here's why russia fears america's m1 abrams tank the m1 abrams is a third generation american main
battle tank named after general creighton abrams and designed by chrysler defense
designed as a highly mobile main battle tank for modern armored ground warfare
the m1 is well armed and heavily armored the abrams introduced several notable and
innovative features such as a powerful 1 500 horsepower agt 1500 multi-fuel turbine engine
sophisticated chobham composite armor a computer fire control system and separate
ammunition storage in a blowout compartment along with nbc protection for crew safety
the m1 abrams was developed as a result of the cancellation of the mbt-70 project which was
afflicted with numerous technical issues and cost overruns in 1971 congress canceled the project and
ordered a less costly alternative replacement for the aging m-60 both chrysler and general
motors supplied prototypes and the chrysler model was selected for further development
earlier us military vehicles used from world war one through the vietnam war
used the scheme of olive drab often with large white stars prototypes early production m1 105
millimeter gun and m1 ip models switched to a flat forest green paint scheme
the large white insignia stars have also transitioned to much smaller black markings
some units painted their m-ones with the older mobility equipment research and design command
murdock four-color paint scheme but the turn-in requirements for these tanks required repainting
them to overall forest green therefore even though a large number of the base model m1s
were camouflaged in the field few or none exist today m1a ones came from the factory with the nato
three color camouflage black slash med green slash dark brown chemical agent resistant coating carc
paint jobs today m1a1s are given the nato 3 color paint job during rebuilds
m1s and m1a1s deployed to operation desert storm were hastily painted desert
tan some but not all of these tanks were repainted to their authorized paint scheme
australian m1a1s were desert tan when delivered but have undergone a transition to the australian
army vehicle standard disruptive pattern camouflage a scheme that consists of black
olive drab and brown the m1 currently serves as the main battle tank of the united states
army and marine corps and is also used by the armies of egypt kuwait saudi arabia australia
and iraq the abrams was first tested in combat in the persian gulf war and has seen service in
both the war in afghanistan and iraq war under u.s service while iraqi abrams tanks have seen
combat in the war against isil and have seen use by saudi arabia during the yemeni civil war
the abrams was due to be replaced by the future combat systems xm1202 but due to the cancellation
of the program the us military has opted to continue maintaining and operating the m1 abrams
for the foreseeable future by upgrading the tank with improved optics armor and firepower three
main versions of the m1 abrams have been deployed the m1 m1a1 and m1a2 incorporating improved
armament protection and electronics with each new model these improvements and other upgrades to
in-service tanks have allowed this long-serving vehicle to remain in front line service in
addition development of the improved m1a3 version was first publicly disclosed in 2009 old extensive
improvements have been implemented to the latest m1 a2 c and d formerly scp v3 and scp v4
respectively versions such as improved composite armor better optics digital systems and ammunition
since then the abrams has been involved in a lot more war and it has had to forsake
its invincible reputation during the u.s invasion and occupation of
iraq several were knocked out by massive ieds or rpgs in the vulnerable rear armor
others by advanced russian-made anti-tank missiles such as the at-14 cornet in the ongoing conflicts
in yemen and iraq dozens of saudi and iraqi abrams have been taken out by such missiles
russia's new t14 armada tank finally does present a pure challenge to the abrams
while the abram 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 afghanit active protection system aps intended to shoot down incoming projectiles
the t-14's new 2a 825 millimeter also has improved armor penetration meaning the abrams
frontal armor may be vulnerable at shorter combat ranges possibly 1500 meters and less the abrams
remained untested in combat until the persian gulf war in 1991 during operation desert storm
a total of 1848 m1a1s were deployed to saudi arabia to participate in the liberation of kuwait
the m1a1 was superior to iraq's soviet-era t-55 and t-62 tanks
as well as t-72 versions imported from the soviet union in poland polish officials state no license
produced t-72 tanks were finished prior to the iraqi tank plant being destroyed in 1991.
the t-72s like most soviet export designs lacked night vision systems and then modern range finders
though they did have some night fighting tanks with older active infrared systems or floodlights
a total of 23 m1a ones were damaged or destroyed during the war of the nine abrams tanks destroyed
seven were destroyed by friendly fire and two were purposely destroyed to prevent capture after
being damaged some others took minor combat damage with little effect on their operational readiness
very few m1 tanks were hit by enemy fire and none were destroyed as a direct result of enemy fire
none of which resulted in any fatalities
a total of 23 m1a1s were damaged or destroyed during the war of the nine abrams tanks destroyed
seven were destroyed by friendly fire and two were purposely destroyed to prevent capture after
being damaged some others took minor combat damage with little effect on their operational readiness
very few m1 tanks were hit by enemy fire and none were destroyed as
a direct result of enemy fire none of which resulted in any fatalities
the u.s army can equip its abrams tanks with the saab barracuda camouflage system
which provides concealment against visual infrared thermal infrared and broadband radar detection
the tank has a halon firefighting system to automatically extinguish fires in the
crew compartment the engine compartment has a firefighting system that's engaged by pulling a
t-handle located on the left side of the hole the halon gas can be dangerous to the crew
however the toxicity of halon 1301 gas at seven percent concentration
is much less than the combustion products produced by fire in the crew compartment
and co2 dump would be lethal to the crew the crew compartment also contains small handheld
fire extinguishers fuel and ammunition are stored in armored compartments with blowout panels to
protect the crew from the risk of the tank's own ammunition cooking off exploding if the tank is
damaged the main gun's ammunition is stored in the rear section of the turret with blast doors
that open under power by sliding sideways only to remove a round for firing then automatically close
doctrine mandates that ammunition door must be closed before arming the main gun in addition
to the armor some usmc abrams tanks are equipped with a soft kill active protection system the a
vlq-6 missile countermeasure device mcd that can impede the function of guidance systems of some
semi-active control line of sight cyclos wire and radio guided anti-tank missiles such as
the russian nk 114 term and infrared homing missiles the mcd works by emitting a massive
condensed infrared signal to confuse the infrared homing seeker of an anti-tank guided missile
thanks for watching this video and don't forget to subscribe to the channel and turn
on the notifications to be the first to know when a new video is released thanks for watching see ya