So to continue our military videos we look at two pretty unique tanks the m1 Abrams
Which is pretty much seen in every single Michael Bay movie and is on the frontline of every heavy American
Assault and we put it up against France's Leclerc tank and find out what the differences are
How's going everybody? What is going on? Welcome to FTD facts
My name is Dave Walpole and I am just really excited today to take two
Rather unique tanks and putting them together now
It's kind of a sequel video to our leopard 2 versus our m1
Abrams video and I just figured we're just gonna keep throwing these two together because you guys really like these videos now
Before I get in this video, I want to let you guys know about a little thing called grammarly comm you guys
Probably already know what they are sponsoring this video if you guys want to just get better on your own grammar
Hey, I use it for my own videos to help I mean talking is different but typing is very important
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but obviously dude at the end of the video because we got to talked about Leclerc and
the m1 Abrams
Both amazing tanks. So let's begin looking at the Leclerc now
This was a major contender for many countries in its early development
it's been in service since in 1993, but it's had a rather long development phase that began as far back as
1983 although some say it goes far as back as
1978 the little clip tank however was made to be a replacement for the AMX 30 battle tank
Now this was a tank that entered service in
1960 and what some people don't know is that shortly before the Leclerc began production in 1980?
France was working on a co development deal with west germany to build a tank
However, unfortunately this fell through when france was like now, you know what we want to go solo
We want to make our own tank rightfully
so go france one of the big problems though that the old
amx
30 had compared to its previous tanks was that it was lighter simply because the speed was a major key
Rather than armoured during those times, but with the introduction of armor-piercing rounds and composite armor
It opened up a lot of new challenges for tank designers the 70s
and as a matter of fact
Did you know that when the Leclerc first rolled out it was one of the most expensive?
Tanks ever in the entire world now obviously that's changed over time and I'll explain that as we go through the video
But before we do that to give you an idea of how much it cost back then in today's world
It would equates to roughly over nine million dollars
Which is about two million more than an Abrams and about two times more than your average
T90 and as the Year in 1990 began this tank had gone through trials and it was the new tank for France
The l1 Abrams is also a very remarkable piece of machinery heck. It's been proven for many years
She began service in 1980 and she was the replacement for the good
Old-fashioned m60 Patton major development for this vehicle began when funds were given to the XM one program in
1971 instead of two other tank programs now what made this tank very unique compared to other tanks
Is it introduced Chobham armor, which is a very very reinforced version of steel
It's tough which meant that old-school steel would no longer be effective at all
And in today's world if you were to use it an anti-tank round would go through that steel like a blowtorch through butter
Interesting enough though that the French actually also refused the use of this armor on the Leclerc
Because they wanted to instead develop their own type of composite armor, which doesn't have a lot of details on it
Unfortunately now the Leclerc battle tank is made by the next door company originally
However, it was developed by Giat which eventually became next her side note with Giat
They had a really hard time in sales until the Leclerc proved to be a good battle tank
And even with the good sales, the Leclerc is only actually used by two countries
And that is the countries of france and the good old united arab emirates
as a matter of fact
both of these countries are very well balanced in the amount of tanks that they have France has about
406 of these plus 20 that are classified as
recovery vehicles where the UAE has
388 Leclerc tanks. However, 46 of them are classified as armored covering vehicles as well in total. There is approximately
862 of these little clerk tanks that have been made in today's world and it is unfortunate that not many other
Countries have had a major interest in it over the years
However, there have been a few countries like Qatar and Colombia that have shown interest but nothing is official so far the m1 Abrams though
It is way different. They've got a lot of them
I mean a lot there is about ten thousand two hundred and eighty-eight of these bad boys made
Originally designed by chrysler defense, which is now General Dynamics Land Systems
A lot of them were built in the Lima tank plant in Lima
Ohio and the very famous Detroit Arsenal tank plant in Warren, Michigan
This is actually a very cool and very important tank plant
Just so you guys know this is because it was the first major tank factory within the United States
Now for operators, the m1 Abrams is in Australia Egypt Iraq, Kuwait Saudi Arabia
Morocco and yes good old USA which has actually most of them coming in at over
6,000 the countries of Greece Peru and Taiwan have also had interest in this tank. But however, they are waiting the u.s
approval for some of these
variants probably one of my favorite things to talk about because
It's just a lot of different cool little things that they've added two different types of Tanks the clark
You've got series one, which I sometimes call the o
Original the series ii had some major upgrades in
2009 new thermal optics were added the nuclear biological and chemical system added air conditioning very nice
Frontal armor was also thickened as well on the turret
There was also the newer two-to-one series
Which they had a lot of upgrades to the armor, for example
More titanium besides tungsten on top of that within the two-two-one series
There was also a new thermal viewfinder that was added with a laser rangefinder and a few other cool features
Including targeting features like iff on top of that there were other individual variants such as the flak panzer
Which is basically your anti-aircraft
Variant a couple of recovery tank versions were also made the type of tank that the UAE has has been modified to what they call
tropical eyes
it's got some specific year that the government of the UAE wanted that they prefer an
Example of this is a tank infantry phone and a different power pack that sort of thing
There's also been a few proposed and canceled prototypes
the new Leclerc XLR is your newest version set to come out in 2020 and it's said to have
Scorpion type camouflage or so they say overall
however
The Leclerc has about 13 different
Variants either in use or currently or were proposed at one point and are now canceled the m1 abrams though
Oh my god, it's got a lot of variants. I mean, it's it's it's a lot
Starting off you have your basic m1?
