Quote:
Originally Posted by Green Monkey
2. How far away can someone hear an M1 driving, especially given hills, wood, other terrain. Scouting team on dirt bike often moves ahead of the truck which is towing the tank.
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I was a tanker for a long time and operated M1s in both desert and temperate forest environments.
In general, the Abrams tank is much more quiet than anything else out there. I have had tanks driving around behind me (tank facing me at about 100 meters) and not heard them until they started turning (making the metal in the track “squeal”). Instances like that are not uncommon, but it’s also not the rule.
Terrain and weather will have a significant impact, plus the direction of the tank matters. The exhaust vents out the back, hence, a lot of noise too. It’s much quieter from the front by a significant margin.
The RPMs matter too, that engine can get
very loud when the driver “guns” the accelerator. If the tank is sprinting or starting up a hill then it can get pretty noisy.
As mentioned above, the tracks can make a lot of noise when turning, not as much as a diesel engine but it’s not insignificant either. Also, the condition of the tracks can make a difference… brand new track pads on a paved surface can be much quieter.
From a crew perspective, you wont hear anything except your own tank and the comms… as expected.
From a Cav Scout perspective, Abrams tanks are a little harder to hear approaching but not impossible (terrain and weather dependant). It was
significantly easier to hear the older M60A3 diesel engines in all environments.
As far as how far away you can hear it? There are too many variables to slap a number on that. Just generally, and Abrams is “harder” to hear… you can translate that as you like into character detection rolls. But gotta remember too, tanks rarely travel alone, Bradleys and M113s have diesel engines.