M1A2 Tank tour

I found this on youtube introducing M1A2, one of the best tank in the world, if not the best. I think this video does a very good job on M1A2, hope you guys enjoy it.
www.youtube.com...

I didn't know that the M1A2's main cannon is actually a copy of the German Leopard, build in the US under liscense, and it's manual loading, and the tank uses a gas engine.

[edit on 10/2/2006 by warset]

Good video. Thanks for the info.

Yeah, it's an awesome tank. The AGT-1500 gas turbine engine produces ENORMOUS amounts of power - the thing could climb a vertical wall if you locked the tracks in - but it also produces ENORMOUS amounts of heat, and it guzzles up fuel. At 1,000F the exhaust ensures that troops can not walk near the tank if they don't want to be holding their skin in their hands, and the beast can only make 3 miles to the gallon. Yeah, you read that right.

The heat is also a problem when you've got IR guided missiles flying around, and it isn't good for urban operations with troop support, as said above.

Originally posted by warset
I didn't know that the M1A2's main cannon is actually a copy of the German Leopard, build in the US under liscense, and it's manual loading, and the tank uses a gas engine.

[edit on 10/2/2006 by warset]

It's a good tank, one of the best in fact, but you may be surprised at how many components are not American "designed". Same goes for most Western/NATO vehicles though. The Chally 2 uses a german gun as well, so don't feel downhearted

Originally posted by watch_the_rocks
At 1,000F the exhaust ensures that troops can not walk near the tank if they don't want to be holding their skin in their hands, and the beast can only make 3 miles to the gallon. Yeah, you read that right.

Are you sure about the temperature bit, while no doubt it's hot I have seen a few videos that would seem to suggest the stand off distance required is not so great. Also it does not get three miles to the gallon, no modern (top class) MBT that I'm aware of does. It gets less then a mile to the gallon, that's why it has a range of only 200+ miles with a 500 gallon fuel tank. Otherwise it would have a 1,500 mile range.

Couldn't resist to place a link to Discovery's top 10 tanks, yet I do admit the Abrams M1A2 is a great MBT.

www.youtube.com...



[edit on 8-10-2006 by Mdv2]

It gets an estimated 3 miles to the gallon during heavy duty use, i.e. low gear over varied terrain, which is what it would drive over a lot of the time during combat. Rocks, sand, rubble. Shoulda mentioned that. It's usually about 1 mpg, you're right.
And the standoff distance is, I'm not 100% percent on this, usually around 10 metres for an unshielded tank when the engine is engaged and the troops aren't covering a lot of their skin, and about 3-4 metres when it's at idle. But when they do put exhaust shields on, the troops can come in pretty close; although they've got to be in constant communications with the tank crew in case the tank needs to maneuver. Troops cannot sit on the tank, anyhow.
There are stories of Humvees moving up too close behind the tank and melting fibreglass parts.

Some interesting animations in the original video, but I stopped taking it seriously after hearing the first sentence. To call the original M1 anything else than average is exaggeration, and calling it the "arguably best tank" simply is preposterous. Too expensive, subpar gun and only one thermal sight for a start...



[edit on 10/10/2006 by Lonestar24]

When it came out you don't think it was more than "average? But I agree the original M1 currently is no longer one of the best tanks in the world, it's still OK but not in the top three, the SEP on the other hand is another matter altogether.

[edit on 10-10-2006 by WestPoint23]