Best modern day tank

AlienXXX · 03-12-2008, 02:08 AM,

Hello,

I am not sure this is the right forum to post this question but I guess it is where I will find all the experts ;)

In your oppinion, what is the best modern day tank? Is it the American M1 Abrams or are there other nations' vehicles that are just as good?

Do the exercise (e.g., NATO exercises) and combat results/statistics make the M1 Abrams stand out?

Thanks
Cesar / AlienXXX

Sapper 1 · 03-12-2008, 09:21 AM,

hi the best moden day tank will be challenger 2 when they fit the smooth bore gun, It only lost out to the m1a2 and the leopard2 because of the old style gun ( rifled ) to expensive to maintain.

Weasel · 03-19-2008, 03:32 AM,

Leclerc gets my vote. More advanced computer systems (of course what does that mean, the A1 hits 99% of the time first shot and the Leclerc hits 99.1%?).

Would be nice to compare armour and such but it is all classified so really you can only compare gun and targeting.

RedDevil · 03-19-2008, 04:40 AM,

I think the Israeli Merkerva series is prolly the best available due to intensive combat experience and modernization of lessons learned and applied.

fastphil · 03-20-2008, 02:39 AM,

RedDevil Wrote:I think the Israeli Merkerva series is prolly the best available due to intensive combat experience and modernization of lessons learned and applied.

A quick question? What intensive combat operations has the Merkerva
gone through? When you consider the participation of US, German, French, and UK forces in First Gulf and NATO/US in Afghan and IRAQ?
:stir:

Montana Mud · 03-20-2008, 01:51 PM,

The Merkava series tank goes back to 1982 Lebanon war. 9yrs battle experiance before Desert Storm. I agree that it is one of the finest tanks made by the nation that re-invented tank warfare.

I pick the Abrams over the Challenger only because I think it offers a little bit better protection. All the western tanks seem to be equal in firepower but at +/-70 tons the Abarms has no equal and it uses the same armor technology as the Challenger. Since the Abrams uses a lighter turbine engine the savings on wieght is given to the armor.

The downside of course is that the Abrams has horrid miledge and it's weight hampers deployment and needs more support (Fuel trucks, Bridge engineers and such).

For me protection trumps mpg.

Tim (Montana Mud)

RedDevil · 03-20-2008, 10:09 PM,

Merkava have been in combat far longer than any other modern tank series, while not official wars, they've been quite active and upgraded constantly to meet the challenges of Urban/Rural warfare.. something the Abrams/Challenger series is just now doing.

some one told me the Chinese have a VERY comparable tank (to the Abrams) in production, but it lacks many modern western electronics and survival gadgets. I think it was on chinadefense.com?

All in All, I'm a big fan of Abrams as well, but I think it's time for the next series to be built.

AlienXXX · 03-21-2008, 12:40 AM,

Most of what I have heard about modern tanks is about the US Abrams, so to be honnest, I do not know much about other moddern tanks.

In terms of actual operations, all tanks drink a lot of fuel - pushing all that steel around comes at a cost. Given its weight, the Abrams swallows double of everyone else.
I am also concerned about the cost. Say that one Abrams costs twice as much as a Challenger. Is it worth it?

I have a feeling that the lack of casualties amoung the Abrams tanks has a lot to do with the american air superiority in the Gulf wars. By the time the tanks went in, there was not much still moving on the first Gulf war. On the second Gulf war they faced a much demoralised and depleted army and still they had all those A10 and Apache birds flying over their sholders and the AWACS and satelites spottnig all the targets.

Even in the second Gulf war, I remember seeing news reports of Abrams being destroyed or disabled by RPGs fired into vulnerable spots.

All other things being balanced, I suspect the Abrams would have a tough time if it were to meet other modern tanks.
In the lack of actual battle data, it would be interesting to know how well it has done in Nato exercises against other modern tanks.
Does anyone know?

Cesar / AlienXXX

alaric99x · 03-21-2008, 02:46 AM,

AlienXXX Wrote:I have a feeling that the lack of casualties amoung the Abrams tanks has a lot to do with the american air superiority in the Gulf wars. By the time the tanks went in, there was not much still moving on the first Gulf war.

Certainly not in all cases, check out an account of the Battle at 73 Easting.