M1 Abrams

M1 Abrams

MBT-70

M1A1

M1 Abrams

MBT-70

M1A1

USA

VII Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
10.3	10.3	10.3

Class:

Medium tank

Research:260 000

Purchase:710 000

Show in game

This page is about the medium tank M1 Abrams. For other uses, see M1 (Disambiguation)

Description

The Tank, Combat, Full Tracked, 105-mm Gun M1, or just M1 Abrams, is a Rank VII American medium tank with a battle rating of 10.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.77 "Advancing Storm".

In game, the M1 Abrams is a fairly quick main battle tank. It accelerates quickly, and will hold a speed of 32 miles an hour over rough terrain. On city maps or paved surfaces, an M1 Abrams can easily reach its top speed of 45 miles an hour, thanks to its monstrously powerful turbine engine. With three speeds in reverse, it is also capable of an impressive 25 miles an hour to back away from troublesome situations.

As powerful as the motor may be, the M1 Abrams has a slow to respond, and relatively slow traverse rate for its neutral steering. In some circumstances, it may be more beneficial to back away before turning around, as waiting for the neutral steering to turn 180 degrees is lengthy.

The M1 Abrams also suffers from a raised engine deck- As such, its capacity for “over the shoulder” shots and shots directly over the rear is very limited, because the engine deck prevents lowering the cannon.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Composite armour
• Rolled homogeneous armour

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	19-38.1 mm (82-83°) Front glacis 31.75* mm (40°), 25.4-38.1 mm (82°) Lower glacis	27.6-30 + 6.35-70.0 mm 25.4 mm Front tip 28.4 mm Rear tip	31.75 mm (5-37°) 12.7 mm (53-54°)	31.75 mm 5 mm Engine grille
Turret	31.75* mm (21-30°) 31.75* mm (30-36°) Gun mantlet 25.4 mm (74-82°) Turret underside	12.7-31.75* mm (30°)	12.7 mm (43-48°) 25.4 mm (80-83°) Turret underside	38.1 mm Front 25.4 mm Rear 12.7 mm Panels
Armour	Sides	Roof
Cupola	25.4 mm	25.4 mm
Composite armour*	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	Lower glacis: 380 mm Kinetic 600 mm Chemical	N/A	N/A	N/A
Turret	Turret front: Angles +0-0°: 400 mm Kinetic 650 mm Chemical Angles +25-25°: 380 mm Kinetic 600 mm Chemical Gun mantlet: 240 mm Kinetic 450 mm Chemical	31.75 mm sections: 160 mm Kinetic 400 mm Chemical 12.7 mm sections: 80 mm Kinetic 400 mm Chemical	N/A	N/A

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 20 mm thick while tracks are 30 mm thick.
• Turret ring is 50.8 + 50.8 mm thick.
• 19 mm RHA plates are positioned behind the front fuel tanks.
• 19 mm RHA plates surround the turret rear ammo racks.

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armour weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
54.4	N/A	80 (AB)
		72 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	2,058	2,533
Realistic/Simulator	1,305	1,519
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	37.83	46.56
Realistic/Simulator	23.99	27.92

Armaments

Main armament

105 mm M68A1
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
55			-10°/+20°	±180°	Two-plane
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	38.08	52.71	64.00	__.__	75.29
Realistic	23.8	28.0	34.0	37.6	40.0
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
6.50	5.75	5.3	5.00

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
M735	APFSDS	360	355	345	330	321	300
M393	HESH	127	127	127	127	127	127
M456	HEATFS	400	400	400	400	400	400
M774	APFSDS	357	355	347	338	328	319

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
M735	APFSDS	1,501	3.7	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	76°	77°	78°
M393	HESH	730	14.85	0.4	0.1	4,310	+0°	73°	77°	80°
M456	HEATFS	1,173	10.5	0.0	0.1	1,270	+0°	65°	72°	75°
M774	APFSDS	1,509	3.4	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	78°	80°	81°

Smoke characteristic
Ammunition	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Screen radius in m	Screen time in s	Screen hold time in s:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):
M416	730	11.4	20	5	25	50

Ammo racks

Last updated: 1.77.2.68

Ammo racks of the M1 Abrams.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
55	33 (+22)	25 (+30)	3 (+52)	0 (+55)	No

Blowout rack only: 45 (+10)

First ammo rack will replenish when not reloading

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Pintle mount (Commander)
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
1,000 (200)				577	-9°/+65°	±180°

7.62 mm M240
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
10,000 (200)				750	N/A	N/A
Pintle mount (Loader)
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
1,400 (200)				750	-9°/+65°	-77°/+135°

Usage in battles

If you must advance, advance facing forward after checking for enemies. As long as your armour faces the enemy, you have relative safety. When defending, go hull-down. Make sure there are places to retreat to if needed, and take advantage of the reverse speed and smoke grenades to run from ATGMs. Use the rangefinder when you can, but if the target is moving, you will probably miss. Try to guess based on experience if it comes to it.

