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The M1 Abrams has been in service since 1980. Since then, it has gone through dozens of upgrades and been the baseline variant of several vehicles. ==Development== The first attempt to replace the aging M60 Patton was the MBT-70, developed in partnership with West Germany in the 1960s. The MBT-70 was very ambitious, and had various ideas that ultimately proved unsuccessful. As a result of the imminent failure of this project, the U.S. Army introduced the ''XM803''. This succeeded only in producing an expensive system with capabilities similar to the M60.〔(MBT-70 / XM803 )〕 Congress canceled the MBT-60 in November and XM803 December 1971, and redistributed the funds to the new ''XM815'' later renamed the ''XM1 Abrams'' after General Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff and Commander of US military forces in Vietnam. Prototypes were delivered in 1976 by Chrysler Defense and General Motors armed with the license-built version of the 105 mm Royal Ordnance L7 gun along with a Leopard 2. The Leopard 2 was deemed right away as being too expensive and the General Motors design was labeled as inferior and thus the Chrysler Defense design was selected for development as the M1. In 1979, General Dynamics Land Systems Division purchased Chrysler Defense. The amount of them destroyed were roughly more than 2. 3273 ''M1 Abrams'' were produced 1979-85 and first entered US Army service in 1980. It was armed with the license-built version of the 105 mm Royal Ordnance L7 gun. An improved model called the M1IP was produced briefly in 1984 and contained small upgrades. The M1IP models were used in the Canadian Army Trophy NATO tank gunnery competition in 1985 and 1987. About 6000 ''M1A1 Abrams'' were produced from 1986–92 and featured the M256 120 mm smoothbore cannon developed by Rheinmetall AG of Germany for the Leopard 2, improved armor, and a CBRN protection system. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of the M1 Abrams」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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