War Thunder [Development] M1 Abrams: The Desert Warrior

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[Development] M1 Abrams: The Desert Warrior Posted: 24 Feb 2018 04:36 PM PST A fighting vehicle that needs no introduction - The M1 Abrams is one of only a small number of tanks that have gained such a reputation and worldwide fame that surpasses legendary status by a long shot. War Thunder tankers and fans of modern military vehicles rejoice! The M1 Abrams is charging at full speed to the top ranks of War Thunder's ground battles with the upcoming update 1.77 "Advancing Storm". Get ready! Once the unsuccessful joint German-American MBT-70 project had been shut down in 1971, the Congress redistributed funds to the further development of the XM815 project, later known as the XM1 Abrams. The development of the XM1 Abrams was a competition between two designs of the Chrysler and General Motors companies, respectively. Early July 1973 marks an important date for the project after representatives of both companies travelled to Great Britain to witness the development of the new composite armor, named Burlington. Impressed by what they saw, both companies decided to reevaluate and optimize their designs' armor layout to increase its effectiveness, with General Motors changing the front shape of the turret to a sloped surface, whilst Chrysler retained its vertical design. By 1976, the XM1 prototypes were being readied for testing, with the finishing touch being the installation of the M68 cannon.. Testing of both prototypes took place in the presence of the new German Leopard 2 tank, which was shipped to the U.S. for comparison purposes. Once testing was concluded and the results evaluated, the turbine-powered Chrysler design was proclaimed the winner of the competition and thus the Chrysler design would soon enter production as the M1 Abrams. The first production version of the M1 Abrams has been dispatched to the troops fighting on the front lines and is due to arrive with War Thunder's update 1.77 "Advancing Storm" very soon. Stay tuned to the news to find more about the next upcoming major update for War Thunder. Until then, stay safe on the battlefield! For more information, read the full Dev Blog article on the Official War Thunder Forums![forum.warthunder.com]