The M-1 was originally designed to come w/
a rifled, U.S. made, 105mm diameter cannon.
New M-1s use the same cannon as the German Leopard 2.
During the late 70s, the Carter Admin. was trying to get
NATO to buy AWACS surveillance planes made by Boeing.
Germany said it would agree, if the U.S. purchased the
German-made Rheinmetall 120mm smooth-bore cannon.
This set off a controversy, because the
U.S. Army didn’t want the bigger gun.
They figured that any Soviet armor that was too thick
for the 105mm would be too big for the 120mm.
They would have rather spent the $$$ on
an even better weapon than the 120mm.
The Pentagon’s civilians, however, wanted to have as much similarity
between the various Western weapon systems as possible,
to help keep the cost of W.W.III down.
They all forgot that supporting Germany’s military,
after W.W.II, provoked the U.S.S.R. into not repatriating
more than 10,000 U.S. POWs it had 'liberated’
from Nazi POW camps at the end of W.W.II.
To say nothing of over 1,000,000 civilians
taken out of Nazi Concentration camps.Carter, and his successor Reagan, apparently thought
sticking
a gun made in a country that slaughtered over 20 million
Soviets into our M-1 would be good for U.S.-Soviet relations.
Personally I can understand why the U.S.S.R was scared to death of us.
Look who our 'friends’ are;
Germany, Italy, France, Japan and England.
They all have a really nice record over the last 200 yrs.
1978
But, because Boeing knows how to play hardball,
the U.S. decided the German 120mm cannon
would eventually be put in it's M-1 tanks.
(The Germans must think we are the biggest chumps in the world.)
The 105mm can fire the M-60 tank’s ammo,
but the M-1 has to have it’s own
Taking the German gun created an immediate logistical
problem for America, to the benefit of Germany.
Most military authorities consider the difference
between the 2 guns to not have been worth the price.
The Army estimated that the cost of the bigger gun
over the life of the tanks wound be about $5 billion.
The 120mm-equipped Abrams tanks are designated the M-1A1 or M-1A2,
and also have an air filtration system that can allegedly protect
the crew from radiation, chemical and biological weapons.
The 120mm guns are made in U.S.A., but
Rheinmetall gets a 3% royalty payment on each gun.
Think of that the next time your local school district runs out of $$$.
The Gun Also Caused A Safety Problem For The Crew Of The Tank.
The real funny part about the whole gun controversy
is that the U.S. 105mm was designed by the British.
You might remember them.
They're the ones who tried to enslave us (and the rest of the world)
during the 1700s, led many U.S. soldiers into slavery at the close
of W.W.I when they used them to fight against the Soviets at
Archangel, U.S.S.R., used America repeatedly to further
it's own post-war interests during W.W.II, etc., etc..
We actually had to give the British a royalty payment for each
of the thousands of 105mm cannons we produced during
W.W.II, Korea and the Second Indo-China War.
That's right!
We had to pay England for the honor
of using it's cannon to save it from Hitler.
We Have A Similar Deal To Produce The 5.56 FN Herstal
Assault Rifle In America As The U.S. Army's M16A2.
FN Herstal is one of the most despicable gun-runners in the world.
Message for Baghdad
A U.S. Army 3rd Infantry M1A1 Abrams tank with
"Baghdad's nightmare"
stenciled on its cannon passes troops relaxing near the
Euphrates River as
hundreds of armored vehicles push toward the outskirts of
Baghdad early Sunday.
4/6/03 Reuters via MSNBC