Posted: 4/3/2002 11:28:11 AM EDT
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555 co-produced with Egypt. 315 M1A2 for Saudi Arabia and 218 for Kuwait. I just read this interesting fact. Are these tanks equiped the same as the one that our boys use or are they toned down? Same armor? Its scary that we would have to fight our own stuff one day. |
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These tanks someday need parts and maintenance to run. The U.S is the only manufacturer who can provide them. It's like those HP printer, they gave them out free when you buy a PC and when you ran out of ink....it's $500.00 a cartridge. He! He! He! That's what I call business. |
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Quoted: Whats your source? I have a hard time believing we'd give our best tank to countries that don't like us and are in close proximity to China. We have a history of doing just that. Remember Iran? I've always thought that we should never give our best hardware to any country that isn't a friendly, stable democracy and long term ally of the US. Johnny-come-latelys and dictatorships need not apply. These things can backfire. |
| Same Chobham armor. They might only have the 105mm but many of ours still do too. Would you rather have thousand's of Americans fired as these countries bought Leopard A5's, or LeClerc's, or T-90's? And what the hell does being close to China have to do w/ anything? First of all, I don't know what freaking map you're looking at, but Egypt, Saudi, & Kuwait are nowhere near China. Also, do you expect some kind of land war where we are fighting China in Uzbekistan or something, & all of a sudden the Kuwaitis, Saudis, & Egyptians march 500 Abrams across a number of other foreign sovereign countries to hit us in the arse? Please... Also, if it's that you're worried about them selling our mil. tech. to the Chinese - don't - the Israelis already do that enough for ALL of our "allies." Please think before you make statements like that, really, please do. C'mon now, these sales saved thousands of American jobs, helped our economy, and as far as maybe having to fight them one day - all I'll say is it's a lot easier to defeat a weapon you know & built, than one you didn't... |
| I remember talking to one of the QC inspectors from the Lima tank plant when they were making these. The welds holding those tanks together weren't nearly as good as the ones made for the U.S. They were trying to get them out the door as fast as possible for use in Desert Storm IIRC. |
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It's the maintenance issue. In a war situation, without us supplying parts, it wouldn't take long for their M1A's to become stationary artillery, especially in the desert. The same will be true of their F16's, etc. Without a continuous supply of repair parts, they will become statues waiting to be destroyed. Also, few foreign nations get our latest/coolest electronics. Israel does, but they are the middle eastern exception. Even Saudi is only sold the previous generation of avionics. Or at least that was true ten years ago. Who knows what Klinton let them buy. |
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Hardware is only half the issue. Having first rate equipment won't save the day if your doctrines and training isn't up to snuff. The Isrealis or us would make short work of their latest and greatest, even if externally identical to ours. Anymore it seems like a tank vs. tank fight means one of our flyboys missed a target. |