The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday.
On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks.
The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have designs dating to the 1980s, retired major general Kuo Li-sheng (郭力升) said.
Photo: AFP
“Fielding the M1A2T would not only represent an increase to numerical strength, but constitute a qualitative leap,” he said.
The M1A2T is Taiwan’s best option for obtaining new tanks, as the nation is prevented from seeking an alternative source of arms, and developing an indigenous system is prohibitively expensive and time-consuming, he said.
The army has always planned to acquire M1 Abrams main battle tanks, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and M109A6 self-propelled howitzers, a decision made in the 1990s, when the service began fielding the M60A3 and CM-11, he said.
These systems’ acquisition would mark a goalpost in the army’s effort to enhance its three-dimensional warfare capabilities, mechanization and digitization, Kuo said.
The more modern M1A2T is superior to legacy systems in firepower, mobility and protection, performance categories that make up the metrics for assessing a tank’s effectiveness, he said.
With respect to firepower, the M1A2T is more advanced than the tanks in Taiwanese service by multiple generations, Kuo said.
Most significantly, the M1A2T demonstrates “impressive target acquisition capabilities” due to being equipped with a 40-power magnification thermal imager capable of distinguishing a human face at 2km, he said.
M60A3 and CM-11 tanks are equipped with far less capable devices that have 6 to 8-power magnification, Kuo said.
An armored unit equipped with M1A2T tanks can fight with better target identification, target distribution and a lower risk of friendly fire, he added.
The M1A2T’s main armament, the 120mm smoothbore gun, boasts an effective range of more than 2km, compared with the 1.2km effective range of the M68A1’s 105mm rifled gun utilized in Taiwanese tanks, he said.
In addition, the M60A3 and CM-11 lack a muzzle reference sensor to correct the effect of thermal expansion on the gun barrel, causing a loss in accuracy after a string of seven shots, Kuo said.
The M1A2T, which is equipped with this feature, can fire every round as accurately as the first shot, he said.
The M1 Abrams family of tanks utilizes a gas turbine as their power plant, enabling a maximum speed of about 70kph, while Taiwanese army tank crews almost never drive at speeds exceeding 40kph, Kuo said.
The M60A3 and CM-11 use the chassis of the M60 Patton family of tanks, which was once excellent, but has since become old and worn out, he said.
Although Kuo did not elaborate on the M1A2T’s armor, publicly available information showed that composite armor — a design deemed significantly more effective than the steel plating of M60A3 and CM-11 — is utilized to protect the tank.
The army’s plan over the coming year is likely to use the M1A2T to replace obsolescent tanks in existing units instead of creating new armored formations, he said, adding that northern Taiwan would probably be prioritized.
The greater Taipei area is jointly defended by the army, military police and marines with about 200 main battle tanks altogether, he said, adding that replacing half that number with modern tanks would greatly strengthen defenses.
The modern tanks “would have a huge impact on the defense of our lynchpin and strategic center of gravity, as well as the conduct of combined ground defense operations as a whole,” Kuo said.
Taiwan would be highly likely to place additional orders of M1A2T tanks, as 108 vehicles represent a relatively small number compared to the nation’s fleet of nearly 1,000 tanks, Kuo said.
The Taiwan-US military exchange enabling the transfer of the tanks similarly signaled an unprecedented level of cooperation between the two nation’s armed forces, he said.
Assessments by the Taiwanese and US armed forces showed that introducing M1A2T tanks to the nation would significantly improve joint defense capabilities, Kuo said.
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