Speaking at the company Lima Army Tank Plant in Ohio, Donald Trump said that $ 6 billion will be invested in the modernization program of the main battle tank M1 Abrams. The speech of the American leader led the White House website.
“Over the next three years, we will invest more than $ 6 billion in upgrading and modifying M1 Abrams tanks. This is almost two times more than the previous administration has invested in eight years, ”Trump said.
The head of the White House called the M1 Abrams "a terrific tank" and promised that the plant would receive large orders for the modernization and production of armored vehicles. According to him, “after so many years of budget cuts and layoffs,” the United States was able to increase the number of jobs in the tank industry. By the end of 2020, this number will rise to 1,000. "Incredible work" in this direction, as Trump noted, was done by Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan.
Outdated Platform
Lima Army Tank Plant is the only US tank manufacturer. The plant is operated by General Dynamics Corporation, but is owned by the Pentagon. During the presidency of Barack Obama, the company was in a severe crisis due to the lack of large contracts. Export orders were small, and the serial production of Abrams for the Ground Forces and the US Marine Corps ceased more than ten years ago.
Trump promises that the situation in American tank building will change drastically. According to him, every day from the factory shop will go on one tank.
Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of Arsenal of the Fatherland, noted in an interview with RT that the United States would most likely not restart Abrams serial production.
“Trump, as usual, describes an overly optimistic picture. Lima Army Tank Plant together with other plants will carry out overhaul and repair of tanks or vehicles in storage, installing new equipment, components and assemblies on them, ”the expert explained.
Moreover, Murakhovsky believes that the Trump administration will make a big mistake in the event of the resumption of serial production of Abrams family tanks. According to him, the United States is much wiser to invest resources in the development of a new generation tank.
“Today, Abrams Park has about 7.9 thousand units. Two thirds is in service with ground forces and marines, the rest are in storage. There is no point in increasing the number of cars. Moreover, Abrams is an outdated platform, which has disadvantages inherent in previous generation tanks, ”the expert noted.
- US President Donald Trump speaks at Lima Army Tank Plant
- Reuters
- © Carlos Barria
For his part, Candidate of Military Sciences Sergey Suvorov said in a conversation with RT that at present the United States is in a rather difficult situation due to the lack of a conceptual image of a new generation tank. The modernization of the M1 Abrams is forced, the expert emphasizes.
“The renewal of the fleet of these tanks is designed to support the American industry suffering from a shortage of orders. I also do not exclude that the campaign to inject money into Abrams announced by Trump is a response to the T-72, T-80 and T-90 modernization program, which is being implemented in our country, ”Suvorov said.
Recall the mass production of the M1 Abrams was deployed in 1981. In terms of size and weight, the American tank is considerably superior to domestic cars. The weight of the M1 Abrams is over 54 tons (against 44–46 tons for the T-72 and T-90), the length (with a cannon) is 9.8 m, and the width is 3.65 m. The main armament of the machine is a 120-mm smooth-bore gun M256 (on the first versions a 105-mm rifled gun M68A1 was installed).
Did not show outstanding fighting qualities
Baptism of the M1 Abrams took place in 1991 during the operation "Desert Storm". In this conflict, the United States lost about 20 such machines. They were destroyed by "friendly fire" and T-72 tanks of the Iraqi army. Some cars were hit by hand grenade launchers or hit by land mines.
The United States used the M1 Abrams in the 2003 Iraq war and operations in Afghanistan 2001–2014. Various modifications of the tank are in service with Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Australia. According to Murakhovsky, M1 Abrams did not show outstanding fighting qualities in the Middle East and could not win great popularity abroad.
- M1 Abrams Tanks
- © US Army
"I can not say that this is a bad tank. I can explain the lack of major achievements on the battlefield primarily by the lack of professionalism of the crews and command errors in the tactics of using the M1 Abrams. This machine is not at war without the support of other forces and means, ”Murakhovsky noted.
According to him, M1 Abrams is inferior to Russian cars in key qualities - reliability and unpretentiousness.
"Hardly carries dust"
Recently, M1 Abrams almost continuously improved. Modernization mainly affected its electronic filling. In July 2018, General Dynamics announced the conclusion of a contract with the Pentagon to upgrade 100 units of M1A1 Abrams to the level of M1A2 (M1A2C). In January 2019, the corporation received an order to upgrade another 174 tanks.
On the M1A2 Abrams installed new computer equipment, software, radio, fire protection system, laser devices, video cameras and various systems that increase the survivability of the tank on the battlefield.
Also, the upgraded vehicle is equipped with the Israeli Rafael Trophy active defense complex, designed to intercept grenades, missiles and sub-caliber ammunition. The system includes a radar station Elta EL / M-2133 with four fixed antennas and two launchers that fire special cores to destroy enemy shells.
In November 2018, the American analyst Charlie Gao, on the pages of the military-analytical publication The National Interest, said that the most important advantage of the Abrams family of vehicles in comparison with the Russian models is the Blue Force Tracker navigation system. It allows commanders to respond faster to changing conditions and more effectively coordinate actions on the battlefield.
According to experts, electronics is the strength of Western tanks, including American ones.
“However, what will happen if the machine stuffed with the most technologically advanced equipment is punched out of an RPG-7?” As far as I know, the latest versions of Western tanks can not be controlled after the loss of power. However, in such situations, the crew should be able to fire or leave the battlefield if the undercarriage is in order, ”Suvorov said.
- M1 Abrams firing at US landfill
- © US Army
In addition, the expert noted that the modernization of the M1 Abrams does not affect the gas turbine powerplant AGT-1500, which is very demanding on the quality of air and “hardly carries dust”. The air cleaning system on the tank is larger than the engine. In this regard, the engine compartment takes up more than a third of the length of the aft hull.
“The Americans even thought about abandoning their own power plant, replacing it with the engine from the German Leopard or the British diesel Rolls Royce CV12, which is installed on the Challenger tank. During the tests Abrams his power plant worked no more than 210 km, but in a hurry, American engineers managed to solve a number of problems with reliability, ”Suvorov said.
According to the expert, another vulnerable unit M1 Abrams is its auxiliary power unit (APU), which tanks have been equipped with since the 1990s. This unit performs the function of an additional power source.
Most often, the APU is placed in an armored box in the turret or stern of the tank. According to Suvorov, the unit is poorly protected even in the updated version of the M1 Abrams. The installation is easy to disable with the help of the queue of a large-caliber machine gun. According to the expert, the defeat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine may lead to the detonation of the tank.
“The engine is the main headache of the American military. That they should be engaged. I also very much doubt that, despite the thick armor, the Abrams tower and sides will withstand the impact of the projectile of the domestic portable complex “Kornet”. Therefore, in my opinion, the modernization of the tank will not lead to an increase in its fighting qualities and the correction of key shortcomings, ”concluded Suvorov.