M1 Abrams

I am the Greatest!

The IPM1 version

"Its never very crowded at the front." ~ Gen. Creighton Abrams

The M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank is the premier armored fighting vehicle in the United States Arsenal. The first totally new tank developed by the United States after the end of the Second World War, the Abrams is a force to be reckoned with by those who wish to tear down democracy and oppress those who are weaker then themselves. It is armed with an stabilized M68 105mm rifled cannon, a .50cal machinegun for the Commander, and a pair of .30cal machineguns, one for the loader and one mounted coaxially with the main gun. The M1 Abrams is protected by top secret Chobham Armour plating, said to be as difficult to penetrate as 2 meters of solid steel.

While the Abrams primary mission is to destroy enemy armor, the protection of the crew has not been neglected in the design. The ready-use ammunition is mounted in the rear of the turret in a specially designed compartment. If the ammunition is hit, purpose built blowout panels direct the explosion up and away from the crew compartment, ensuring the survival of the crew even if to ammo begins to cook off.

If you don't have a raging freedom boner right now, something is seriously wrong.

In Team Yankee

The Stat Card

While the overwhelming hype of the Abrams is a bit blown out of proportion, it is nonetheless a very solid tank. The Front Armor is tied with the Leopard 2 and the Chieftain Stillbrew for the strongest in the game at 18, and the side armor is an impressive 8. The Chobham Armor package also bumps the side armor up to 16 against HEAT weapons, ie. most guided missiles.

The Abrams M68 105mm Gun is a pretty decent damage dealer, with a ROF of 2 both while halted and moving meaning that no mater what, you will always have 2 dice to roll. The M68 is improved by an Advanced Stabilizer, so you can hall ass both toward and away from the foe at full Tactical Speed and suffer no penalties. As well as the M68 the Abrams carries a trio of machine guns, two of which, the .50 and one of the.30s, are AA.

You can take the Abrams in Platoons of up to four Tanks, with a minimum of two tanks in a platoon. Each Abrams Costs 8 points (twice as much as a T-72).

With the Release of the Stripes Book, you may now upgrade any and all of the Abrams in a platoon the IPM1 Abrams (the IP standing for "Improved Performance") for a Point Each. The IPM1 is boasts an extra point of armor all round, with a frontal armor of 19 and a side armor of 10. Aside from that, it's the same as the original version.

IRL

An M1A1 in Iraq

In the 1960s the US Army began to search for a replacement for the M60 Patton. In this effort, they joined forces with West Germany in development of the XMBT-70, an innovative design which featured the entire crew situated in the Turret and sporting a 152mm Gun/missile launcher similar to that of the M551 Sheridan. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you ask) the XMBT-70 Program was canceled before the vehicle was ready for production. It was not a total failure however, as the West Germans took the lessons learned from the project and created the Leopard 2 and the Americans took their data and created the M1 Abrams.

The M1 Abrams and its subsequent variants has been in service with the US Military for close to 40 Years. First introduced in 1980, the Abrams has gone through several updates to keep pace with the requirements of the modern battlefield. The first major update was in 1985 the M1A1 which swapped out the 105mm gun for a 120mm Smoothbore (which by the way is included in the Abrams kit). The latest iteration is the M1A2, which has been upgraded with more advanced targeting equipment and improved defense systems from lessons learned fighting insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. The M1A3 is currently in development and slated to begin deployment in 2020. The most note worthy addition will be the long overdue Active Protection system. Which they had to buy from Israel because the American Military Industrial Complex actually sucks at making weapons and upgrades for them.