how many Abrams vehicles has the US lost in Iraqi Freedom?

[Wat_The_HHEELLL310]

Hello, new comer here. i hope my entry will not be a problem to anybody.

ive just become aware of these ruined Abrams left behind or destroyed and i was wondering:

how many M1 series tanks has the US lost in this whole campaign?

and how many are LEFT? i know this is kind of a stupid question but since the GDLS factory is not making any new M1 tanks for the US Armed Force (or are they?), it just struck me rather curious.

also, does anybody know like the numbers of M1s, M1A1s, and M1A2 tanks in service?

(sorry, i love these tanks and the sight of them in Iraqi hands is kinda... "concerning". i already dont like the idea that the US is selling M1s to Egypt

[Hannibal]

Welcome!!!

Good questions, I think we still have a good amount left. I thought they were still making them? I know Bush was at that Tank plant and there was new ones there.

Yeah, being a tanker I hate to see those idiots climbing over them but you dont see the thousands of russian tanks it took to just get one of ours

[kruser79]

The new M1A2 SEPs (System Enhancement Package) are actually the old M1s and M1A1s torn down to the empty bare hull. The welding done at GDLS is only done on old, "seasoned" hulls. Each tank is new in every way, just remanufactured, instead of freshly manufactured. I don't know the numbers, but there are a few sites around that have them.

Try this http://www.fas.org/man/index.html

[Bota99]

Hello, I am brand new here but I just happened to run across an article on the FY2004 Defense Budget and some of the major projects being funded in it. You may find this of some interest ...... The Army will receive funds to procure 301 Stryker interim armored vehicles, 144 upgraded Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 43 Abrams tanks. Oh, they also were given monies to upgrade some more Bradleys and Abrams - had been promised last year, then pulled away, then after Iraqi Freedom reinstated. As far as total numbers lost in actual combat I believe the number I saw was 4?? I know the one that drove off the bridge was covered, 1 for sure and it is believed 2 were actually damaged by the 25 mm Bushmaster of a Bradley when they were hit in the rear engine compartment area. I believe another was disabled when a large number of rpg's at close range disabled the tracks of another M1A1. I also heard mentioned one time, but then never saw anything further mentioned on it that one may have been destroyed by a newer Russian Made Korrenet (sp)Anti-tank missile - a missile that did not exist until well after the arms embargo on Iraq btw, but I never saw this confirmed anywhere.

[kruser79]

Man Bota, you really know how to dig deep for the good info, lol.
Is it any shock that it's possible the Iraqi's have (or had) the latest weapons technology from a country like Russia? "Nyet, we had NO contract wid Saddam!...........but of course, we can't know about individual arms dealers." Cough, cough (bull****), COUGH!
You know, I've personally seen what both of those vehicles can do to each other (M1's and Brads).
When I was PFC on my first NTC rotation, one of our sister battalion's Bradleys put two rounds in an M1's hindquarters. The crew all felt the "bump, bump" looked around at each other and were asking, "What the hell was that?" Right about then the engine started to shut down. The TC was hollerin' asking the driver why he shut the engine down. Turns out he didn't, but the rounds went in the engine oil cooler, and it's a failsafe that if the engine doesn't have oil pressure, it won't run (after all, we can't have them pricey engines eating themselves from the inside out now, can we?).
The flip side was a good deal more disheartening and the worst type of accident to have. A couple of years later I was called to tow a Bradley for another unit. Us mechanics can be a grumpy sort sometimes and I growled under my breath something about a unit's inability to tow their own crap. It seems that during the previous night's night fire, a tank misidentified a target and put a training sabot right in the back ramp. I'm a little unsure as to what started the fire, but the vehicle just looked a little "rounder" after burning some. The only one killed was the driver, the round entered the ramp and exited through his hatch. Hearing all this shut me up with a quickness, and actually made for a pretty sad trip from Range 301 back to Graf.

[Bota99]

Sorry to hear about the Bradley that took the practice sabot I did find that highly interesting though about the 25mm bushmaster firing the DU rounds disabling our Abrams. I suppose the gunner needs to check his fire better, but in heated close in combat like occured in Iraq I could see how that could happen I did read somewhere recently that they are going to look into uparmouring that area too. Imagine what that Bradley has been doing to those T-72's and T-55's though

[kruser79]

One of the great things about our R&D folks is that they've remained at the forefront of both offensive and defensive stuff. I'm pretty sure our tankers have known for awhile now, just how the German tank crews felt during WWII sitting in their King Tigers. Not only do our rounds pop Russki turrets at 5000 meters, but their best rounds dig little furrows in our armor while they're glancing off on new trajectories, lol. This tank is a source of pride for me. In 20 years I've watched it evolve from a problematic, huge jump in technology that many thought too complicated, to a stable, reliable platform that has no equal. I suppose I now know how those old M60 mechanics felt about the M1 ("'puter driven POS, crash the hard drive and that thing ain't goin' nowhere," lol.) But, she's beautiful to me, and anything that replaces her will have to be awesome.