M1 KVT

This page is about the gift American medium tank M1 KVT. For other versions, see M1 Abrams (Family).

M1 KVT

M1 KVT

USA

VII Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
10.3	10.3	10.3

Class:

PREMIUM

Medium tank

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

Show in game

STORE

Description

The M1 Krasnovian Variant Tank is a premium gift rank VII American medium tank with a battle rating of 10.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "La Royale". Different to the real one, the M1 KVT in War Thunder was modified from M1 Abrams instead of M1A1. There are several differences on their appearance. Compared to the prototype, the side skirts were removed, and a frontal rubber-fabric screen was added. The gun barrel was covered by a camo net. A fake IR searchlight was mounted on the gun mantlet, and many fake ERA blocks were installed on the turret and the upper glacis. Two external fuel barrels were welded to the rear to mimic Soviet MBTs. The M240 pintle-mounted light machine gun on the reloader's cupola was removed, and each side of the turret had a board with the inscription "ЛОДКА" (‘boat’ in Russian) fixed on the basket.

General info

Survivability and armour

Composite armour

Balanced protection against all types of ammunition

Smoke grenades

Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle

ESS

Creation of a smoke screen in the direction of movement of the vehicle

Armourfront / side / back

Hull133 / 60 / 32

Turret139 / 120 / 13

Crew4 people

Visibility82 %

The armour of the M1 KVT is quite similar to the M1 Abrams with a few differences. The side skirts were removed, and a frontal rubber-fabric screen was equipped which gave its lower glacis more effective armour of chemical protection. The turret and the frontal hull were installed with several fake ERA blocks which weren't modelled and thus contributed zero additional protection. The M1 KVT has decent frontal armour overall which gives it a great advantage in battles. The left turret cheek offers better protection compared to the right one, yet they both worked well at blocking most projectiles around its BR. The lower glacis offers a similar level of protection to the turret cheeks. On the other hand, the upper glacis is extremely angled which may bounce most shells. Those bounced shells are likely to be absorbed by the composite armour modules of the turret cheeks at last. However, the lower part of the main gun mantlet along with the turret ring is very fragile: most large-calibre shells can easily penetrate it. Most reserve ammo is stored at the rear of the turret and such penetration is very likely to detonate them. Due to the thin roof armour, the gunner optics shield is actually another weak spot that has a risk of overpressuring your entire crew by catching large-calibre HE shells such as 3OF26, 9M119, and DTB-125.

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, turret, turret ring)
• Rubber-fabric screens (frontal skirt)
• Structural steel (spaced armour, external fuel barrels)
• Composite screen (side skirts, mounted when the vismod modification is removed)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	38.1 mm (83°) Upper glacis 19 mm (83°) Middle glacis 31.75 mm (40°) Lower glacis	60 mm Upper part of frontal section 30 mm Lower part of frontal section 12.7 mm Upper part of rear section 27.6 mm Lower part of rear section	31.75 mm (0°, 37°) 5 mm Engine vents 12.7 mm (53°) Bottom	31.75 mm Rear
Turret	38.1 mm (27°, 30°) Left cheek 38.1 mm (25°, 31°) Right cheek 70, 38.1, 25.4, 5 mm (34°, 30-36°, 83°, 86°) Gun mantlet 25.4 mm (70-81°) Upper turret ring shield 50.8 mm (6-40°) Lower turret ring shield	19 mm (30°) Front 6.35 mm (30°) Rear	12.7 mm (1°, 43°, 48°)	38.1 mm (84°) Front 25.4 mm (86°) Rear 12.7 mm Gunner optics shield 25 mm Reloader's cupola 19 mm Blowout panels
Cupola	25.4 mm (51-60°)

Composite armour	Frontal effective protection	Sides
Hull	Lower glacis: 400-500 mm Kinetic / 800-1000 mm Chemical
Turret	Cheeks: 400-450 mm Kinetic / 600-850 mm Chemical Gun mantlet: 240 mm Kinetic / 450 mm Chemical	Front: 200 mm Kinetic / 300-350 mm Chemical Rear: 60 mm Kinetic / 400 mm Chemical

Notes:

• Suspension wheels and tracks are 20 mm thick, and the frontal skirt is 4 mm thick.
• The frontal part of the underbody is 25.4 mm thick, and the rear one is 12.7 mm thick.
• There are a few spaced armour on the turret sides that are 4 mm thick.
• Two 38 mm thick internal RHA screens separate the crew compartment from most ammo racks and the engine compartment. Another two 19 mm thick internal RHA screens encircle two exterior fuel tanks.
• By removing the vismod modification, the frontal skirt is removed, and the side skirts which contain 65 mm of the composite screen at the frontal section will be mounted.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB80 / 43 km/h

RB and SB72 / 39 km/h

Number of gears8 forward

4 back

Weight55.7 t

Engine power

AB2 898 hp

RB and SB1 519 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB52.0 hp/t

RB and SB27.3 hp/t

The M1 KVT has brilliant mobility around its BR. With the high power-to-weight ratio and decent off-road mobility, the M1 KVT can swiftly accelerate to the average speed of ~60 km/h on most terrains. It also has acceptable hull traverse speed and one of the best reverse speed in top-tier MBTs. Those features make the M1 KVT a very competent all-purpose tank whether to flank, brawl, or translocate yourself.

