M1 Abrams is an American main battle tank originally designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems).

History

Before M1 Abrams, the main American tank was the M60, designed in 1957. The United States wanted the development of a new main battle tank so in the 1960s, work with West Germany began on the MBT 70 project.

The concept of the MBT-70 was a bold one, with the implementation of advanced solutions planned, the new tank being a response to the tanks developed by the Soviet Union.

The MBT-70 was to have a 152mm XM150 cannon capable of launching both conventional and MGM-51 Shillelagh anti-tank missiles.

But in the end the project would have to be abandoned due to the high development costs and the different demands of the armies of West Germany and the US.

Seeing that the MBT-70 project is doomed to failure being too complex and expensive, the US has tried to solve the problems, and starting from some of the technologies used on the MBT-70 they have developed the MX803. Unfortunately, this project was not a feasible one, the costs remaining high compared to the performance of the new tank that were similar to the M60.

In 1971, the United States permanently stopped the MBT-70 and XM803 projects, redirecting funds to the development of XM1 Abrams while Germany which had already withdrawn from the joint project started work on Leopard 2.

The competition for the development of the new US tank was won by the prototype made by Chryster Defense at the expense of General Motors.

Operators

- Australia – Australian Army: 59 M1A1 (AIM)

- Egypt – Egyptian Army: 1,005 M1A1

- Iraq – Iraqi Army: 140 M1A1Ms

- Kuwait – Kuwaiti Army: 218 M1A2s

- Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabian Army: 373 Abrams

- Morocco – Royal Moroccan Army: 222 M1A1 SA

- United States - 6,296