The M1 Abrams Block III tank (M1 TTB) was a prototype built in 1983 as part of the TACOM Abrams Block III program (which would eventually develop the M1A3), featuring an uninhabited turret with a 120 mm M256 44 caliber smoothbore gun, three crews. Crew members sit side by side inside an armored capsule at the front of the hull, along with a suite of cameras and thermal imagers to maintain the crew's situational awareness. The main armament was linked to a Meggitt mechanical autoloader and a 44-round vertical ammunition carousel inside the turret basket; this system could provide a sustained rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute and successfully completed over 40,000 round loading/unloading cycles without malfunctioning during testing.
The program was canceled after the end of the Cold War, and the prototype tank is now on display in the US Army Armor and Cavalry Collection at Fort Moore, Georgia.
MIL3010
The M1 Abrams Block III tank (M1 TTB) was a prototype built in 1983 as part of the TACOM Abrams Block III program (which would eventually develop the M1A3), featuring an uninhabited turret with a 120 mm M256 44 caliber smoothbore gun, three crews.
Crew members sit side by side inside an armored capsule at the front of the hull, along with a suite of cameras and thermal imagers to maintain the crew's situational awareness.
The main armament was linked to a Meggitt mechanical autoloader and a 44-round vertical ammunition carousel inside the turret basket; this system could provide a sustained rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute and successfully completed over 40,000 round loading/unloading cycles without malfunctioning during testing.
The program was canceled after the end of the Cold War, and the prototype tank is now on display in the US Army Armor and Cavalry Collection at Fort Moore, Georgia.
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