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	80	43	55.7	_,___	2,898	__.__	52.03
Realistic	72	39		_,___	1,519	__.__	27.27

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB3 381

RB3 259

SB3 789

Crew training10 000

Experts1 160 000

Aces2 100

Research Aces2 150 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 150 / 190 / 240 %

2 × 232 / 232 / 232 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Suspension Brake System Filters Transmission Engine	Improved Parts Improved FPE Crew Replenishment ESS Vismod	Horizontal Drive 105mm_usa_HESH_ammo_pack 105mm_NATO_APDS_FS_ammo_pack Adjustment of Fire 105mm_us_M416_Smoke_ammo_pack Elevation Mechanism NVD Artillery Support Laser rangefinder 105mm_usa_M774_APDS_FS_ammo_pack

Armaments

Laser rangefinder

Reduces the error and increases the maximum measurable distance of the rangefinder

Night vision device

Improves visibility by enhancing natural light or active illumination.

Thermal imager

Allows to see thermal radiation in the infrared range day and night

Main armament

105 mm M68A1 cannon

Two-plane stabilizer

Reduces the swing of the gun in two planes while moving

Ammunition55 rounds

First-order22 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

6.5 → 5.0 s

Vertical guidance-10° / 20°

Sharing the same main gun as the M1 Abrams, the M1 KVT has mediocre firepower when fighting with the enemy in hull-down positions. Most Soviet/Russian MBTs around its BR have sufficient turret protection to absorb its shells. The M1 KVT's engine also makes a loud noise which is very lethal when the enemy is experienced and has high vigilance. The elevated engine decks and two additional fuel barrels welded on it significantly limit its gun depression and movement backwards. Despite those defects, its main gun is very accurate with the thermal sights, competent two-plane stabilizer, and laser rangefinder. It has amazing -10° of gun depression and relatively fast reloading speed. You can also remove the annoying external fuel barrels by disabling the vismod modification.

105 mm M68A1					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	55	-10°/+20°	±180°	Two-plane	38.1	52.7	64.0	70.8	75.3	6.50	5.75	5.30	5.00
Realistic					23.8	28.0	34.0	37.6	40.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
M456A2	HEATFS	400	400	400	400	400	400
M393A2	HESH	127	127	127	127	127	127
M735	APFSDS	292	291	284	275	266	257
M774	APFSDS	372	370	365	358	351	343

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
M456A2	HEATFS	1,174	10.5	0.05	0.1	1.27	65°	72°	77°
M393A2	HESH	732	11.2	0.1	4	4.31	73°	77°	80°
M735	APFSDS	1,501	3.72	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°
M774	APFSDS	1,509	3.4	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
M416	732	11.6	16	5	25	50

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the M1 KVT

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
55	48 (+7)	45 (+10)	23 (+32)	1 (+54)	No

Notes:

• Blowout rack only: 45 (+10) shells.

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB machine gun

Ammunition1 000 rounds

Belt capacity200 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate575 shots/min

Vertical guidance-9° / 65°

7.62 mm M240 machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition10 000 rounds

Belt capacity200 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate941 shots/min

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Commander's cupola	1,000 (200)	577	-9°/+65°	±180°

The 12.7 mm M2HB machine gun pintle-mounted on the commander's cupola is good at clearing obstacles and fighting both light vehicles and aerial targets.

7.62 mm M240
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	10,000 (200)	941	N/A	N/A

The machine gun fixed coaxially at the right side of the main gun can only cause effective damage on light vehicles with an open compartment. It still can be used to ping targets in realistic battles.

Usage in battles

The frontal armour of M1 KVT is well-balanced and most APFSDSs with less penetration of 400 mm won't cause trouble on you without aiming carefully. However, every MBT above 10.3 of battle rating has proper APDSFS to penetrate the M1 KVT at any spot. On the other hand, your best shell the M774 is underperforming even in the battles with the same BR. Hence, it's recommended that you should make use of its brilliant mobility, quick reloading, and good gun handling like a light tank. Keep flanking the enemy and translocating yourself. Noted that its engine is quite noisy, so remember to turn off your engine when you are ambushing the enemy.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• ~400 mm of frontal kinetic protection overall and blowout panels at the rear of the turret protecting preloaded and primary ammo racks
• Wonderful acceleration, top speed, reverse speed, and off-road mobility
• Very accurate gun, gunner thermal sight, competent two-plane stabilizer, and brilliant depression and elevation
• Relatively fast reloading speed, 5-second reload with full-upgraded aced crew

Cons:

• The firepower of the main gun is insufficient around its BR
• Downhill terrain significantly decreases the effectiveness of its frontal armour
• Elevated engine decks and two notorious fuel barrels welded on it extremely limit its gun depression and movement backwards
• Almost no frontal protection against an APFSDS that has more penetration than 450 mm

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the M1 KVT from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] Pre-order: M1 KVT