M1 Abrams

Overview:

The M1 Abrams is a main battle tank produced in the United States. The M1 is named after General Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff and Commander of US military forces in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. It is a well armed, heavily armored, and highly mobile tank designed for modern armored ground warfare. Notable features of the M1 Abrams include the use of a powerful gas turbine engine, the adoption of sophisticated composite armor, and separate ammunition storage in a blow-out compartment for crew safety. It is one of the heaviest tanks in service, weighing in at close to 68 short tons. The M1 Abrams entered U.S. service in 1980, replacing the 105 mm gun, full tracked M60 Patton main battle tank. It did, however, serve for over a decade alongside the improved M60A3, which had entered service in 1978. Three main versions of the M1 Abrams have been deployed, the M1, M1A1, and M1A2, incorporating improved armament, protection and electronics. These improvements, as well as periodic upgrades to older tanks have allowed this long-serving vehicle to remain in front-line service. It is the principal main battle tank of the United States Army and Marine Corps, and the armies of Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and since 2007, Australia. The Abrams is protected by the British designed Chobham armor, a further development of the British 'Burlington' armor. Chobham is a composite armor formed by spacing multiple layers of various alloys of steel, ceramics, plastic composites, and kevlar, giving an estimated maximum (frontal turret) 1320-1620 millimeters of RHAe versus HEAT (and other chemical energy rounds) and 940–960 mm versus kinetic energy penetrators. It may also be fitted with reactive armor over the track skirts if needed (as in the Urban Survival Kit) and Slat armor over the rear of the tank and rear fuel cells to protect against ATGMs. Fuel and ammunition are in armored compartments with blowout panels to protect the crew from the risk of the tank's own ammunition cooking off if the tank is damaged. Protection against spalling is provided by a kevlar liner. Beginning in 1987, M1A1 tanks received improved armor packages that incorporated depleted uranium (DU) mesh in their armor at the front of the turret and the front of the hull. Armor reinforced in this manner offers significantly increased resistance towards all types of anti-tank weaponry, but at the expense of adding considerable weight to the tank, as depleted uranium is 1.7 times denser than lead. The first M1A1 tanks to receive this upgrade were tanks stationed in Germany, since they were the first line of defense against the Soviet Union. US-based tank battalions participating in Operation Desert Storm received an emergency program to upgrade their tanks with depleted uranium armor immediately before the onset of the campaign. M1A2 tanks uniformly incorporate depleted uranium armor, and all M1A1 tanks in active service have been upgraded to this standard as well, the armor thickness is believed to be equivalent to 24 inches (610 mm) of RHA. The strength of the armor is estimated to be about the same as similar western, contemporary main battle tanks such as the Leopard 2. In the Persian Gulf War, Abrams tanks survived multiple hits at relatively close ranges from Iraqi Lion of Babylon tanks and ATGMs. M829A1 "Silver Bullet" APFSDS rounds from other M1A1 Abrams were unable to penetrate the front and side armor (even at close ranges) in friendly fire incidents as well as an incident in which another Abrams tried to destroy an Abrams that got stuck in mud and had to be abandoned. In addition to the advanced armor, some Abrams, are equipped with a Missile Countermeasure Device that can impede the function of guidance systems of semiactive control line-of-sight (SACLOS) wire and radio guided anti-tank missiles (Russian AT-3, AT-4, AT-5, AT-6 and the like) and thermally and infrared guided missiles (ATGM). This device is mounted on the turret roof in front of the Loader's hatch, and can lead some people to mistake Abrams fitted with these devices for the M1A2 version, since the Commander's Independent Thermal Viewer on the latter is mounted in the same place, though the MCD is box-shaped and fixed in place as opposed to cylindrical and rotating like the CITV. In the chance that the Abrams does suffer damage resulting in a fire in the crew compartment, the tank is equipped with a halon fire-suppression system that automatically engages and extinguishes fires in seconds.

Specifications:

Type

• Main battle tank.

Place of Origin

• United States.

In Service

• 1980-present.

Used By

• United States Army.
• Australian Army.
• Egyptian Army.
• Iraqi Army.
  
• Kuwaiti Army.
• Saudi Arabian Army.

Unit Cost

• US$4.35 million (M1A2).

Produced

• 1979–present.

Number Built

• Over 9,000

Variants

• M1A1
• M1A2
• M1A2 SEP.

Weight

• 67.6 short tons (61.4 metric tons).

Length

• Gun forward: 32.04 ft (9.77 m).
• Hull length: 26.02 ft (7.93 m).

Width

• 12 ft (3.66 m).

Height

• 8 ft (2.44 m).

Crew

• 1 commander, 1 gunner, 1 loader, 1 driver.
• Total: 4

Armor

• Chobham.
• RH armor.
• Steel encased depleted uranium mesh plating.

Primary Weapons

• 105 mm M68 rifled cannon (M1).
• 120 mm M256 smoothbore cannon (M1A1, M1A2, M1A2SEP).

Secondary Weapons

• 1 x .50-caliber (12.7 mm) M2HB heavy machine gun.
• 2 x 7.62 mm M240 machine guns (1 pintle-mounted, 1 coaxial).

Engine

• Honeywell AGT1500C multi-fuel turbine engine.
• 1,500 hp (1,119 kW).

Power/Weight

• 24.5 hp/metric ton.

Transmission

• Allison DDA X-1100-3B.

Suspension

• Torsion bar.

Ground Clearance

• 0.48 m (M1, M1A1).
• 0.43 m (M1A2).

Operational Range

• 289 mi (465.29 km).
• With NBC system: 279 mi (449.19 km).

Speed

• Road: 42 mph (67.7 km/h).
• Off-road: 30 mph (48.3 km/h).