Tanks:Part 4

Tank battles are something that was introduced in the first World War, and even had made history in one way or another. This is a 4 part series of where we talk about the evolution of tanks.

This is part 4, the last part and it'll be about tanks of the modern era and how some of them are still being used today.

Coming into the Modern Era, tanks are beginning to evolve even further. The first step is to know how to defeat the HEAT weapons that can deliver a fatal blow to tanks.

In the 1970's, Tank engineers in a place called Chobham (in Great Britain) have came up with a special kind of armor which would bear trhe name of the place it was developed.

How Chobham Armor works is that there are different materials such as Titanium (used in Modern Tanks), Kevlar, Ceramic Plates, Epoxy and other materials with idfferent thicknesses. But it's only speculative on how exactly these materials are layered since the exact construction of this armor and it's thickness are still top secret.

What this armor can do though is with these different materials at different densities can divert the effects of the HEAT round and it's "jet" and does not penitrate.

The USA would be first to build a tank with this brand new armor design.

M-1 Abrams
 **Weapon(s)** | M240 Machine Gun120MM Cannon

An absolute workhorse on the modern battlefield. It uses Chobham Armor which casn protect it from most RPG fire. It also has a computer which makes this the first fully digital tank as it can respond and react to other tank. If one if these tanks sees a target, it sends a wireless message to another tank to shoot the target. It also uses a multitude of tank rounds, either standard 120 MM Rounds or it can use something called a "Salvo" round which uses a casing which fits into the barrel of the cannon, the shell (or shoe) comes off during flight and hits the target.

Though, there were other improvemtns to the tank. Another is to get an engine that is made specifically for air units such as the Helicopter onto a tank. This is called a gas turbine engine.

What this does is give the tank more speed and mobility. Though it has drawbacks, it needs a lot of gas and air in order to generate the pumps it thrusts.

The Russians would be first to build a tank with this new engine.

T-80
 **Weapon(s)** | PKT Machine Gun125 MM Cannon

The Russians were always tinkering with their tanks. But they were the first to have the Gas Turbine Engine which allows them to go fast. The T-80 is still used by the Russian Military today, eventhough it saw limited combat in Georgia and the Crimea.

Though, the USA would try to combat this and make their own Textron AGT Engine (another Gas Turbine Engine) so it can keep up with the Russian Tanks.

Though, other European countries were also tinkering with modern tanks. The British came up with their own tank.

Challenger
 **Weapon(s)** | L94A1 Chain gun120 MM Rifled Cannon

The British came up with this tank which the British lost only one of their 500 of these tanks. During it's operations in the Middle East, it hit targets over 17,000 Feet, and was hit by 14 RPGs and the only thing that was damaged was the sight.

Leopard
 **Weapon(s)** | MG3A1 Machine Gun120 MM Cannon

The Germans (who have a nasty reputation for not fighting fair with their tanks in the past) were given another chance at Tank warfare during the latter part of the Cold War. However, this tank (in contrast to it's older counterparts) is fairly easy to maintain, as you can use a computer to find out what is wrong with it instead of tearing it apart and putting it back together.

All of these tanks saw limited service in operations in the Middle East, of course they saw action in the first Persian Gulf War as well as the War on Terrorism and the second Iraqi War. But still, the biggest threat to these tanks is a single infantryman that has a RPG on hand, and it is only speculative that these tanks will see actual combat in the forseeable future.

That si all for the Tanks page, don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis. Until Next time, this is Johnny OTGS signing out.