Posted on 03/07/2009 8:39:54 PM PST by Flavius
AGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq will receive 140 Abrams battle tanks from the United States to bolster its new forces, the US army said on Saturday.
The Iraqi army had taken "a major step in the force modernisation of its armoured units with the recent procurement of 140 M1A1SA Abrams main battle tanks," a statement said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Who is Sec State now?
I'm still convinced the the last troops out of Iraq will have to slug their way out. This is going to make it way harder.
T-90s would probably be cheaper.
Marine friends tell me the M1A1SA is produced for export only and isn’t quite the same as the M1A2 the US employs for reasons that don’t need explaining.
In the 1980s, I met a Lebanese man who sold weapons to just about everybody, often with the unofficial blessing of Western governments. They found it useful to know who was getting what, especially if it was high-end equipment (by Third World standards) like British Chieftain tanks and HK rifles. There were rumors he was providing lists of equipment and parts sold to friendly and unfriendly nations (as well as readiness status) to NATO and Israel.
This is an altogether new kind of stupid.
Better that than the latest Merkavas.
Here’s a bit of technical data about the M1A1-SA
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/1078m-to-reset-and-produce-the-first-155-m1a1sa-tanks-02535/
I agree. A fighting retreat is a terribly hard action to execute successfully.
I figured with that designation the machines didn’t have the best armor or target systems.
Some things still remain a little sane.
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