Encyclopedia of the Persian Gulf War

Page 173

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M-1 and M-1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks–Multiple Launch Rocket System

M-1 and M-1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks

The M-1 and its updated cousin, the M-1A1, are the main battle tanks of the U.S. military. At 32 feet (with guns, which includes the 105 mm for the M-1 and the 120 mm for the M-1A1), the tanks are 9 feet 6 inches (2.9 m) tall and weigh 63 tons. The power source for both models is a 1,500-horsepower gas turbine engine that, while sturdy, is very fuel-inefficient and goes only about 40 mph (64 km/h). There was controversy about its possible duty in the Gulf because historically the engine quit when clogged with sand or dust. The Saudi Arabian desert seemed to present the machine with an obvious handicap compared to the Soviet-made Iraqi opposition. Sophisticated armor protection for the crew and an internal fire-extinguishing system round out the superior qualities of both these machines, as well as their updated variants, including the M-1A2. The M-1 and M-1A1 tanks are armed with armor-piercing sabots (pronounced say-bows), metal darts that pierce the skin of an opposing tank and explode inside, and HEAT (high-explosive antitank) missiles, which deliver a stream of molten metal into an enemy tank’s interior.

Charles Babcock, in the Washington Post, said of the tank, “When the first two U.S. divisions were rushed to Saudi Arabia last August from Georgia and Texas, they were equipped with about 650 original model M-1 tanks, which were lighter and carried a small 105 mm main gun. In October, the Army announced it was replacing those tanks with newer M-1A1s. ‘We wanted to give our men the best,’ explained Major Pete Keating, an Army spokesman. ‘We wanted an