The Abrams main strength its its extreme mobility, even by MBT standards. However, the price comes in protection; the Abrams is quite vulnerable, and struggles to deflect incoming shells with anything except its turret cheeks. Additionally, The M1 has somewhat sub-par penetration even with its best shell. Because of these factors, it is recommended that you do not use this tank as a front line brawler. Instead, use your speed to quickly appear from angles your opponents are not expecting you to come from. This can take the form of flanking in order to get side shots, Rushing at the start of the game to take an advantageous position, or getting to choke points before the enemy does, in order to be ready to knock them out. Essentially, This tank should be played much like the M18 Hellcat at Rank III, though unlike the Hellcat it is not impossible for your armour to help you occasionally.

A useful thing to note when playing the Abrams, and most MBTs in general, is that if your opponent shows any side armour, you can penetrate them almost every time. if someone is coming towards you even at a slight angle, aim for the the front drive wheel on their tracks. Your shell will be able to penetrate into the tank and likely one shot kill them. It is recommended to use APFSDS as the main loadout, as the HEAT-FS ammunition starts coming against tanks with armour types specifically designed to resist it.

In terms of threats:

• Most tanks at its Battle rating, due to the relatively poor armour.
• Type 90 and AMX-40, as their incredibly powerful shots can penetrate you anywhere, at any angle, at almost any distance.
• The T-80B, because of its strong armament and very strong armour. it can be penetrated through its lower front plate, the drivers viewport below the gun, and just to the side or below the gun. If a T80B shows any of its side, you can penetrate it there.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Very good mobility for its weight.
• Good chemical protection from composite armour.
• Turret also has composite armour on the side.
• Turns very fast, even in neutral steering.
• Internal armour plating helps with increasing the crew survivability.
• Very accurate main gun with very good gun stabilizers and good rate of fire.
• Great forward and reverse speed.
• Very good acceleration.
• Blowout panels protect the crew from ammo-racks detonation.
• Although composite armour is absent on the upper glacis plate, the extreme sloping makes shells bounce everytime.

Cons:

• Large target
• The three shells under the gun do NOT have blowout panels, if detonated you will die.
• No composite armour on the upper glacis plate and in the rear of the turret, so remaining on level terrain is priority.
• Low APFSDS penetration compared to Challenger 1 and T-64B.
• Inadequate stock ammo loadout; Both the M735 and M456 shells are no longer effective at top rank.
• Weakest composite armour compared to Challenger and T-64B.
• Losing some crew members will prevent you from firing some of your smoke grenades.
• The armour's chemical resistance against HEAT and such is not relevant against contemporary enemies usually equipped with APFSDS.

History

Once the unsuccessful joint German-American MBT-70 project had been shut down in 1971, the Congress redistributed funds to the further development of the XM815 project, later known as the XM1 Abrams. The development of the XM1 Abrams was a competition between two designs of the Chrysler and General Motors companies, respectively. Early July 1973 marks an important date for the project after representatives of both companies travelled to Great Britain to witness the development of the new composite armor, named Burlington. Impressed by what they saw, both companies decided to reevaluate and optimize their designs’ armor layout to increase its effectiveness, with General Motors changing the front shape of the turret to a sloped surface, whilst Chrysler retained its vertical design. By 1976, the XM1 prototypes were being readied for testing, with the finishing touch being the installation of the M68 cannon.. Testing of both prototypes took place in the presence of the new German Leopard 2 tank, which was shipped to the U.S. for comparison purposes. Once testing was concluded and the results evaluated, the turbine-powered Chrysler design was proclaimed the winner of the competition and thus the Chrysler design would soon enter production as the M1 Abrams.

The M1 entered production in 1979, with the first production version M1 leaving the factory floor in February 1980. Production of the M1 continued until 1985, with an improved M1IP version being produced briefly between 1984 -1986. By 1985, several thousands of M1s had already been manufactured and put into service. In August 1985 however, the M1 was outfitted with the licence-built version of the Rheinmetall 120mm gun, as found on the Leopard 2 tank and subsequently entered production as the M1A1 Abrams. Following this modification, earlier M1 units would progressively be upgraded to M1A1 standard, but this is a story for another devblog in the future. The M1 Abrams saw the most active service with US forces primarily in operations in the Middle East, but known operators also include Australia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and others. Nonetheless, the American M1 Abrams is one of the most successful and widely fielded modern-day MBTs in use anywhere in the world, and rightfully deserves its iconic status alongside other American legends such as the M4 Sherman and M60 Patton, to name but a few. The fact that the M1 Abrams is still being manufactured and used today, almost four decades after its introduction, serves as a testimony to that statement.

- From Devblog

Media

Skins and camouflages for the M1 Abrams 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] M1 Abrams: The Desert Warrior