There's also the m1 a1 the m1a2 and the m1 a3 as the main variants the m1 a3 is the newest one in
Development however, within these top variants you also have sub variants
Which I'll include in the total shortly should actually be mentioned that the first m1 Abrahms that came out
It actually didn't have the same type of barrel that it uses now
It used a 105 millimeter barrel this of course was changed for the m1 a1
Version which it adapted the smoothbore barrel
From the leopard to the m1a2 has a more advanced and updated armor using second generation version of the depleted uranium
Armor also sidenote depleted uranium armor was added on the m1 a1 for the first time and just so you know
depleted uranium armor is about
1.7 times more dense than steel so it's very very strong
The m1 h you basically had a uniform upgrade with this armor and all
M1a1s are now upgraded to this version there of course were some prototypes for unmanned versions of this tank
also ones with a bigger barrel using
140 millimeters interesting enough that the m1 abrams never had an anti-air version ever made
This is probably due to the fact that america just simply didn't need this
They I mean they have a really good air superiority system and by that
I mean they have a lot of freakin fighters a lot. There is also bridge making versions breacher versions
However, there was no recovery version that was ever made put into service
But there was at least one prototype made in total you have 32
versions at least of the m1 Abrams I should also mention that the m1a2 C which is theoretically the
SCP version 3 which stands for system enhancement package is
Generally the most upgraded version using third
generation depleted uranium armor and a lot of other bells and whistles this particular tank began field testing in
2017 and it's set for field work in
2020
Specifications now this is where it gets really interesting. Did you know that the Abrams has four crew members or it needs four crew members?
Whereas the Leclerc only has three
Why is that one major different factor is that the you Leclerc was one of the only few
westernized tanks to feature an auto loader where the
M1 abrams was made to have a human load the shell and speaking of guns both the Leclerc and the abrams use the 120
Smoothbore gun the Leclerc has about 40 rounds within it whereas the Abrams has 42
the auto loader can make the Leclerc fire twelve rounds per minute where a good loader in the Abrams can shoot at
rumored about 15 rounds per minute, but of course, that is a very
experienced person loading this
Particular type of tank and let's be perfectly honest rate of fire does not always matter when it comes to tanks
This is because the thing that really does count is what type of ammunition you're using
What type of shell you're using and of course how fast you can hit your target for the first time?
I also want to mention when we look at these specifications
I'm looking at the generally more advanced versions of these tanks for example the Leclerc
I'm looking at the XX one and for the m1 Abrams
I'm looking at the m1a2 se P. And with that when it comes to guns the Abrams has three of them
It has two seven six two machine guns plus a twelve point seven millimeter gun
Whereas the Leclerc only has two machine guns one is a seven six two and the other is a twelve point seven millimeter weight
However, the Leclerc is one of the lightest tanks in the modern world coming in at 54 tons. Whereas the Abrams is
63 in terms of length of haul not including barrel that
Clerk is smaller coming in at six point eight eight meters. The m1 Abrahms is seven point nine two meters width
however
the Leclerc is a little fatter at three point seven one meters where the
M1 abrams is three point seven meters height. However, the m1 abrams was meant to be a very low-profile tank with that
It comes in at two point four meters and illa clerk is slightly taller at two point. Nine two meters speed
Of course. This is a heavily argued thing. But when it comes to the m1 Abrams it said it can go up to 68 km/h
With that it has an effective range of approximately
625 kilometers the clerk however can go up to 71 km/h
but has a range of only
550 kilometers now as for price, I did say I would get into it
Remember how I said the Leclerc was one of the most expensive tanks at the time
well now it's not really this is because the Leclerc in 2016 came at
Approximately a little over four million US dollars
Whereas the Abrams came in at eight point nine two million for one tank
Keep in mind that is all in US dollars. So there you go guys. That is it
That is me looking at the differences between the Leclerc and the m1 Abrams
Hey, if you guys got any stuff that I missed feel free to put it down there
But if you guys liked this video or if you guys want more military content, just give this video a big thumbs up
So I know to do more
That being said if you guys want more content and you guys got some cool
suggestions of other things we can look at the differences between
Feel free to leave it down there in the comment section below because I love listening to you
And while you're down there guys, go check out grammarly comm you guys. Get your
Grammar on you know improve on your grammar. It's really beneficial. It's free program. I love it
You guys will like it too
but other than that
Feel free to look at our playlists that will be in the description box below and at the end of this video got some cool
stuff that I think you guys will like
Anyways, I'm Dave Walpole. I'll see you later. Bye
Okay, so here are some of the
Playlists that I was telling you guys about or just briefly mentioning it feel free to check them out
I think you guys will rather enjoy these other than that just hey subscribe
It's first time here, and we'll see you in the next one. Bye
you