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Masters of Hard Knocks from the University of Gravity
 
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The Under Armor Auxilary Power Unit (UAAPU) is one of the system being developed under the M1A2SEP (System Enhancement Program)
The UAAPU consist of a turbine engine, a generator, and a hydraulic pump. The generator is capable of producing 6 Kilowatts of electrical power at 214 Amps, 28 vdc, and the hydraulic pump is capable of delivering 10 Kilowatts of hydraulic power. The UAAPU can meet the electrical and hydraulic power to operate all electronic and hydraulic components used during mounted surveilance operations and charge the tank's main batteries. The UAAPU will reduce Operational and Support cost by utilizing the same fuel as the tank at a reduced rate of 3-5 gallons per operational hour. The UAAPU is mounted on the left rear sponson fuel cell area and weighs 510 pounds.
Now For the Good News
A multi-year contract for 307 M1A2 Abrams Systems Enhancement Program (SEP) tanks was awarded in March 2001 with production into 2004. The current Army plan allows for a fleet of 588 M1A2 SEP, 586 M1A2 and 4,393 M1A1 tanks. The potential exits for a retrofit program of 129 M1A2 tanks to the SEP configuration between 2004 and 2005. Fielding of the M1A2 (SEP) began in spring 2000 with the 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, and continues. Rolling over of the 1st Cavalry Division's M1A2 tanks to new M1A2 (SEP) tank began in 2001 and continues.
Now for the Bad News
Increased funding for Stryker and Future Combat Systems (FCS) came as a result of Army decisions in 2002 to terminate or restructure some 48 systems in the FY '04-'09 Program Objective Memorandum (POM) long-term spending plan. Among the systems terminated were: United Defense's Crusader self-propelled howitzer and the A3 upgrade for the Bradley Fighting vehicle, GD's M1A2 Abrams System Enhancement Program, Lockheed Martin's Army Tactical Missile System Block II and the associated pre-planned product improvement version of Northrop Grumman's Brilliant Anti-armor (BAT) munitions, Raytheon's Stinger missile and Improved Target Acquisition System, and Textron's Wide Area Mine. The US Army planned to procure a total of 1150 M1A2 SEP tanks, however future Army budget plans suggest that funding may not be available after 2004.
What's It Mean
The funded 307 M1A2SEP tanks will go to the 4th ID and 1st Cav. Additional vehicles have not been cancelled but the funding is not available.
Stryker strikes again.
"Si Vis Pacum Para Bellum"
If you want peace prepare for war!
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Regular Joe
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Thanks a lot shinseki!
/shakes head
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Hard Charger
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| It would cost around $20m to put APU's in 2000 Abram's. A small price to pay for fuel economy.
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Regular Joe
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I'm not an expert on M1 history, but I believe it was originally to be fielded with an APU. Then, the tank had to undergo a cost reduction and the APU was cut out, along with some more sophisticated fire controls that have since been added back.
My experience is that M1's don't use a lot more fuel than the M60's they replaced while road marching. But turbines use a great deal more fuel at idle than a diesel. So the more loitering or scanning time you have, the larger the differential. And because traversing the turret and running the various fire control systems takes a fair amount of power, the engine can't be shut down for too long without running down the batteries. So the elimination of the APU was unfortunate. The M1A2 SEP helps mediate that.
The M1 has a big advantage in sprint speed over most other modern MBT's. If we ever face an armored opponent who can shoot, the ability to jump from position to position in as little as 1/2 the time (I'm told) will prove the value of the turbine.
Another big advantage of the turbine is size and weight. You can change the power pack in an M1 in less than an hour.
The M1's are extremely quiet. Compare this with the 1,500 hp diesel Leopard II, which sounds like the earth is opening up so that Hell can swallow you. There are probably advantages to each approach.
One disadvantage of the turbine was the amount of air they suck. Early tests resulted in a lot of problems, but now maintenance of the filters by the crews has greatly mediated the problem, as the high operational readiness of the tank in GWI attests.
The Merkava is an interesting hybrid vehicle and the rear crew door has proven valuable in urban fighting, for medevac, etc. But I don't think it could stand head-to-head against the latest generation of tanks from the US, UK, or Germany. I don't follow French armored vehicle development because, well, they're French.
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Hard Charger
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Some Merkava links.
http://www.israeli-weapons.com/weapons/vehicles/tanks/merkava/MerkavaMk4.html
http://www.defense-update.com/directory/merkava4.htm
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Regular Joe
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All nations keep the protection levels of their tanks classified, for obvious reasons. That said, I'd be VERY surprised if the Merk Mk4 was not the heaviest armoured tank in the world today. The Israelis are more than happy to trade speed for armoured protection, which has been traditional through the history of their tank program. The Israelis are very sensitive to casualties, even more so than the US, and this drives the tank design.
120mm gun is very similar, not sure if the Israelis use DU for their ammo, but I imagine their stuff is as good as anyone else's.
Mobility: Again,(I suspect) they trade more armour for speed. But the Mk4 has a 1500hp diesel, so it's not slow, just slower than the rabbit Abrams. They don't have very far to go to get at their enemies. Hell, Damascus is what, 100 miles from the Israelis border? S/F...Ken M
"It's easy to be hard, it's hard to be smart"
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Seasoned Vet
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The biggest downside to the turbine is the exhaust. Its too hot to allow grunts to walk behind. Fixing that and putting a phone on it would be good moves.
Go with God, but make Him walk the point.
If you load a mudfoot down with a lot of gadgets he has to watch somebody a lot more simply equipped - say with a stone axe - will sneak up and bash his head in while he is trying to read a Vernier. - Robert Heinlein
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Hard Charger
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