M 1 Abrams Tank Of United States - M 1 Abrams Tank is the MBT currently in service with United States of America and it is designed as a successor of Patton tank. The design and development phase of M 1 Abrams Tank is done from 1979 to 1980 and finally it was put into production in 1980.
Armor Protection - The Abrams is protected by British-designed Chobham 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) 64 inch of Rolled Homogeneous Armor to protect it against High Explosive Anti-Tank ,Kinetic Energy and Chemical Tank Rounds. It may also be fitted with Explosive reactive armor over the track skirts if needed and slat armor over the rear of the tank and rear fuel cells to protect against Anti-Tank Guided Missile. 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 more dense than Steel.
Mobility - The M1 Abrams' Tank power plant is "Gas Turbine" engine which primarily used in helicopters, It comprises a 1,500 shaft horsepower which runs on automatic six speed (four forward, two reverse) transmission providing ground breaking Power to weight ratio of 27 hp/ton and providing it with top speed of 72 km/hr on paved roads, and 48 km/h cross-country. The tank is Multi-fuel capable which meaning that it can run on diesel, kerosene, any grade of motor gasoline, and jet fuel. The operational range of The M1 Abrams' Tank is also nice at 480 km.
Fire Power - The M1 Abrams' Tank is provided with 120 mm smooth-bore main gun which is designed by Rheinmetall AG of Germany and license build in United States, this is the same gun used in leopard 2 main battle tank of Germany , Being a smooth-bore gun it have an advantage long endurance because rifled gun have to get changed after firing few hundred rounds as it rifling got worn-out but this problem is solved using Smooth-bore gun moreover smooth-bore gun can fire more variety of shells then the rifled one, The main gun of M1 Abrams' Tank can fire variety of High Explosive Anti-Tank Round ,Kinetic Energy Sabot Round ,Chemical Anti-Tank Rounds, Depleted Uranium Penetrating Round, Armor Piercing and Discarding Round.
The main gun of The M1 Abrams' Tank is controlled by fire control computer which uses Infrared beam and other sensors to acquire data regarding range finding and Target acquisition to process and make sure the round fired from the main 120 mm guns hits on target. The main gun of M 1 Abrams Tank is electrically stabilized with the main chassis of the tank, that mean even if the tank is moving over the rough surface gun will be still stabilized on its target to fire the round with near accuracy to hit on target.
M1 Abrams' Tank is also provided with one 50 calibers (12.7 mm) Machine gun mounted on the commander hatch as a secondary weapon which can be used for both anti-aircraft and anti-personal roles, The loader of the tank is also provided with one 7.62 mm machine gun for anti-personal role and Turret of the M1 Abrams' Tank is also provided with one 7.62 mm co-axial Machine gun. M1 Abrams' Tank tank also uses smoke flares to create a cloak of smoke to make the tank visually untraceable for enemy in any battle scenario.
Limitation's – The Turbine Engine of the M1 Abrams' Tank is good for providing the unmatched weight to power ratio of 27 hp/ton and 1500 Horsepower in total but it guzzles the fuel at very high rate because of which it need a continues supply of fuel for which it have to rely on the chain of support vehicle which can be attacked on easily, The exhaust of the tank from its turbine engine creates very high temperatures around the tank due to which it is very hard for the infantry men to take cover behind the tank from enemy fire. The production of the M1 Abrams' Tank is very complicated job in means of engineering and it is also very expensive to produce and that is the main reason behind its moderate production rate.
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