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  

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