All language subtitles for Impossible Engineering s05e03 US Armys Super Tank.eng

Today on Impossible Engineering,
America's number one tank. This

is the battlefield heavyweight champ.

Military engineering driven to its
limits.

Never a dull day when you're out of
sight testing tanks.

And the pioneering historic innovations.

You really sense that this is a powerful
machine, don't you? It's lovely.

This is a scene of total destruction.

That made the impossible.

Yuma County, Arizona.

1 ,100 square miles of the harshest
terrain in the American Southwest.

Make up the U .S. Army's biggest testing
ground.

which means this uninhabited desert is
anything but peaceful.

This is the Army's biggest land combat
vehicle, the mighty Abrams

tank, known as the Beast.

Beast is an absolutely amazing machine.

Abrams is the best tank in the world,
hands down.

Deployed in every U .S. conflict since
its introduction in 1980, these amazing

machines have stood the test of time.

There's no tank out there that is more
lethal, more maneuverable, more ability

to provide shock effect on the
battlefield. This is the ultimate ground

system.

The Abrams M1 tank.

Weighing as much as a herd of 20
elephants.

This 70 -ton combat vehicle is turbo
-powered to reach speeds of 45 miles per

hour.

It carries four crew, the commander,
gunner, and loader in the turret, with

driver below in the hull.

The Abrams is put together in Lima,
Ohio.

Former tank commander Bill Goyne is the
project manager.

If we were going to kind of walk around
the tank, this is what we call the front

glaciers of the tank. So you can see the
driver's hole is right in there. So the

driver's down inside the hole.

The driver sits in kind of a kickback
position. He's laid back.

He's got kind of motorcycle -type
control.

Where that site is up there, you can see
those two windows. That's the gunner's

site. So the gunner is the one that is
primarily engaging with this 120

-millimeter smoothbore cannon.

Then you've got up on top here, you'll
see there's a remote weapon station.

Put a .50 caliber machine gun on there.

Then you've got this kind of almost
looks like R2 -D2 kind of thing sticking

right here. That's the commander's
independent thermal viewer.

Over in this hatch here, that's the
loader's hatch.

That's where you're going to be
reloading from because it's kind of the

diameter hatch on the tank.

And then back here, this is where the
turbine exhaust comes out of.

The Abrams tank needs to be able to
perform a variety of vital tasks.

Maneuvering across the battlefield and
providing accurate firepower while

keeping its crew safe.

But making all that possible requires
solving a long list of huge engineering

challenges.

How do you power a 70 -ton monster at
speeds in excess of 45 miles per hour?

How do you protect its occupants against
all the threats of a modern

battlefield?

And how do you create a vehicle capable
of taming whatever kind of terrain is

thrown at it?

So this is a Mark IV tank and it's the
first mass -produced tank of the First

World War.

Former British Army Captain Patrick
Beury is at the Tank Museum in Dorset,

England, to find out how these machines
came into existence.

Now, there's three basic things in tank
design which this actually encapsulates.

Protection, mobility, and you've got
firepower. And all those design elements

are still seen today in the design of
modern tanks.

It was the brainchild of William
Tritton, Walter Wilson, and draftsman

Rigby, who came up with this entirely
new type of war machine.

World War I saw a deadlock on the
Western Front, with both sides dug into

trenches.

Crossing no man's land in between was
seemingly impossible on foot.

So the British government asked this
engineering trio to devise machines.

that would allow troops to advance
across the torn -up terrain, and

get them over the enemy trenches.

And this was their solution, the British
tank, a tracked and armored fighting

machine. The tracks are really an
amazing design for the time, because

spread the waste, and they also are able
to deal with the mud.

It traveled at four miles per hour, and
the infantry walked behind it.

using it as cover until they reached the
enemy lines.

You just got a sense of terror.

If you were in the trench and you'd
never seen a tank before, one of these

unleashed against you.

They're just slowly trundling towards
you, firing its weapons.

There's nothing you can do about it.

It took an eight -man crew to operate
the Mark IV, all squeezed into its

interior.

This would have been the driver's
position when this hatches up. You

got a really good field of view.

And then when you went into action,
you'd close down this hatch like that.

And you'll be using this periscope,
which is just a tiny little slit.

And obviously your sort of situational
awareness is much more limited when

you're in battle.

Next to me, you would have had the
commander of the tank. He basically is

responsible for the direction and also
the target indication.

In the din, you know, he can tap the
driver and tell him which way to go, but

crucially, for the tank to move, he
needs to communicate with the gearsman

the back. So often they would bang a
spanner for the gearsman to stop.

The driver would engage the clutch, the
gearsman would change the gear. The tank

track would either change direction, one
would go, one would stop, and that

would rotate the tank.

Many of these early machines broke down,
and the crew was either poisoned by the

fumes from the engine beside them, or
captured by the enemy.

Despite this, engineers continued to
develop this original design, and a

vehicle soon became a vital part of the
military arsenal.

Although it's simple and basic inside
and indeed out, it was really effective

when it was unleashed against the enemy
in the First World War.

In Lima, Ohio, former tank commander
Bill Goyne and his team are standing on

shoulders of those early pioneers to
build the most advanced tank ever made.

