The M1 Abrams is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare, it is one of the heaviest tanks in service at nearly 73.6 short tons. It introduced several modern technologies to the United States armored forces, including a multifuel turbine engine, sophisticated Chobham composite armor, a computer fire control system, separate ammunition storage in a blowout compartment, and NBC protection for crew safety. Initial models of the M1 were armed with a 105 mm M68 gun, while later variants feature a license-produced Rheinmetall 120 mm L/44 designated M256.
Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American aerospace and arms manufacturer headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia. The company operated across 22 states, Puerto Rico, and internationally. ATK revenue in fiscal year 2014 was about US$4.8 billion.
The Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle is a Swedish-developed 84 mm (3.3 in) caliber shoulder-fired recoilless rifle, initially developed by the Royal Swedish Army Materiel Administration during the second half of the 1940s as a crew-served man-portable infantry support gun for close-range multi-role anti-armour, anti-personnel, battlefield illumination, smoke screening and marking fire, which has seen great export success around the globe and continues to be a popular multi-purpose support weapon in use by many nations. The Carl Gustaf 84 mm recoilless rifle is a lightweight, low-cost weapon that uses a wide range of ammunition, which makes it extremely flexible and suitable for a wide variety of roles.
The M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System is an American armored self-propelled multiple launch rocket system.
An air burst or airburst is the detonation of an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target. The principal military advantage of an air burst over a ground burst is that the energy from the explosion, including any shell fragments, is distributed more evenly over a wider area; however, the peak energy is lower at ground zero.
The Republic of China Army is the largest branch of Taiwan's military, the Republic of China Armed Forces. An estimated 80% of the ROC Army is located on the island of Taiwan, while the remainder are stationed on the Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, Dongsha, and Taiping Islands.
The Rheinmetall Rh-120 is a 120 mm smoothbore tank gun designed and produced in former West Germany by the Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH company. It was developed in response to Soviet advances in armour technology and development of new armoured threats. Production began in 1974, with the first version of the gun, known as the L/44 as it was 44 calibres long, used on the German Leopard 2 tank and soon produced under license for the American M1A1 Abrams and other tanks. The 120-millimetre (4.7 in) L/44 gun has a length of 5.28 metres (17.3 ft), and the gun system weighs approximately 3,317 kilograms (7,313 lb).
The Mk44 Bushmaster II is a 30 mm chain gun manufactured by Northrop Grumman. It is a derivative of the 25 mm M242 Bushmaster, and uses 70% of the same parts as the M242 while increasing the firepower by as much as 50% with the 20% increase in caliber size. The barrel is chromium-plated for extended life. The gun uses standard GAU-8 Avenger ammunition that is available in API, HEI and APFSDS-T variants.
The 9K120 Svir, 9K119 Refleks, 9K119M Refleks-M are laser beam riding, guided anti-tank missile systems developed in the Soviet Union. Both are designed to be fired from smoothbore 125 mm tank and anti-tank guns. The name Svir comes from the River Svir, while Refleks means reflex.
The M829 is an American armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) kinetic energy penetrator tank round. Modeling was done at the Ballistic Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, which was incorporated into the Army Research Laboratory in 1992. The round is specifically designed for the 120 mm M256 main gun on the Abrams M1A1 and M1A2 main battle tanks. The penetrator is carried by a sabot during its acceleration in the gun barrel.
The XM1111 Mid-Range Munition (MRM) is a 120 mm precision guided munition developed for the Rheinmetall Rh-120 120mm gun used by several Western tanks. It was also intended to fulfill a requirement for Future Combat Systems (canceled) for a long-range, beyond line of sight (BLOS) tank munition.
The GBU-44/B Viper Strike glide bomb was a GPS-aided laser-guided variant of the Northrop Grumman Brilliant Anti-Tank (BAT) munition which originally had a combination acoustic and infrared homing seeker. The system was initially intended for use from UAVs, and it was also integrated with the Lockheed AC-130 gunship, giving that aircraft a precision stand-off capability. The Viper Strike design is now owned by MBDA.
The XM395 Precision Guided Mortar Munition (PGMM) is a 120 mm guided mortar round developed by Alliant Techsystems.
The M830 is an American 120×570mm NATO high explosive anti-tank multi purpose cartridge which has anti-armor and anti-personnel capabilities. This round is meant for the 120 mm M256 main gun of the M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams. The round was praised for its performance during the 1991 Gulf War.
The M1156 Precision Guidance Kit (PGK), formerly XM1156, is a U.S. Army-designed precision guidance system to turn existing 155 mm artillery shells into smart weapons. The prime contractor was Alliant Techsystems – later merging with Orbital Sciences Corporation to form Orbital ATK, in turn being taken over by Northrop Grumman and renamed Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems – and the industry team includes Interstate Electronics Corporation. By April 2018, more than 25,000 PGKs had been produced.
The M141 bunker defeat munition (BDM) is a disposable single-shot, shoulder-fired rocket launcher designed to defeat hardened structures. It is a modification of the United States Marine Corps Mk 153 shoulder-launched multipurpose assault weapon (SMAW) and is also called the SMAW-D. It was designed to fill the void in the United States Army inventory of a "bunker buster" weapon.
The M1074 Joint Assault Bridge System is an American armored military engineering vehicle based on the Abrams M1A1 main battle tank chassis. The M1074 was designed by Leonardo DRS for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps to provide deployable bridge capability for units engaged in military operations.
The XM913 is an experimental American chain gun produced at Picatinny Arsenal. The cannon is a larger and more modern version of the 35 mm Bushmaster III chain gun, which itself is a larger version of the 25 mm M242 Bushmaster cannon. Although its shells, 50 x 228 mm, are twice the diameter of the 25×137mm cartridge of the M242, the 50mm cannon is not much longer than the smaller weapon. The overall lengths of the 25mm cannon and 50mm cannon are 105.2 inches (267 cm) and 117.7 inches (299 cm), respectively; while the portion of the gun that intrudes into the turret are 30.0 inches (76 cm) and 40.1 inches (102 cm), respectively.
120×570mm NATO tank ammunition, also known as 120×570mmR, is a common, NATO-standard, tank gun semi-combustible cartridge used by 120mm smoothbore guns, superseding the earlier 105×617mmR cartridge used in NATO-standard rifled tank guns.
The XM360 is an American experimental 120 mm tank gun developed by U.S. Army's Watervliet Arsenal, Benét Laboratories for use by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) on one of their proposals for the Future Combat Systems (FCS). It was developed as a lightweight cannon that could equal or surpass the capabilities of the 120 mm M256 mounted on the M1A2 Abrams while being mounted on a much lighter vehicle. To achieve this the XM360 combined technologies such as Electrothermal-chemical technology (ETC), a gun tube with composite overwrapping and a modular recoil mechanism coupled with a muzzle brake.
