Image source: Photo: twitter.com/DRatka1
In the early 90s, in the United States, having received information about the creation of a new generation of Soviet tanks (for example, about the promising "Hammer"), they began working on a radical modernization of their "Abrams".
As a result, a version of the CATTB appeared, armed with a 140-mm XM291 cannon with a 22-round automatic loader in the turret niche. Its rate of fire was up to 12 rounds per minute. In total, the ammunition consisted of 36 shots, each of which had a length of one and a half meters.
The crew was reduced to three people. Booking has significantly increased. There was a system of optoelectronic counteraction, which automatically exposes dense aerosol clouds, thereby preventing the targeting of high-precision weapons on the tank.
The gas turbine engine was replaced with a 1450-horsepower diesel engine. The suspension became hydropneumatic, which significantly increased the smoothness of the ride. The maximum speed is 67 km / h. The power reserve is 420 km.
The crew received the most modern multi-channel sights at that time with automatic target detection and tracking systems.
The tank, made in a classic layout, came close to 70 tons in weight, which limited its mobility both in peacetime and in wartime.
Perhaps the tank could have been somewhat lightened and brought to mass production, but the main enemy-the USSR-had already collapsed, the Russian economy, as well as the military-industrial complex, had fallen into an economic crisis, and it was no longer necessary to talk about the production of fundamentally new models of equipment. Therefore, the Americans decided to abandon many expensive models, including the Abrams with 140-mm guns.
Dmitry Lemeshko