How good would a M1 be without computerized targeting system?

[95th Rifleman]

I think the M1 is over-estimated to a certain degree. Take her against outdated T72's and she'll violate the enemy in ways they can not imagine.

But the M1 has a few flaws. Back in the 90's the tank did not have any VIRSS defense, something the soviets (and British) where keen on. Sure most soviet missles would bounce off the M1 but they had a few designs that would take them down, including some first generation top-attack missles.

The main advantage of the M1 is the fact she can go flat out and blow the enemy to hell. Lose the fancy targeting electronics and you will find crews stopping to fire. 90's era chobham can only take so many 125mm tank rounds before the tank goes boom and a tank sat still is a tank that's going to get hit.

[Mohoender]

Originally Posted by 95th Rifleman

But the M1 has a few flaws.

All tanks have flaws and I picked the M1 only as an exemple. IMO what was explained by dragon could equally apply to Leclerc, Challenger...

What I would retain is that such tanks would remain an impressive warbeast but what wasn't obvious was the level of capability it would retain. Now, I know that it remains largely operational. I will, However, reduce some stats depending on what systems are off line or on line (and I have a better idea of which stats).

I recall, that when US troops entered Bagdad in 2003, the french TV had shown images of an Abrams which had been hit from the back and taken out of commission (not destroyed) by a S60 57mm Gun.

[Panther Al]

Well, to address the last two posts, two things to remember:

The Abrams is designed to go head to head and break your heart and your army. But, there has to be a trade off somewhere. In order to get the obscene level of protection of the frontal arc, something had to give, and since they had to leave a nice large exhaust for the turbine, that is where it gave. But, to be fair: *all* tanks, including the vaunted Merkava, is weak to the rear. Hit it with something largish (like the 57mm), it will punch. What happens next depends on the design.

I don't know what is up with the Autoloaders: But the Abrams and the Merkava both have actual crew-members loading the gun, so as long as you got food, you got a loader. The Merk has a something of a semi-auto revolver system going that gets followup shots off at a rate that has to be seen to believed, but, it still has a loader, so if it breaks beyond repair they can work around it or better yet yank it out and still be good to go.