hello everyone today we'll show you why Russia and China fear America's m1 Abrams tank so don't
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and share the social media so your friends know what you know back in the 1990s I recall reading
tom clancy's loving pin to the m1 abrams armored CAV in which he related that the unkillable tank
had never been knocked out by hostile fire the Abrams 120 millimeter cannon effortlessly peeled
the turrets off of t-72 tanks during the Gulf War while Russian anti-tank missiles and hundred
twenty five millimeter shells couldn't pierce the American tanks Chobham Armour in fact the
Abrams own gun reportedly struggled to penetrate the Abrams depleted uranium armor since then the
Abrams has been involved in a lot more war and it has had to forsake its invincible reputation
during the US invasion and occupation of Iraq several were knocked out by massive IEDs or
RPGs and the vulnerable rear armor others by advanced russian-made anti-tank missiles such
as the 1814 cornet and the ongoing conflicts in Yemen and Iraq dozens of Saudi and Iraqi Abrams
have been taken out by such missiles the Abrams also hasn't encountered modern tanks in fact the
Abrams is hardly unrivaled in its very heavyweight class other vehicles such as the german leopard
2 the british challenger 2 the french Leclerc and israeli merkava 4 possessed similar firepower and
protection levels though of course each type has its advantages and disadvantages however
none of them were likely to ever be shooting at a neighbor so it wasn't a problem for decades
the most threatening potential opponent was the Russian t90 tank a vehicle which has a fighting
chance against the Abrams but has hardly appeared Russia's new t14 Armada tank finally does present
a peer challenge to the Abrams while the Abrams still appears to have a slight edge
in conventional armor the Armada compensates with a combination of explosive reactive armor
and a sophisticated radar guided activation protection system aps intended to shoot down
incoming projectiles the t4 teams new to a 80 to 125 millimeter also has improved armor penetration
meaning the Abrams frontal armor may be vulnerable at shorter combat ranges possibly 1,500 meters and
less while it's still debatable which is the superior tank they clearly both are capable of
destroying each other the point is that the Abrams can no longer assume the inferiority of opposing
tanks the set v3 abrams another thing that used to say in the 90s was the army doesn't do cities
during the US invasion and occupation of Iraq which involved a gazillion military operations
in urban terrain a tank urban survival kit tusk was rushed into service with a number
of upgrades to cope with potential ambushes from any direction many of those upgrades have been
standardized in later Abrams including improved belly armor a crew remotely operated weapon
station crows basically a remote-controlled 50 caliber machine gun so that the crew isn't
exposed when firing and add-on explosive reactive armor era to the vulnerable sides of the turret
the US Army had long eschewed era as it can wound nearby friendly infantry and can
get used up however it served as a relatively lightweight and inexpensive means of defending
the abrams vulnerable side armor from concealed enemy rocket-propelled grenade teams the latest
abram variant is an upgrade package the m1a2 SEP v3 many of its features are practical
rather than sexy upgraded computers and a new auxiliary power unit apu that allows the abrams
to keep its sophisticated systems running while the engine is off improving the fuel
efficiency of the abrams notoriously thirsty turbine engines maintainability is improved
with modular replaceable cabling there are some lethality upgrades notably a datalink to connect
with new advanced multi-purpose programmable air burst shells these will allow the Abrams main
gun to shoot high-explosive shells that detonate directly above enemy troops in cover and ability
hope to counter to enemy anti-tank missile teams other detonation modes including one optimized
for penetrating walls are also available and improved forward-looking infrared sensor FL ir
will upgrade the abrams detection capabilities and main gun accuracy a revised lower profile
remote-controlled machine-gun also sports improved cameras finally and possibly most importantly the
M ones depleted uranium armor package has been improved how much you ask the Defense Department
sure ain't Ellen era however does not appear to be in the default package a jammer for disabling
wireless IEDs has also been installed critical add-ons new ammunition and active protection
a number of the most important upgrades to the Abrams capability may come independently from
the set v3 upgrade package the first already began entering service in 2015 the m8 29a for
armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding shell the latest ammunition type for the
abrams 120 millimeter m256 cannon the m8 29 a 4 has a segmented depleted uranium penetrator
and has been specially designed to defeat the relict explosive reactive armour on the
latest russian tanks including the t14 armada future improvements to the abrams firepower are
likely to come by improving the capabilities of munitions as they're easier to upgrade and replace
than the main guns another innovation active protection systems aps have the potential to
revolutionize tank defenses the best combined soft kill measures that obscure the tank and
mislead guided missiles as well as hard kill measures that literally shoot down incoming
projectiles these are generally most effective against missiles though theoretically may be
effective against tank shells the m8 29a for shell is supposedly designed to overcome them
the Israeli trophy ApS has a proven record shooting down deadly anti-tank missiles and
recent conflicts the United States military is attempted to develop its own indigenous system
but recently the Army and Marines began testing trophy on m1a2 tanks trophy can
basically be purchased off the shelf and installed relatively quickly so if the Defense Department
decides that abrams needs the capability it could pursue the upgrade relatively quickly
another upgrade that could be installed quickly if desired would be a laser warning receiver
LWR and LWR would notify the abrams crew if their vehicle was being painted by an enemy
laser rangefinder and guidance system giving the crew an opportunity to hit the reverse pedal and
back the tank out of danger it should be stressed that there are no definitive plans to install the
latter two technologies in the SEP B 3 Abrams however they are obvious upgrades that could be
implemented quickly and at a reasonable cost the future the Army is currently planning to
develop a more radical upgraded Abrams by 2020 the m1 a3 details are sketchy but reducing the
Abrams roughly 70 ton weight appears to be one of the priorities certainly Wade has limited
the ability to deploy the Abrams around the world and restricted which bridges that can
cross features specifically mentioned include a lighter weight gun replacing the wiring with
fiber optic cables to shave off 2 tons of weight improved suspension and adding a laser warning
receiver other improvements are doubtlessly being considered but specifics are lacking for now