![]() Jamey Turner, the armor branch representative at West Point Military Academy. "What you see with TUSK is the result of lessons learned in Iraq," says Capt. thick bolted to the undercarriage, guards against buried bombs. And "belly armor," a slab of aluminum up to 5 in. When struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, tiles on the tank's sides explode to counter the penetrating power of the warhead. TUSK-equipped tanks also should be better at taking a hit. 50-caliber gun that lets the Abrams fight in places where using its main weapon would be too dangerous for civilians. The improvements include a new canvas seat for drivers that is suspended by five straps, more thermal imaging equipment and a. The Army says these problems have been addressed with a retrofit package called the Tank Urban Survivability Kit (TUSK), which began arriving in Iraq in October 2007 after two years of development. Crews relied on crowded radio channels to talk with infantry, and they made do with outdated night vision technology. Drivers suffered injuries when the impact of exploding IEDs was transmitted through the tank's metal seats, which were bolted to the vehicle's hull. However, in 2004, as violence escalated in Iraqi cities, M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams tanks-the bedrock of the Army's armored forces-proved to be an intimidating and lethal tool. Army tanks were made to fight the armored columns of the Soviet bloc, not to take on shadowy urban guerrillas. ![]() In addition to receiving gear for urban combat, Army Abrams tanks are being upgraded with sensors that could extend their service life to 2025. ![]()
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