M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank Manual: From 1980 (M1, M1A1 and M1A2 Models) (Haynes Manuals)

The M1 Abrams really needs no introduction, and considering how famous and iconic it is, I'm surprised it took Haynes this long to publish a "workshop manual" on it. The result is fairly decent, although not exactly mindblowing.This book follows the standard Haynes format. The first chapter focuses on the evolution of Main Battle Tank design in the US in the 60s and 70s, the initial trials of the M1, and each of the main variants produced since 1980. The next chapter describes the military aspects of the M1 - the roles of the crew and their stations, the main and secondary guns, ammunition types and stowage, and fire control. Chapter three covers survivability aspects, such as armor, blast resistance, IFF systems, and camouflage. Chapter four looks at mobility systems, including the engine, transmission, and suspension, while chapter five describes the tank's wartime service and includes the bulk of the firsthand accounts. The final chapter includes brief descriptions of several specialized variants, including bridge-layers and assault engineer vehicles.Rating this book was a bit tricky for me. Like other good Haynes titles, it has a large number of excellent photographs, some interesting technical and operational insights, and a healthy dose of firsthand accounts. The sections dedicated to the evolution of the tank's design, the exploded views of the gas turbine, and the numerous photographs of the interior and of the complex logistics of strategic mobility were particularly enlightening. For a Tank Museum collaboration, the technical descriptions tend to be rather sketchy, with the suspension and laser rangefinder only getting a couple paragraphs each. The M1 is still in service with the armies of seven nations, and elements such as the armor and fire control system are still highly classified, so this might be a case of Haynes jumping the gun.This isn't the best Haynes tank manual, nor is the worst. Although the Abrams isn't exactly obscure, this book still contains a good amount of interesting material. It also contains a truly odd "Easter egg" on page 124 which I'm amazed slipped by the editorial team at Haynes. There's a candid picture of co-author Gregory Walton, out of uniform, standing beside his tank somewhere in the Saudi Arabian desert prior to Desert Storm. And by out of uniform, I mean COMPLETELY out of uniform. Although the picture was taken a good 50 feet away, and you can't really make much out, it's obvious where Mr. Walton wasn't shaving - if you know what I mean.So, yeah. Although this isn't the best book Haynes has ever published, it's certainly the first with full frontal nudity.

This is an excellent reference. My understanding is that the Haynes military books are quite variable in quality; this is one of the best ones. The authors are former tankers on the Abrams with at least one being in Desert Storm. There are details on the history of the M1 program, the current situation and future possibilities. Marine tanks and tankers are given prominent treatment although foreign operators are given some but much less attention. As of mid 2017 the program information and future speculation are quite current, matching what I read on professional defense industry news sites. The photos are excellent throughout and really illustrate the operation of the tank from a tanker point of view. The captions the photos are extensive. The photos serve to complement the text and this book is not just a photo reference for modelers, like the Abrams books by Sabot. I particularly enjoyed the photos of damaged and destroyed Abrams and enemy vehicles.There are some topics not covered at all. The discussion of military organization pretty much ends with the tank platoon and even the discussion of platoons is minimal. This books lacks the key piece of information that as of the book's publication all Abrams in the US Army belong to 15 (including the National Guard) armored brigade combat teams and that within the ABCT Abrams are mostly grouped within three combined arms battalions, with one or two tank companies within each battalion. There is nothing in the book on who maintains the tanks within an ABCT combined arms battalion. As of 2016 the recon battalion/regiment also has an Abrams company. There is nothing on Marine tank organization or the role of the four or so tanks within a MEU.I know the Abrams has access to some obscure forms of ammunition that are not mentioned in the book, which focuses only on sabot and HEAT rounds.Another missing topic is any discussion of tank tactics. When should tanks be supported by infantry and when should they operate on their own?There is very brief information on competing NATO tanks. One can combine several passages from different parts of the book to learn the bottom line that the Abrams probably has the best armor and ammunition among tanks on the planet but has a fuel inefficient gas turbine engine, limiting the range of the tank. There is nothing on whether the Abrams can easily defeat Chinese and Russian tanks that are more updated than the tanks used by the Iraqis during Desert Storm. There is nothing on the quality levels of the electronic and mechanical systems installed on the tank.

I worked on these beauties for 10 years and this was a nice refresher. Enough detail to keep a person interested on the basic workings of an M1. If you need more info join the Military and then you can learn everything about the M1.

I am very happy with this book. I want a book that would give me more technical details of the M1 Tank and this book certainly delivers. I would have liked to see more details on the transmission, but other than this, the book was well written with many excellent photos and diagrams. Well done!

