US iron fist. Why so many tanks?

Focus has translated the article of journalist Stavros Atlases about the tank fist of the American army, the basis of which is the M1 Abrams tanks of various modifications. Today we will talk about why the American Armed Forces have one of the largest and most powerful arsenals of major combat tanks in the world. There are about 4,650 main combat tanks in the US Army, about half of which are in the reserve.

Unlike the other countries we talked about in this series, the US Army uses one type of tanks - M1 Abrams. Currently, the armies are facilities M1A1 SA, M1A2 Sepv2 and M1A2 Sepv3. The latter is the latest tank modification and the most advanced tank in the world. It was presented in 2020.

The latest version of the legendary M1 Abrams has received advanced network capabilities, enhanced protection by installing additional explosion-reactive armor (ERA), improved ammunition data transmission system that enables the tank to shoot the most modern ammunition, additional electrical power service.

Despite the fact that there was already a new Platform improvement package (SEP) under the name SEPV4, the Pentagon recently made the decision to completely update the M1 Abrams Park and present a new version of the tank, M1A3. This decision was dictated mainly by fighting lessons in Ukraine, where basic combat tanks play an important role in both offensive and defense operations.

The American armed forces have thousands of auxiliary armored vehicles, such as old M2 Bradley and a new M10 Booker, which are designed to fight the main tanks and achieve preference on the battlefield. Tanks in the reserve may, if necessary, be in line after various types of maintenance. Although now only the army operates basic combat tanks, it was not always possible. It is interesting that until recently the main combat tanks were also in the US Marine Corps.

But in 2020, the Marine Corps officially abandoned its armored battalions. The infantrymen transferred the armies of about 450 major M1 Abrams combat tanks, some of which were adopted by the Ukrainian military. The decision was very controversial and aroused the anger of many current and former marine infantry officers. The main reason for the dispute was that now the Marines depended on the army in terms of armored support in the event of a conflict, thus losing part of its independence.

The counter -argument that influenced the decision was that the Marines should return to its expeditionary role and be as easy as possible, not burdened with logistical problems of supporting a tank park, greater than all armed forces of Great Britain. Both arguments have grounds. Be that as it may, the army is undoubtedly the only agency that has tanks in service.