Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 20, 1991 TAG: 9102200182
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
U.S. military officials are confident their tank has the edge - in speed, maneuverability, armor and technology. Even more important, the American tanks will be backed by attack planes and helicopters firing tank-killing missiles.
Air supremacy will be crucial because of the nature of this ground offensive, which could be quite different from major land battles of the past.
This time, the coalition forces will be moving against a deeply entrenched, well-defended and largely immobile enemy. The allies will need all the advantages they can get.
Already, coalition air strikes have destroyed 750 of the estimated 4,000 Iraqi tanks in the Kuwaiti theater, U.S. officials said. Those include the T-72s as well as older, but still dangerous, T-55s and T-62s.
The U.S. military has about 2,200 tanks in the gulf, a combination of the highly touted M1-A1s, older model M-1s and smaller M-60s assigned to the Marines. Coalition forces have an additional 1,200 tanks in the field.
Military officials said that in a head-to-head battle, the $3 million M1-A1 is clearly superior to the T-72, the best tank on the Soviet export market and known in Iraq as the "Babylon lion."
The four-man American tank has a depleted uranium, ceramic-and-steel armor with a density 1.5 times that of ordinary steel. Its main gun, firing arrow-like tungsten-and-uranium rods that burn through armor, is backed by one .50-caliber machine gun and two 7.62mm machine guns.
The T-72's 125mm gun is slightly larger than the M1-A1's 120mm gun, and, like the American tank, is laser-guided. But the M1-A1 has a better range and is more accurate, hitting targets nearly two miles away.
"The M1-A1 is immune to Iraqi anti-tank weapons in a frontal attack, and it has a gun which is more accurate, has more range and can penetrate more armor than Iraqi guns," said Kenneth Brower, an international research fellow at the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy in Britain.
Iraq opened some eyes when its T-55, a Soviet model dating back 30 years and more, effectively used night-vision equipment in the attack on the Saudi border town of Khafji. But the M1-A1 is able to magnify lights in the night without giving off beams that make it vulnerable to enemy fire.
"We can see through the smoke he can't," said one Army officer.
The M1-A1 has far greater mobility - it can fire with accuracy when traveling 35 to 40 mph while the Iraqi systems still have to stop and fire.
The Iraqis will try to eliminate that advantage by slowing down the allied advance with deep trenches, barricades and, possibly, use of chemical weapons.
In that event, the M1-A1 can close its hatch and make use of a sophisticated air-circulation system designed for operations in areas contaminated by nuclear, chemical or biological attacks.
But the three-man T-72s, many buried up to their turrets in the desert sand and largely impervious to cluster bomb attacks, does have some strengths.
The diesel-powered T-72 consumes far less fuel than the turbine-powered M-1, making the American model more dependent on good supply lines. Army officials said it would take 550,000 gallons of fuel, and 640 trucks and trailers, to keep a tank division going during a 24-hour, high-intensity offensive.
by CNB