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Abrams versus infantry and earthen defenses.

The first tanks were designed in WW I to give support to infantry against MG nests and earthen defenses.

Do Abrams provide this service today? What do they have in their ammo load to help with this chore? I'd guess Uranium darts and shaped charges are the not best choice.

Hi Skeet! Hi Folks!

The Adrams has two rounds now that help with the direct infantry support mission. One is called the MPAT (?) and the other is a new Bee Hive type of round.

Sgt, Scouts Out!

Tank rounds from 75mm through 105 had specialized types for infantry support. They could even smoke the enemy out using WP! Up til Abrams equipment was also provided for conducting indirect fire. I don't believe - correct me if I'm wrong - 120mm armed Abrams carries equipment or train for doing indirect fire (finned rounds may be the cause there). Also, I'm not exactly up on fuse technology for the dual purpose HE round. Is there a time or delay function? I'd be surprised if there wasn't. One common offensive tactic against earthen defenses used to be to skip a delay fused round off the terrain ahead of the target causing an airburst over the defenders. About 120mm WP, Abrams can't carry it because (according to this board)WP has to be stored vertically and Abrams just has horizontal stowage. Oh, and also, Abrams doesn't carry all that much ammo compared to the good-old-days. Does M1A2 Abrams carry as many round as even the old IS-2?

So adding things up, 120mm gun Abrams does not really appear to be the ideal infantry support platform. But magical uranium armor and a big 120mm round does go some way to make up for its shortcomings.

MPAT=multi-purpose anti-tank, good explosive round for taking out bunkers, walls of buildings and armored vehicles. Sabot rounds are best for main battle tanks, but since they tend to fight non-MBTs, the amount of sabot rounds carried has dwindled and the deployment of 120mm multi-purpose rounds has increased.

M1A1/A2 carries 40 rounds of 120mm ammo with a mix depending on mission. The old 105mm M1 carried 53 rounds and the M60A3 carried 63 rounds (I think). Running out of main gun ammo in today's environment is not a real concern like it was when defending against the Soviet hordes in West Germany.

Check out this video. They take out the bunker w/ an MPAT. Seems quite effective to me. They loved it against buildings during the thunder run. My co-author's gunner took out a group of enemy huddled up against an outside wall too.

www.2ndplatoon.com/

When the site comes up just let it go and it will go straight to the video. This is my co-author's site.

Bob