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More firepower for the Abrams

Talyn

Talyn

SAINT
Founding Member
and the largest MRD I've seen.

A U.S. Army armored unit recently tested an M1 Abrams tank armed with a 7.62x51mm M134 Minigun in place of one of its secondary machine guns. The configuration, which looks like it was pulled straight out of an entry in the Call of Duty or Battlefield video game franchises, offers a boost in the volume of small-caliber firepower that an Abrams can pump out.

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“Tank crews from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division showcase their lethality during live-fire testing of the M134 Minigun, mounted on an M1 Abrams tank,”

The pictures show the M134 installed in place of the 7.62x51mm M240-series machine gun that is typically mounted on a ring around the loader’s hatch on the roof of the turrets on Abrams tanks.

www.twz.com

Minigun-Equipped M1 Abrams Tank Being Tested By Army

Adding Miniguns to Abrams tanks offers the ability to rapidly bring higher volumes of small-caliber fire to bear, especially in complex terrain.
www.twz.com www.twz.com

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A likely interim response to those "pesky" FPV drones.
 
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Some thoughts:
- Excellent idea. More machine gun power has come full circle to WWII. Then operational survey groups (OSG) went to commands and soldiers in the field to gather lessons learned and ideas to make things better. Gen. Patton reflected his tankers thoughts by simply telling the OSG to implement a simple fix: add another machine gun to the Sherman. The M4 series had a cal .50 on the turret, a coaxial cal .30, and a cal .30 for the bow gunner. Some crews were already fabricating mounts for an additional cal .30 on the turret (as seen in Fury). In addition, the cal .50 was mounted to the rear of the commander's cupola for an anti-aircraft role. Eventually, this was moved to the front of the cupola for all around fields of fire by the TC. The M134 doesn't increase the number of MGs on the Abrams but sure as heck gives it a quantum leap in terms of MG firepower.

- We seem to have lost the art of marching fire. There is a great advantage to hosing down tree lines, buildings, and other suspicious areas with MG or main gun rounds. Routinely pumping canister rounds or using MG fire into a tree line does wonders for not getting ambushed or causing the bad guys to think twice. We need to use the tanks range advantage.

- It seems the Abrams carries on the tradition of the Sherman of accepting modifications and new equipment without degrading its performance one bit. We have some smart folks out there, as long as big army and congress don't muck it up.
 
Cedric said:
Some thoughts:
- Excellent idea. More machine gun power has come full circle to WWII. Then operational survey groups (OSG) went to commands and soldiers in the field to gather lessons learned and ideas to make things better. Gen. Patton reflected his tankers thoughts by simply telling the OSG to implement a simple fix: add another machine gun to the Sherman. The M4 series had a cal .50 on the turret, a coaxial cal .30, and a cal .30 for the bow gunner. Some crews were already fabricating mounts for an additional cal .30 on the turret (as seen in Fury). In addition, the cal .50 was mounted to the rear of the commander's cupola for an anti-aircraft role. Eventually, this was moved to the front of the cupola for all around fields of fire by the TC. The M134 doesn't increase the number of MGs on the Abrams but sure as heck gives it a quantum leap in terms of MG firepower.

- We seem to have lost the art of marching fire. There is a great advantage to hosing down tree lines, buildings, and other suspicious areas with MG or main gun rounds. Routinely pumping canister rounds or using MG fire into a tree line does wonders for not getting ambushed or causing the bad guys to think twice. We need to use the tanks range advantage.

- It seems the Abrams carries on the tradition of the Sherman of accepting modifications and new equipment without degrading its performance one bit. We have some smart folks out there, as long as big army and congress don't muck it up.
Click to expand...
All you need is arty or fixed wing to support you! Unless you have Cobras inbound!
 
Cedric said:
Some thoughts:
- Excellent idea. More machine gun power has come full circle to WWII. Then operational survey groups (OSG) went to commands and soldiers in the field to gather lessons learned and ideas to make things better. Gen. Patton reflected his tankers thoughts by simply telling the OSG to implement a simple fix: add another machine gun to the Sherman. The M4 series had a cal .50 on the turret, a coaxial cal .30, and a cal .30 for the bow gunner. Some crews were already fabricating mounts for an additional cal .30 on the turret (as seen in Fury). In addition, the cal .50 was mounted to the rear of the commander's cupola for an anti-aircraft role. Eventually, this was moved to the front of the cupola for all around fields of fire by the TC. The M134 doesn't increase the number of MGs on the Abrams but sure as heck gives it a quantum leap in terms of MG firepower.

- We seem to have lost the art of marching fire. There is a great advantage to hosing down tree lines, buildings, and other suspicious areas with MG or main gun rounds. Routinely pumping canister rounds or using MG fire into a tree line does wonders for not getting ambushed or causing the bad guys to think twice. We need to use the tanks range advantage.

- It seems the Abrams carries on the tradition of the Sherman of accepting modifications and new equipment without degrading its performance one bit. We have some smart folks out there, as long as big army and congress don't muck it up.
Click to expand...

#1

Considering the FPV drone risk, I'd replace the M2 in the RWS at the commanders station with a second M134, and move the M2 to a mount above the 120mm like Israel does.

#2

Like how the M2 Bradleys operate in conjunction with the M1A2s in a combined arms role, the US should go (add) with these (available now) as an organic AAA element of a group starting at the squad -size on up.

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Skyranger 30 on ACSV G5 chassis (30mm canon with airburst ammo, High-energy laser to complement the gun, 360 deg radar coverage, passive IRST/thermal sensors, plus extendable V/SHORAD launcher with 4-9 MANPADS/SADMs).
en.wikipedia.org

Skyranger 30 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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