M1A1 Abrams

   The M1A1 Abrams main battle tank was developed by General Dynamics. It is a further development of the M1 Abrams. The M1A1 was revealed in 1985 with production commencing the same year. It entered service with US Army in 1986. Production ended in 1992 and approximately 4 200 M1A1 Abrams tanks were built. This main battle tank is currently in service with USA, Australia and Egypt.

   The M1A1 has an improved armor protection comparing with it's predecessor. Front turret and hull armor of the M1A1 features advanced composite armor reinforced with depleted uranium mesh for better protection. Like in the previous version ammunition is stored in the turret bustle with blow-out panels for better survivability and crew protection. Interior is lined with Kevlar for protection against spalling. Some tanks, most notably of the US Marine Corps, are fitted with a missile countermeasure device. This device can detect and jam guidance systems of laser-guided missiles.

   One of the most important improvement over the M1 is the M256 120-mm smoothbore gun, originally developed by Rheinmetall and produced in USA under license. The same gun is fitted on the Leopard 2 up to the version of the 2A5. This gun is loaded manually. Ammunition load was decreased to 40 rounds due to larger projectile size. The M1A1 Abrams has a range of effective fire in excess of 4 km, which was successfully demonstrated during the Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

   A special M829A2 armor-piercing round was developed for the M1A1 to counter threat possessed by latest at that time Soviet/Russian, such as the T-80U and T-90 featuring Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armor. Currently the MRM-KE or Mid Range-Munition Kinetic Energy round is under development. It is a gun-launched projectile with rocket assistance on the final stage. It will have a maximum effective range of fire in excess of 12 km and will use kinetic energy warhead.

   Secondary armament consists of coaxial 7.62-mm machine gun, another roof-mounted 7.62-mm machine gun operated by gunner and 12.7-mm machine gun operated by commander.

   Vehicle is powered by Lycoming (now Honeywell) AGT1500 multi-fuel gas turbine engine, developing 1 500 horsepower. Chassis and transmission of the M1A1 was improved to coupe with increased tank's weight. This main battle tank can be equipped with mine plow or mine rollers.

   The M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks were produced in Egypt under license, however Egyptian vehicles have composite armor without depleted uranium mesh of the US tanks. Egyptian army operates 555 of these vehicles.

   Successor of the M1A1 is the M1A2 Abrams.
 

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