Comments by "" (@tomk3732) on "The M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank - Overview/Opinions" video.

  1. As delivered M1 had much weaker armor then contemporary to it T-72. By as much as 100RHA on the front. Also its gun was inferior in fire power. BUT quick upgrades changed that - T-72 last upgrade before Soviet Union collapsed was in 1989 - still holding an edge over upgraded Abrams. But then Soviet Union collapsed and no tank work was done for over a decade. Also T-72 and whole Soviet / Russian family was not very friendly to upgrades - in difference to western tanks, such as Leopard or Abrams. This forced Russia to move to T-14 - which is radically different design - there was simply not literal room to modify even further "Standard" Soviet Cold war tank. If Soviet Union did not collapse the obsolescence of T-72 would not be a real issue as their whole design program was set with much more frequent release of new tank designs, vs. the west that released new designs rarely - there are only plans to replace Leopard 2 in 15 years - which will give it more then half a century as a war machine (!!!).
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