Samon Armoured Repair & Recovery Vehicle, or FV-107 Scimitar 30mm Cannon Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle, which makes up the Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle "Track" (CRVT) family.

Spent quite a bit of my BAOR posting in one of these vehicles, happy days 😂

Saw the title. Immediate reaction? "Aww fuck yeah!" I have an irrational love of the CVR(T) family....

I love command vehicles.

The Stormer was missed

@boraeananaren

11 ай бұрын

The Stormer was the next gen and based on a larger chassis according to Alvis web site. So more of a cousin 🙂

@andrewscott7485

11 ай бұрын

Shielder wasn't on here .

@boraeananaren

11 ай бұрын

@@andrewscott7485 Shielder was based on the Stormer chassis and not part of this family of vehicles

I'm a volunteer at the museum

They should have called the things ABCs: Armored Bin Carriers.😅

How sturdy is the aluminum armor? Rated against small arms only? I have to wonder if a .50 or 7.62×54 would pierce

@georgedalgleish6384

11 ай бұрын

Only good for 7.62. The bad thing about aluminium armour was it could actually catch fire.

What about the Streaker ?

The 14/20 H were a problem unit. Post Gulf 1 when the unit was returning to the BAOR via Manchester airport, we had to jail drunk soldiers from the unit. They seemed to think that being drunk, in public, in uniform, was wholly acceptable.

@lescritchlow3288

11 ай бұрын

I don't know where you get that from as the Regiment all flew direct back to RAF Gutersloh, Germany from Saudi. Never flew back via Manchester or any other airport in the UK.

@mikewingert5521

11 ай бұрын

@@lescritchlow3288 14/20 H (or elements of) was home on block leave; Manchester airport was utilised because they were a NW UK unit. Soldiers had been warned not to wear uniform. The usual sorts arrived at the airport in desert combats drawing huge attention to themselves and the unit. Due to drinking, complaints were made because the pilot refused to take off; a Britannia Airways charter. I was based at HQ NW Dist at Preston. I and some others had to drive to the airport to sort the matter. I actually drafted the disciplinary signals myself. An officer named Woodd (I recall because of the curious spelling) was unhappy that the regiment wasn’t allowed to deal with the matter internally; HQ BAOR G3 and HQ 1 (BR) CORPS were both action addresses and it brought a lot of embarrassment to the unit.

The last time the MOD got it right.

Sam it’s good to see you being successful. Have a bitchen day!

Is that Critch of 1 R.T.R.

the swing fire AT missile had a rang of 4000 km wow they wouldn't have to leave England to engage the enemy

Brilliant bring back scorpions and scimitar. They are better recon light tank with armour. The landrover soft skin vehicle no armour. Although landrover can do a lot for recon sorties. It can't negotiate heavy mud like the scorpion and scimitar platform. 1000 scorpions for the protection of Britain. 1000 scimitar light recon tank also.

It seems they liked stowage

be dam no lovely solfein in the vidéo ........tout meme merci bien

First gen thermal was red.... OTIS red-ding...

4,000 kilometers for the swing fire missile! 😉😂

@jonprince3237

11 ай бұрын

Former instructor, he was just checking if you were paying attention.

Stowage.

13:32 Do you mean it fired 4000 meters? Not kilometres? 😂

@lescritchlow3288

11 ай бұрын

Wondered how long it would be before someone picked that up. It was done at the end of a very long hot day and I was gagging to go get a cold pint of larger. 😁

😛😛😛😛😛😛❤❤❤❤👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Best still last.

Did he say 4,000Km's ? Maybe 4,000Mtrs...

Really good vid and its good that some of these vehicles that have come out of British service have been put to a good cause and given to Ukraine.

Sorry Ajax

13:35 4000 KILOMETERS???? lol