"What better way to test new weapons?"
Point taken.
But all the intel we had going in said that the Koronet's weren't ANYWHERE in the reigon. Until then we were working under the assumption that the Iraqi's didn't have anything that could knock out an M-1.
The first we knew of them being in country was when a tank from 3/7 Cav. got nailed with one.
IIRC, both Abrams got hit in the ass. The Abrams is to armor today what the PzKW VI Ausf. A Tiger I was to armor in 1943: the baddest damn thing on the battlefield. However, like the Tiger, you could disable an Abrams by a good hit in the ass. Unlike the Germans, we were able to come up with workarounds to the threat of the "Kornet" within days of the first tank being hit.
Be Seeing You,
Chris