IPM1

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Rank VI USA | Premium | Golden Eagles
A-10A Thunderbolt (Early)
us_m1_ip_abrams.png
IPM1
AB RB SB
11.0 11.0 11.0
Class:
Research:175 000 Specs-Card-Exp.png
Purchase:950 000 Specs-Card-Lion.png
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This page is about the American medium tank IPM1. For other vehicles of the family, see M1 Abrams (Family). For other uses of the designation, see M1 (Disambiguation).

Description

GarageImage IPM1.jpg


The Tank, Combat, Full Tracked, 105-mm Gun IPM1, or just IPM1, is a rank VII American medium tank with a battle rating of 11.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.81 "The Valkyries".

The IPM1 (Improved Performance M1) is a minor upgrade upon the protection of the M1 Abrams. This is primarily confined to improved composite protection in the turret cheeks, resulting in a slightly lengthened turret. The IPM1 maintains the same engine, weapon and other internals of the M1.

General info

Survivability and armour

The IPM1 maintains the protective measures and survivability of the original M1 Abrams, with the exception of a minor increase in the levels of composite protection. The result is a notable improvement in chemical protection and a minor improvement in kinetic protection. As with its predecessor, the turret cheeks and UFP are quite effective at deflecting ATGMs and HEAT rounds with only a few selections (such as the ADATS' 900mm penetration missiles). Despite the improved protection, the IPM1 is still vulnerable to turret ring, gun mantlet and lower front plate shots, and particularly powerful kinetic rounds through the turret cheeks.

The Abrams' survivability comes not from armour, but rather from the spread-out crew members and critical components, and blowout panel protecting the crew from ammunition detonation. Often this results in enemies needing to make the choice of either disabling the vehicle's mobility or its offensive ability with their initial round; allowing the Abrams either to escape further damage or fire back.

Rounds that penetrate the rear panel between the turret crew compartment and blowout compartment will negate the blowout protection, causing any potential ammunition detonation to knock the vehicle's crew out as well.

Mobility

The IPM1 retains the same engine as the original M1 Abrams with a minor increase (+0.9t) in weight due to the armour improvements. As such, the IPM1 suffers from a minimal reduction in top speed but will still comfortably reach 70km/h on-road. Despite the hugely powerful engine, the vehicle's maneuverability suffers prior to the Tracks upgrade being researched; once Tracks have been purchased the IPM1 will perform significantly better in close quarters or in off-road applications.

As with the original Abrams, the IPM1 largely relies on its powerful engine to get it to the battlefield earlier than other vehicles and into advantageous positions.

Armaments

Main armament

Main article: M68A1 (105 mm)

Like its predecessor, the IPM1 is equipped with a reliable 105 mm M68A1 cannon, and also has access to the same ammunition. The 105mm cannon is somewhat sub-par relative to the weaponry other top rank vehicles are equipped with, but an experienced tanker can make use of the decent round ballistics and incredibly good reload speeds to quickly despatch targets. It's important to know what the cannon is capable of and where weak spots are on enemy vehicles, particularly when facing more modern vehicles such as the Leopard 2A5 and T-80U.

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 2,990 +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 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) (+52) (+55) No

Blowout rack only: 45 (+10)

First ammo rack will replenish when not reloading

Machine guns

The IPM1 is equipped with no less than three machine guns - while most often these are only valuable for clearing obstacles or tagging enemy vehicles, on occasion they might prove valuable dealing with close air support or nearby helicopters, as well as some light vehicles.

Additionally, due to the barrage of rounds produced when all three machine guns are fired simultaneously, they can sometimes be used to obstruct an enemy vehicle's gun sight simply by shooting their main gun (AB/RB) or their optics (SB)

12.7 mm M2HB
Pintle mount (Commander)
Capacity (Belt capacity) Fire rate
(shots/minute)
Vertical
guidance
Horizontal
guidance
1,000 (200) 577 -9°/+65° -160°/+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

The IPM1 should primarily rely on its speed and reload time to quickly despatch enemies and move back into cover. Where possible, make flanking manoeuvers or use the Abrams' mobility to get into forward positions with the intention to catch unsuspecting targets off. Be aware, however, that the Abrams is only marginally faster than vehicles like the Leopard 2K and T-80U.

When forced into open or ranged engagements, use cover to protect your hull; while the turret may provide insufficient protection keeping the hull safe will often allow you to move back into cover if hit or damaged and repair or relocate, rather than losing your mobility and ability to escape.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Composite armour in turret cheeks and UFP are capable of stopping all but the most powerful chemical rounds and ATGMs
  • Has a very fast reload, 6.5 seconds stock down to 5.0 seconds aced
  • Very powerful engine, high top speed and good acceleration characteristics
  • Extremely good reverse speed
  • Fast turret traverse
  • Extremely fast gun elevation/depression
  • Well spread crew and critical components result in good survivability
  • Blowout compartment can save crew from some ammunition detonation cases
  • Array of machine guns, effective against CAS, nearby helicopters and some light vehicles

Cons:

  • Armour provides suboptimal kinetic protection
  • The 105mm APFSDS rounds aren't particularly powerful; may struggle to penetrate some modern targets
  • Extra armour reduces top speed and acceleration
  • Extremely vulnerable gun mantlet and turret ring
  • Turbine engine is extremely loud, often audible from long distance and can be used to discern the direction of the vehicle

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ground 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>, as well as adding them at the end of the article. 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

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

  • M1 Abrams - Predecessor without the "Improved Performance" upgrades.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

  • topic on the official game forum;
  • encyclopedia page on the tank;
  • other literature.


USA medium tanks
M2  M2
M3  M3 Lee · ▃Grant I
M4  M4 · Calliope · M4A1 · M4A1 (76) W · M4A2 · M4A2 (76) W · M4A3 (105) · M4A3 (76) W · M4/T26
M26 Pershing  T20 · T25 · M26 · M26 T99 · M26E1
M46/47/48 Patton  M46 · M46 "Tiger" · M47 · M48A1 · T54E1 · T54E2
M60  M60 · M60A1 (AOS) · M60A1 RISE (P) · M60A2 · M60A3 TTS · M728 CEV · 120S
MBT-70  MBT-70 · XM803
M1 Abrams  XM1 (Chrysler) · XM1 (GM)
  M1 Abrams · M1 KVT · IPM1
  M1A1 · M1A1 HC · M1A1 Click-Bait
  M1A2 Abrams · M1A2 SEP · M1A2 SEP V2
Other  T95E1
Australia  M1A1 AIM
Canada  M4A5
Israel  ▃Magach 3 (ERA) · ▃Merkava Mk.1 · ▃Merkava Mk.2B · ▃Merkava Mk.3D
Turkey  M60 AMBT