This Haynes publication is a must-have for any military historian or armor enthusiast!!!! Even people who are not very knowledgeable about tank or beginner enthusiasts will be able to enjoy and absorb the info written in this book!!!! Along with a complete history of the M1 service and the mechanical development that is covered in this book, the book has plenty of detailed photos that any reader can appreciate!!!

Excellently detail manual for the US Army is main battle tank. I love the detail and every section plus the pictures ad a great deal to the volume enjoyment the only thing I didn’t like with how short it is

Great book with lots of good info . Great books in this series.

Very good detail drawings and pictures for the scale modeller.

Since I did enjoy it overall, maybe I ought to give it four stars. I wanted to.However, anyone should read any of Dick Taylor’s trilogy on Chieftain, Challenger and Challenger 2 to see how good such a book can really be, and by comparison, this only then rates three stars.I’ll start with the point that the people who take these things to war are heroes. In general, I’m more interested in the technical aspects, but for reasons I’ll come to, I had more focus on the operational aspects of this one and I enjoyed those very much.Unfortunately, that may be-in fact in part almost certainly is-because the book is technically rather weak.The history section around tank ordnance is both muddled and inaccurate. Another gun howler is the description of burning propellant accompanying the photo on p59. Torques are given in ft/lb (should be ft.lb) in Christian units and correctly in heathen units Nm, although that should really be N.m. Conversions are made with undeserved precision. There are a number of component masses and stresses that are simply wrong. Do we really need to convert from 1800 psi to the nearest Pascal? The initial data doesn’t merit that. Cast aluminium fire extinguishers also seemed unlikely, though I my be proved wrong there.A little bit of black humour comes in with the IFF comment on p82-83: “…help forces identify friendly weapon platforms before firing on them.” Hmm, not I think what was meant, but as we see later, friendly fire casualties were quite significant, albeit that they will be higher with an inferior enemy.One thing is explained that I had not seen publicly explained before, and otherwise many errors are convenient to leave in place so as not to release data into the wrong hands, perhaps. I’ll only chuckle again at the comment re a Project Manager who thought the armour panels on a Leo 2 sounded hollow. Funny. Very funny.Back to the book, as I say, technical detail is rather lacking and often inaccurate, though if you wan to know about the Gas Turbine, there’s some good detail. Operations are well covered, but the final chapter on variants is very rushed with inconsistencies between text and captions.On the good side, the selection of photos is great, though a handful are not very sharp (in some cases, no doubt the source material).As ever, a good three-view is missing, and I would have loved to see the famous “whop that sucker with a ire iron” cartoon inserted (you had to be there: the UK version was “t**t the c**t with a track pin”)Anyway, I did enjoy reading this, but the weakness of the technical knowledge that underpins it must keep the score at three stars, I feel.

This was the third book I decided to buy after browsing the Tank Museum shop - this has just come out and is clearly the best available on the Abrams: packed with colour photos of the tanks on operations, close-ups of the varied configurations of this tank for war that I had never seen before - urban kits, different add-on armour, machine-guns etc, close-ups of the crew positions, and line drawings of the elevations and profiles, the ammunition, deep-wading versions. Some of the photos and memoirs are from the authors themselves, both of whom served on the tank. They also interviewed other users, and even the people involved with the design and development in the 1970s, and have included some of their personal photos. Some photos are of production and refurbishment. The section on British consideration of the M1A1 and M1A2 is interesting - I didn't know these tanks competed with Challenger 1 and Challenger 2, and largely outperformed them too, but for political reasons were rejected. The technical detail on the armour and armaments is cutting edge, and the gas turbine engine is shown in sectioned and exploded diagrams, down to how to clean the turbine blades with a toothbrush! The close-ups get down to individual track pads and wheels. The chapters go: design and development, lethality, survivability, mobility, operations, and variants. Several sections consider the future of the M1 series, given the appearance of foreign tanks that outclass it in many ways, but later versions of the M1 are expected to serve until 2040, with bigger guns (perhaps 130-mm or 140-mm), more armour, and a more powerful diesel engine, on which the authors speculate with some inside knowledge, I would suspect. The operational chapter is thick - I didn't know that six other armies are using the M1: some photos show Iraqi and Saudi tanks in their latest wars. The American theatres and wars are well covered from the Cold War, South Korea, Gulf War I, Gulf War II, Afghanistan, and the New Cold War in Europe from 2014. The final chapter shows the engineering versions - mine-plows, dozers, electronic counter-measures. Lots to appreciate in this book.

For anyone interested in the M1 Abrams MBT then this is a good work, full of great photo and interesting narrative. As a modeller I found it very useful.

Highly informative and excellently produced.

Terrific detail and information