It was designed to defeat Soviet tanks in land battles in Europe, while also being protected against the new anti-tank missiles that saw devastating use in the 1973 Arab Israeli war. In the US since 1980, the Abrams has been the main battle tank. Plus, compartmentalized storage for the engine, fuel, and ammunition, helped prevent a fire from one area contaminating and detonating another. These features included a lower silhouette, and a smokeless and quieter engine than preceding tank designs. When the first Abrams prototypes were developed in 1979, PopSci covered the XM-1 Abrams as especially survivable in the face of new anti-tank weapons. The massive cannon that defines all modern tanks means they have the firepower on hand to destroy any enemy artillery or vehicles encountered once a defensive line has been breached. Once at the enemy line of battle, tanks send defenders into retreat and panic. Armor that protects against regular infantry rifles, as well as advanced defenses and plating against many kinds of existing anti-tank weapons, helps ensure that tanks will reach enemy lines. What tanks do offer, especially to a military that can effectively support them with soldiers on foot, artillery, and an air force flying overhead, is the ability to advance under fire, and then drive defenders from entrenched positions. Compared to anti-tank missiles, tanks are expensive, vulnerable, require multiple people to operate, and cannot go everywhere that soldiers on foot can. The success of these weapons, especially in the early days of Russia’s invasion, have caused some military commentators in the United States to question if tanks still have a role on the battlefield. “ Steel hedgehogs,” which date back to the 1930s as a jack-shaped obstacle that can pin in the air any tank that drives over it, have seen a resurgence, deployed by Ukraine as a defense against the massive tank-powered advances of Russia’s invasion.Ī plethora of anti-tank weapons, like Javelin anti-tank missiles or the Carl Gustaf recoilless rifles, give soldiers fighting on foot a chance to ambush and destroy tanks. Tank evolution was rapid in the years between the World Wars, and especially during World War II, while anti-tank techniques were developed and honed into a working practice. Tanks debuted during World War I at the Battle of the Somme in September 1916, and have been a part of military planning in the nearly 106 years ever since. With a fuller roll-out of the Abrams expected in the fall, the teaser instead makes the case for why the Pentagon should continue to invest in heavy armored vehicles, and why it should do so now. These include a teased Next Generation Stryker armored transport, and several varieties of support robots. More will be revealed on October 10, at the Association of the United States Army conference in Washington, DC, where General Dynamics Land Systems will unveil the latest Abrams alongside a host of other machines. They’ll Never Hear Us Coming.” The videos, each under a minute, feature the camera panning over a glossy rendering of a tank, highlighting features such as headlights, embedded cameras, treads, and the turret’s main gun. A Lethal Combination,” and “Silent Strike. The Next Generation of Dominance,” “Superpower. General Dynamics is teasing this Next Generation Abrams through four videos, each with a title that reads like promotional material for a bonus character in a video game. Part of a roll-out of multiple machines under the banner of “Next Generation Battlefield Technology,” the Abrams NextGen hints at the ways in which a newer version of the venerable family of armored vehicles aims to be an improvement over its predecessors, and an asset to future battlefield commanders. Last week, American defense giant General Dynamics teased the latest iteration of its long-running tank design online.
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