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M1A2 Abrams fires a 120mm Sabot
🕑 Added 2023-08-19 11:09:56 +0000 UTCMy first love was US Armor. When I went the recruiter in 1989, my first stop was at the Army office, ASVAB in hand. The Army recruiter could not 'guarantee' Armor training, that's not how the US Army works.
The US Navy, in 1989, could guarantee I would begin Submarine School as long as I passed the Psychology exam (they only take crazy people on subs).
And that's how I ended up on subs instead of in the Army.
Comments
Scott Cunningham
Yep. Only load the hull ammo cells in wartime.
Scott Cunningham
I’m 6’2” and I fit ok. Don’t ask me about how well I fit in a Bradley turret though. That’s another story…..
Don Tidrow
The last six are a PITA to get to, though, as they're in a compartment deep in the hull... and if you're down to those, it's probably time to pop smoke, call in some arty, and fall back to a resupply point.
Kyle Alley
So you traded a land steel enclosure for a sub surface one? All kidding aside bro, the people at meps tried to make me a tank crewman and I’m 6’2. Don’t think I would have fit too well in an Abrams.
Scott Cunningham
But tanks rarely operate independently. Tanks operate as part of a combined arms team. That means there will be tanks, scouts, infantry, artillery and air support, air defense, engineers, and plenty of logistics. And then you need a fairly decent C2 apparatus to run it all on the battlefield.
Scott Cunningham
That 120mm cannon is almost as big and powerful as the 5” gun on the Navy destroyers, but it’s more of an anti tank weapon, rather than a piece of artillery. The ammo is one piece (thus pretty quick to reload) rather than two piece like the navy uses. A good crew can get off a round every 6-8 sec, and it’s accurate out to about 4500m vs a tank-sized target. Each tank carries 40 rounds (some have 42), and they tend to operate in platoons (4x) or companies (14x) when they operate tactically. That’s a lot of tanks, and hell of a lot of firepower.
Scott Cunningham
Ooooh! Now you are in my wheelhouse! Spent 30 years in the army as a Tanker and Cav guy. It was great!!! Spent a bit of time with M1A2s, but most of my time was on the M1A1s. The A2 is basically the same tank except for an extra TCs gunsight, and a far better digital C2 system.
