M1 Abrams, All variants: Current and future.

[Steel Penguin]

as some folks on here know im a Brit, ( what ? you say in a surprised voice, id never had though it )   and therefore have a soft spot for the UK armour, but even so i have to say that the M1 is a good system for what it is and does, the US army  got what they wanted with it at the start, ( a good modern tank) and have upgraded it over time to take advantage of developments in gun and IT tech.
when you look at the modern western Forces you have
UK  Challenger 2
France Le Clerk
Germany  Leopard
US M1 Abrams
Japan  Type 10
Korea  K2

Now look at who has got the export sales and why,  the M1 is world wide and has replaced previous country's European, and Russian equipment.  a Boondongle wont sell, not repeatedly and not so widely.
but it seems im repeating previous comments by Scooter and Old Wombat, so i think ill go undercoat and assemble something.

[jcf]

Oh, ye gods and little fishes the Combat Reform site raises its ugly head.


Dude, the guy behind that site, Mike Sparks, is the moonbat of all moonbats and flat out has been out of touch with reality for a very long time, he's not a credible source for anything i.e. his insistence that the M113 is named the "Gavin" which it ain't despite his claims that members of the US Airborne use the name.

BTW his CV is also very suspect and some of it is bogus. Do yourself a favour and run away from his fantasizing.

[thundereagle1997]

The us could buy the K2  or Challenger 2 tank. It would be better than the M1 in propulsion.

[scooter]

The us could buy the K2  or Challenger 2 tank. It would be better than the M1 in propulsion.

Why?  The Honeywell AGT1500 (which has been in development and production since MBT-70) puts out 1500 hp vs the Perkins 1200, with a power to weight ratio between 24-27 hp/t vs 16-19 hp/t.  While the Black Panther's powerpacks provide similar horsepower and power to weight ratios, its designed to work in highly mountainous or very swampy terrain (which is why Poland is buying it, as well as to supplement to their 250 M1A2s).

And earlier you "pointed out" that

the logistics are terrible

So, now you want to introduce a whole new logistics chain?    Can Perkins provide enough engines and spare parts for 2500+ power plants?  Can Black Panther's conglomerate?  And let's not talk about training mechanics on a whole new powerpack, drivers learning how not to blow the engines up, getting the parts National Stock Numbers and listed in FEDLOG, and supplies on hand and in deployment prepackages.

[scooter]

against  thermobaric the M1 is screwed.

Against the equivalent 10-20 tons of TNT, there's not much that will survive a hit from a thermobaric weapon, even with sufficient NBC hardening.

the logistics are terrible because fuel trucks are extremely vulnerable on the battlefield

I spent 7 years in a US Army National Guard division-level support battalion (aka, Ye Auld Main Support Battalion), and we don't run logistics and fuel trains like the Russians.  We'll set up a secure FARP, if we're able to, or if we are following behind the combat arms guys, our convoys are not miles long, on one highway, nor are they unescorted or without any kind of OTH contact for additional support.  We have almost 80 years of running supplies in an efficient, if seemingly chaotic, manner.

[PR19_Kit]

The USA would NEVER buy tanks from a foreign country, no matter how much better they were, it'd be a wholly political thing.

[Old Wombat]

The USA would NEVER buy tanks from a foreign country, no matter how much better they were, it'd be a wholly political thing.

Probably not but they're quite happily to licence produce parts of them & learn lessons from them for developing their own (Chobham armour being the specific example for the M1 .... Oh, & boiling vessels ).

[scooter]

The USA would NEVER buy tanks from a foreign country, no matter how much better they were, it'd be a wholly political thing.

Probably not but they're quite happily to licence produce parts of them & learn lessons from them for developing their own (Chobham armour being the specific example for the M1 .... Oh, & boiling vessels ).

Honestly, I would have appreciated having a boiling vessel available in our equipment.  Especially in my maintenance shelter, when I was in the NJ Air Guard's ASOS.  Would have made non-MRE hot meals (aka "pogie bait") so much more convenient.

[PR19_Kit]

I did some work for the MoD on the Chieftain ARV and the crew were very proud that they had TWO Boiling Vessels in the main compartment, and that the tank versions only had room for one. 

[NARSES2]

I did some work for the MoD on the Chieftain ARV and the crew were very proud that they had TWO Boiling Vessels in the main compartment, and that the tank versions only had room for one. 

Glad to see they got their priorities right 

[jcf]

What in tarnation does freedom of speech have to do with it?

[NARSES2]

Right I've done something I don't like doing and indeed very rarely do and that is to delete a comment, but the thing was just going absolutely nowhere and all it was doing was winding people up (me included). Apologies if it makes a couple of the other replies appear slightly out of context.

Chris

[thundereagle1997]

Abrams turret mounting an L7 105mm rifled gun on a modified Leopard 2 hull powered via a 2000hp Diesel engine.
Later versions would a Royal Ordnance L30 120mm rifled gun. Sorry about the mistakes I wanted to explain my opinion along with Blacktail Defence's personal opinion as well. I apologise to anyone I may have offended especially you  Narses2 and the other moderators.

[NARSES2]

Fine. Just do what I do quite a lot - think about your reply a bit before hitting the Post button.