I worked on the Abrams for about 10 years. It is an awesome weapon. However, the Army doesn’t want it. For years they told General Dynamics this. GD’s response was, sure you do. When Oshkosh, General Defense and one other spent a billion dollars each of their own money and presented tanks based on six ton truck chassis, the Army instantly ordered all the three companies could make. They took the money from the Abrams and Strykers which were not useful in Afghanistan. The tank’s big flaw is a logistics train of mile after mile of tanker trucks that are vulnerable to RPV’s and swarm tactics. No amount of air superiority can defend against those and those tactics are clearly on the horizon.
The tanks can’t be easily moved. Had Saddam Hussein had a single submarine he could have potentially intercepted and destroyed the transport ship causing the loss of up to 500 at a time.
Yes. They are absolutely awesome, but their time is about over.
We shouldn’t be spending money just to spend money.
I wonder if anyone has considered mounting the 30mm from an A10 on a light armoured chassis?I think as a support weapon it would be deadly.
Oh sure. Until your own folks are facing the other guy's tanks and then they come in real handy.
I take it that you never served?
Maybe from the ARMY’s perspective, but as a Marine tank Company Commander, I love the Abrams. As an integral part of the MAGTF, their presence is essential to our scheme of maneuver. My caveat is that they should be assigned with LAV’s as scout vehicles. Wrote a paper in support of this prior to the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns that would have helped in Tikrit, Fallujah, Baghdad, etc. Taking the lessons the Russians learned in their Chechen campaigns and applying it to Marine Corps tactics.
I am thinking of a generational shift in tank design, as radical as the concept of the Predator drone being roughly modeled on the A-10 Warthog. Yes, drone tanks, something that has been wanted since before WWII.
When you don’t need to design for people, all the rules change. The could have temporary glide wings and be deployed from cargo aircraft, so land deep in enemy territory. Much easier to optimize for heat, cold and wet situations. Both guided and autonomous operations.
For the most part, tanks are at an evolutionary dead end from what joe-nobody me can see.
Small improvements will come but until a tank can levitate or a reliable beam/pulse main weapon comes along or maybe some revolutionary development in armor/powerplant design comes around, I don’t see much growth.
I think Abrams is a heck of piece of technology. What times I drove one playing NG was fun when up to speed.
sad to agree with you 100%, very well said.