Since approximately 1985, the
M-1A1 has been the flagship tank of the
US Army. The
M1-A1 Abrams is capable of reaching speeds of an impressive
45mph over flat terrain, despite its 63 (65 with
depleted uranium armor) ton weight. If this flat terrain happens to be, say
Route 1, it will in fact destroy everything in its path (not to mention the
pavement as well).
Equipped with the 120mm M256
smoothbore main gun (a copy of the German Rheinmetall), the standard "
Ma Duce" 50
cal machine gun at the commander's station, and two 7.62mm machine guns, the Abrams is capable of
devastation.
Perhaps the most impressive feature of the
M-1A1 is the
halon fire extinguishing system. Within 2
milliseconds of a flash or fire, the
extinguishers are activated and
immediately put out any fires in the tank. As a
backup defense system, the top panels of the entire tank are designed to
blow outwards in case the tank is
penetrated by a
HEAT (
High Explosive Anti-Tank) round.
Finally, the
M-1A1 "Heavy Armor" Abrams is equipped with a newly designed depleted
uranium armor, which is 2.5 times more dense than
steel. This adds 2
tons to the total weight of the standard M-1A1, which is
plated with
Chobham armor.
Basically, the M-1A1 Abrams is one
big bad motha of a tank.