M1A2 Abrams with TUSK equipment
Summary
The M1 Abrams is a tank and has been the mainstay of the U.S. Army’s armor branch for more than thirty years.
The M1 has proven to be an adaptable tank capable of fighting in any environment.
Powers and Stats
Tier: 9-C to 9-B with 7.62mm and .50 caliber machine guns, 9-B to 9-A with 120mm main gun, likely up to 9-A by itself
Name: M1 Abrams
Origin: Real Life
Serial: M1 Battle Tank
Classification: Main Battle Tank
Height: 2.44 meters
Weight: 65 tons (current M1A2)
Pilot(s): Tank crew
Needed Prerequisite for Use: Trained crew (needs at least 4 people to properly operate it), fuel, ammunition
In use by: United States Marine Corps and United States Army
Powered by: Honeywell AGT1500C multifuel gas turbine capable of burning diesel, kerosene (including jet fuel), and any grade automotive petrol; the US Military uses JP-8
Operational Timeframe: Several hours
Terrain: Ground
Material: Chobham arrmor for the M1 and M1A1, the M1A1HA and M1A2 have a depleted uranium mesh reinforced composite armor
Attack Potency: Street level+ with M240 7.62mm machine guns, Wall level with the M2HB .50 caliber machine gun (can destroy drywalls, partitions, plaster, floors, ceilings, furniture, appliances, cars, trees, concrete walls, and can penetrate 5mm steel plates), Wall level+ to Small Building Level with the 120mm M256 main gun (can collapse small houses and seriously damage load-bearing walls of a large building), likely up to Small Building level by virtue of weight and engine power alone (can flatten automobiles and bulldoze through houses with ease)
Range: Hundreds of meters with machine guns, several kilometers with the main gun, can go 426 km without refueling.
Speed: Peak Human off-road (25 miles per hour, 11.2 m/s), Superhuman on roads (42 miles per hour, 18.8 m/s)
Durability: At least Small Building level (can be essentially described as "a small mobile metal-walled building with big guns attached"; can take a direct hit from an anti-tank rocket or land mine and still function for at least a few minutes), at most Large Building level in terms of total destruction (comprised of up to 65,000 kilograms of "depleted uranium mesh-reinforced high-hardness steel-ceramic metal matrix composite armor" with a fragmentation energy of up to over 20 gigajoules)
Striking Strength: Wall Class+ (An M1 Abrams at full speed has a kinetic energy of 10–13 Megajoules)
Weaknesses: Its size and general mobility make it somewhat difficult to maneuver it in confined spaces; its size and weight make it challenging to transport; Despite being outdated, you can destroy or neutralize a tank like this one with these methods.
Weaponry:
- 105mm M68A1 rifled main gun: The main armament of the original model M1 was the M68A1 105mm rifled tank gun firing a variety of high explosive anti-tank, high explosive, white phosphorus and an anti-personnel (multiple flechette) round. This gun is a license-built version of the British Royal Ordnance L7 gun. However, as of 1985 this gun was considered obsolete, so on modern M1 Abrams it has been replaced with the superior 120mm M256 smoothbore main gun.
- 120mm M256 smoothbore main gun: The main armament of the M1A1 and M1A2 is the M256A1 120mm smoothbore gun, designed by Rheinmetall AG of Germany, manufactured under license in the U.S. by Watervliet Arsenal, New York. The M256A1 is a variant of the Rheinmetall 120mm L/44 gun carried on the German Leopard 2 on all variants up to the Leopard 2A5. Replaced the 105mm M68A1 rifled main gun in 1985.
- .50 caliber (12.7mm) M2HB machine gun in front of the commander's hatch: On the M1, M1A1, and M1A2 this gun is mounted on the Commander's Weapons Station. This allows the weapon to be aimed and fired from within the tank. With the Common Remote Operated Weapons System (CROWS) add-on kit, an M2A1 .50 caliber machine gun, M240, or M249 SAW can be mounted on a CROWS remote weapons platform (similar to the Protector M151 remote weapon station used on the Stryker family of vehicles). Current variants of the TUSK kit on the M1A2 have forgone this, instead adding transparent gun shields to the commander's weapon station. The upgrade variant called the M1A1 Abrams Integrated Management (AIM) equips the .50 caliber gun with a thermal sight for accurate night and other low-visibility shooting.
- 7.62mm M240 machine gun in front of the loader's hatch on a skate mount: Some of these were fitted with gun shields during the Iraq War, as well as night-vision scopes for low-visibility engagements.
- 7.62mm M240 machine gun in a coaxial mount to the right of the main gun: A coaxial machine gun is aimed and fired with the same computer fire control system used for the main gun.
- Optional .50 caliber (12.7mm) M2HB machine gun in a coaxial mount directly above the main gun: Can be equipped in a remote weapons platform as part of the TUSK upgrade kit.