3 ms·
Too late, too little.
by stackedinserter 4y ago
Too late, too little.
- dmix 4y agoIt was never just about the Abrams it was mostly about unleashing Leopard tanks from other NATO countries (in addition to Challenger 2). Although the number of Leopard tanks sent by Germany so far is pretty small (18/88 promised) combined with 8 from Canada and 10 from Spain. There's about 2000 floating around Europe total. Still it was a big step forward. The Abrams is powerful but it's expensive and logistically difficult to operate with jet fuel and trailing supply vehicles designed for a modern American army. I'm most interested in the hundreds of Bradley's and other IFVs showing up.
- dingaling 4y agoAll NATO gas turbines, including the M1's engine, are rated to run on a variety of hydrocarbons including diesel and petrol / gasoline. There is a performance penalty but not significantly.
- dmix 4y agoEveryone always says this exact thing that M1 can run on desiel but no one actually expects them to when they get them and being the first wide scale deployment test in real world operations seems awfully risky