The aluminum-clad M551 Sheridans were first to arrive because they were light enough to be transported by planes and air-dropped into battle. The very first American tanks to reach the staging grounds in Saudi Arabia were M551 Sheridans built for the Vietnam War. Army deployed some 1,900 M1A1 Abrams tanks in the Gulf War, but they weren’t the only armored assets on the battlefield. “By the time you hear an Abrams tank, you’re already dead.” During NATO exercises in Europe prior to the Gulf War, admiring allies dubbed the Abrams “whispering death.” Other Gulf War Battle Tanks “I was an armor officer for 10 years,” says Cogan. The speed came from a 1500-horsepower jet turbine engine that burned jet fuel instead of diesel, muffling the engine’s roar. And instead of firing conventional artillery rounds, the Abrams’ cannon hurled an armor-piercing dart that traveled a mile a second and decimated enemy tanks with one shot.įor its size and firepower, the M1A1 Abrams was also surprisingly fast and quiet. Its 120-mm main gun was gyro stabilized to aim true while charging over bumpy terrain at 45 mph.
Measuring 32 feet long and weighing 68 tons, the Abrams tank deployed in the Gulf War was designed to take a direct hit from the biggest and baddest Iraqi tank and shrug it off.
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