M-1 ABRAMS (105mm gun)

Following the cancellation of the joint MBT/KPz-70 program and a long period of 7 years developing a new main battle tank (MBT) for the US Army, to which General Motors and Chrysler were presented with their XM-1 prototypes, finally in February 1980 the first M-1 Abrams MBT entered service. The initial contract provided for the acquisition of 3,312 M-1 Abrams armed with the 105/52mm M-68E1 gun, but in 1983 the order grew to 7,058 tanks, and it was rumored that it could reach up to 12,000 units. Finally, only 2,374 M-1 Abrams of the initial version would be manufactured until January 1984. In February 1984, manufacturing of the M-1 Abrams IP/IPM1 (Improved Performance) began, which had improved protection and some improvements but maintained the same 105/52mm gun. Of this variant, 894 vehicles were built until 1986, continuing afterwards only with the production of the more powerful M-1A1 Abrams armed with the 120/44mm M-256 smoothbore gun.

M-1 ABRAMS (105mm gun) MBT gallery and more info