A fighting vehicle that needs no introduction - The M1 Abrams is one of only a small number of tanks that have gained such a reputation and worldwide fame that surpasses legendary status by a long shot. War Thunder tankers and fans of modern military vehicles rejoice! The M1 Abrams is charging at full speed to the top ranks of War Thunder’s ground battles with the upcoming update 1.77 “Advancing Storm”. Get ready!

In War Thunder, the M1 Abrams is going to be a new addition, that will expand the roster of vehicles available to players at rank VI of the American ground forces tree. Despite its enormous size and impressive combat weight of 60 tons, the M1 Abrams can hardly be considered a lumbering beast. Its 1,500 horsepower multi-fuel turbine engine is able to bring the Abrams up to a top speed of 45 mph ( 72.4 km/h) and even manages to achieve 25 mph (40 km/h) in reverse. With mobility like this, the Abrams is able to swiftly maneuver into position and even relocate to other locations on the battlefield at a moment’s notice. Apart from the excellent mobility, which is an offensive capability in its own right, the Abrams is also outfitted with a powerful main cannon and a pair of machine guns. For the primary armament, American engineers choose the 105mm M68A1 cannon, capable of firing a wide range of ammunition types. In addition to the cannon, the Abrams is also equipped with a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun, one more 7.62 is mounted near the loader’s hatchet  and a good old .50 cal is mounted on the roof of the turret for anti-air defence.

Aspiring M1 commanders can expect effective protection against some of the most commonly used projectile types found on the higher ranks. However, it’s worth noting that all of this effective armor is mostly placed around the front portion of the vehicle’s hull and turret, as is common for modern MBT designs. In comparison, the side armor is relatively thin and can easily be pierced even by cannons of lower ranked vehicles. As the M1 Abrams was specifically developed with crew protection in mind, it comes to no surprise that several special protection features found their way onto the M1’s design. Fuel tanks in the front of the hull were placed  in armored containers, that prevent fire in the fighting compartment and the fuel served as additional protection against HEAT shells as well. One more solution that provided better crew survivability was separate ammunition storage that was also in armoured containers. In cases where the powder charges were on fire, gas pressure was released through special blow-out panels that were mounted on the turret and the hull. Such system, if the panels functioned properly, would allow the crew to wait out the fire in the ammunition storage whilst remaining inside a tank, and after the fire was out, the crew could either leave the tank or drive it away from the battlefield.

Although this protection feature will be represented in the game as well, aspiring commanders of the Abrams shouldn’t expect a guaranteed “second chance” from this protective feature.Yes, it’s possible to prevent a sudden and quick destruction of the vehicle, but only if a case was hit and powder charges caught fire. If the hit detonated HEAT or HESH ammo - the tank would be destroyed. If the player is able to extinguish the flames, they will be able to withdraw to safety for repairs and rearming. Nonetheless, these protective features will still slightly increase the Abrams’ survivability on the battlefield and are bound to save the occasional tanker from an untimely demise under the right circumstances.

The first production version of the M1 Abrams has been dispatched to the troops fighting on the front lines and is due to arrive with War Thunder’s update 1.77 “Advancing Storm” very soon. Stay tuned to the news to find more about the next upcoming major update for War Thunder. Until then, stay safe on the battlefield!   

Check our previous DevBlogs:

• Dagor Engine 5.0: Temporal Anti-Aliasing (Variance Clipping TAA)
• Dagor Engine 5.0: Displacement mapping, mud and puddles
• Dagor Engine 5.0: Weather and environment: rain, fog, clouds and sun
• New sounds in update 1.77

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The War Thunder Team