The M1 Abrams main battle tank is the principal combat tank of the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps, with three main versions being deployed starting in 1980: the M1, M1A1, and M1A2. The latest versions of the M1A2 have a new armor and electronics package. It is named after General Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff and commander of the Army's 37th Armored Regiment.
The M1 Abrams replaced the M60 Patton in U.S. service, as well as the M48A5. It did, however, serve alongside the M60A3, which had entered service just two years before the M1 (in 1978), for over a decade.
In World War II, it took a Sherman Tank an average of 17 rounds to destroy an enemy tank 700 meters away. The Abrams, by contrast, can destroy certain enemy tanks by firing, on the move, a single round from 2,000 meters away.
The Abrams remained untested in combat until the Gulf War in 1991. A total of 1,848 M1A1s were deployed to Saudi Arabia. The M1A1 was superior to Iraq's Soviet-era T-55 and T-62 tanks, as well as Iraqi assembled Russian T-72s, and locally-produced copies (Asad Babil tank). The M1A1 was capable of making kills at ranges in excess of 4000 m. This range was crucial in combat against tanks of Soviet design in Desert Storm, as the effective range of the main gun in the Soviet/Iraqi tanks was less than 2000 meters. This meant Abrams tanks could hit Iraqi tanks before the enemy got in range - a decisive advantage in this kind of combat.
Like all modern US combat vehicles (with the exception of the Stryker), the M1 series of Tanks come in two configurations of camouflage: an overall desert tan camouflage pattern and a three-color forest camouflage pattern used by other NATO combat vehicles consisting of brown and black on a green background. Replacement parts (roadwheels, armor skirt panels, drive sprockets, etc.) are painted overall green, which can sometimes lead to vehicles with a patchwork of green and desert tan parts.
Product Features:
The product contains four resolutions of the model, the high resolution version being rigged for animation.
The model is highly detailed and textured.
This model is a 3DMax model, saved in version 8 as a MAX file, and requires 3DMax. It does not include any other formats to allow it to be opened in any other software. The model is rigged where appropriate, and mapped and textured.