Here's a fun one! "How To Kill A Drone"

[Solus]

The Abrams is, or was if others have duplicated it, the "Next" generation of tanks.

When it was introduced it was so far ahead of the field it made others armored vehicles obsolete.

It's ability to target and hit opponents while moving at speed over rough terrain rewrote the book on tank tactics.

It used infrared for it's night vision capabilities as opposed to enhancement of ambient light which most, if not all, of the competition used.  Infrared has some drawbacks but it's big advantage is you had working night vision no matter how dark the environment became....heavy forest cover on an overcast night, for instance.

Stories from the first Gulf War where 4 or so Abrams would shred a dozen enemy tanks that had to stop still to be able to make a hit.

Don't know if the competition has caught up, but I expect it still has much of it's edge.

[Jrlobo]

How well insulated is the Abrams from electrical charge? The tracks probably are, but how about the body?

[Solus]

Couple of links on the Abrams. 

http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/64535-m1a1-abrams-survivability/

http://science.howstuffworks.com/m1-tank.htm

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00002SA30/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00002SA30/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

[jnevis]

How well insulated is the Abrams from electrical charge? The tracks probably are, but how about the body?

If it's designed to be survivable in a nuclear environment, don't you think it's shielded from anything you could throw at it?  Since the outer armor is ceramic, it doesn't conduct electricity through it anyway.

[tombogan03884]

No matter what type of armored vehicle is being discussed, you don't have to kill the crew, or destroy the vehicle.
If you attack it's mobility, (tracks or engine ) it becomes a very expensive bunker, if you attack it's weapons it becomes no more dangerous than a cement truck.
Take out those 2 systems and it is nothing but a place for the crew to hide till the bad noises stop.

[Sponsor]

[PegLeg45]

The Abrams is, or was if others have duplicated it, the "Next" generation of tanks.

When it was introduced it was so far ahead of the field it made others armored vehicles obsolete.

It's ability to target and hit opponents while moving at speed over rough terrain rewrote the book on tank tactics.

It used infrared for it's night vision capabilities as opposed to enhancement of ambient light which most, if not all, of the competition used.  Infrared has some drawbacks but it's big advantage is you had working night vision no matter how dark the environment became....heavy forest cover on an overcast night, for instance.

Stories from the first Gulf War where 4 or so Abrams would shred a dozen enemy tanks that had to stop still to be able to make a hit.

Don't know if the competition has caught up, but I expect it still has much of it's edge.

When I was a senior in HS, we spent a couple of days visiting the USMC Logistics Base in Albany, GA (about 30 miles from me) seeing all the things they did at the base. One of the jobs there was repairing and testing sighting system and 2-plane stabilization system on the Abrams. They had one parked on a steep dirt mound outside the building we were in. As we were leaving the building I asked the Sgt that gave the lecture what that was for. He said to test them, they ran it through a set number of "in-motion" trials over rough terrain and then parked it on the incline with a target locked in. Then they left it for 24 hours and it had to stay targeted within a specified set of parameters to pass.

[santahog]

The M-1s couldn't see in fog. I'm guessing they figured something out for the A1s but that was it's Achilles heel..
If you can throw something into the back of a jet turbine, maybe you can toss something in the exhaust of a tank, but I kinda doubt it. Walking behind one of those leaves a memory and some red skin, and a mark if it's in sand.. One darn near blew my Deuce over one time in the Motor Pool.. 

[tombogan03884]

The problem you mention with "seeing" in fog is because of the IR system.
IR "see's" temperature, in fog it see's a wall of what ever the water temperature is, snow will also blind it as will burning rubber or plastic that gives off lots of heated particulate matter.
Also, Airborne IR systems are blinded by evergreens , it will read the temperature of the boughs but can not see through them.

[Solus]

The problem you mention with "seeing" in fog is because of the IR system.
IR "see's" temperature, in fog it see's a wall of what ever the water temperature is, snow will also blind it as will burning rubber or plastic that gives off lots of heated particulate matter.
Also, Airborne IR systems are blinded by evergreens , it will read the temperature of the boughs but can not see through them.

Exactly.  

Solution would be to augment the existing IR with Ambient Light Amplification.  

There might still be blind spots, but both methods would be available.

Perhaps this has been done.

[tombogan03884]

Exactly. 

Solution would be to augment the existing IR with Ambient Light Amplification. 

There might still be blind spots, but both methods would be available.

Perhaps this has been done.

Actually, the appropriate thing to do in the context of this thread would be to stock up on old tires and plant lot's of spruce tree's around you house or retreat .