Really, it's drawing on pretty much
every decade of tank innovation if you

all the way back to World War I. It's a
tracked vehicle, just like you see with

the Mark IV.

And this tracked vehicle solution is the
best, most maneuverable in all of those

types of difficult terrain. That's why
we prefer this tracked solution still,

even after 100 years of tank
development.

The 65 foot long tracks are made up of
linked steel plates with reinforced

rubber treads.

Each track weighs a staggering two and a
half tons.

Product manager David Moore oversees the
process.

We hold the track up and over the road
wheel.

We're now joining the track with the
last coupler. So use that hydraulic

actuator to pull the track together.

And then once we adjust the final
tension, it'll be done with the track

tensioner on that last.

Road wheel.

With the track on, the hull section is
now complete.

Once fully assembled, those tracks mean
that nothing can get in the beast's way.

It's a very confidence -inspiring
feeling that you have when you're inside

tank.

But for this mighty machine to be
effective on the battlefield... When the

bullets start to fly, you're just trying
to stay in the fight.

Its crew has to be able to defend
itself.

It's a life -and -death situation out
there, and you want to be able to engage

that target before it has a chance to
fire back in.

It's a huge responsibility for project
manager Bill Goyne and his team.

There's no second place when it comes to
the battlefield, right?

You either are the winner or you're in
trouble. So in the back of our mind,

there's always the tank crew.

Since its inception, the weaponry on the
Abrams has been continuously improved

and updated.

Its first major modification in 1985 was
replacing a 105 -millimeter cannon with

a 120 -millimeter model.

Its secondary weapon is a 7 .62
millimeter M240 machine gun.

And, fixed to the highest point of the
tank, there's a .50 caliber M2 machine

gun.

As a former tank commander, Bill knows
it's vital to find ways to control all

this firepower in a simple, intuitive
way.

There's a tremendous amount that's
coming at you as a tank commander.

You're on the radio, plus you're looking
for targets, plus you're trying to

maneuver. The bullets start to fly, and
your pupils dilate, and you can't read

anything, and your breath is going out
of control, and you're just trying to

manage yourself physically and still
stay in the fight.

So the engineering has got to develop a
system that's usable under duress and

allows the crew to work as a team. If it
doesn't do that or detracts from that,

then you've actually made it less
capable.

In live combat, locating the enemy is
crucial.

Threats can come from any direction, at
any time,

day or night, in any climate or terrain.

It's essential to be able to respond to
danger quickly.

Every second counts when they're in a
combat situation.

For the crew operating an Abrams M1
tank, a matter of seconds can be the

difference between life and death.

Abrams Test Chief Greg Duda knows the
importance of rapid target acquisition.

It's a life and death situation out
there, and you absolutely want to be

detect, recognize, identify the target,
and engage that target before it has a

chance to fire back at you.

Coming up with ways to locate and defend
against surrounding threats from inside

a tank is a huge challenge for the
current Abrams team and one faced by

engineers of the past.

Here we go.

This is incredible.

Engineer Dan Dickrell is taking this 100
-year -old French tank out for some

target practice to discover how it
radically changed tank design.

Can I describe to you the noise, the
vibration, like being inside a belly but

still everywhere?

It's very visceral.

Known as the FT, at just over 16 feet
long and weighing under 7 tons, compared

to the Abrams, it's relatively small and
lightweight.

The brainchild of automotive engineer
Ardolf Ernst Metzmeyer and renowned

carmaker Louis Renault.

The FT was designed to be used in large
numbers, with many sent at a time in its

swarm to overwhelm the enemy.

But what made this tank so effective was
its ability to target the enemy.

You ready to go?

All right.

Three, two, one, go.

All the tanks built during World War I
had a fundamental flaw.

In order to get the gun pointing in the
right direction, they had to reposition

the whole tank.

Main gun slowly coming on target.

On the battlefield, this was highly
ineffective.

And we're gonna call it right.

So about 48 seconds, 48 seconds to take
the tank, spin it around, effectively

180 degrees.

If that was trying to kill us, almost a
minute to turn this thing around. That's

not very fast.

But the Renault FT solved the problem.

It was the first production tank to have
a turret that could rotate 360 degrees.

To demonstrate the difference the
rotating turret makes.

The tank will find the same target from
the same starting position, but this

time with a spin.

To rotate it, there's no motor.

It's me. It's my power. I have this
strap. I'm strapped to it. I hang on to

handle, and I press with my legs as hard
as I can to make this huge metal turret

rotate around.

It took the tank about 48 seconds to
rotate the entirety of it.

180 degrees to put the gun on target.

I'm going to give it a go. I got my
stopwatch. Let's see how fast it takes

In three, two, one, go.

It's rotating.

That's a little bit of effort.

I took about four and a half seconds.

In a situation where every second
counts, that's a huge deal on the

The rotating turret was truly
revolutionary.

The ability for the turret to rotate a
full 360 degrees was a huge leap in

battlefield effectiveness.

To be able to see all around and then
position this tank gun

on whatever target I can see all over
the battlefield, it laid the basis for

modern tanks we see today.

The 33 -ton turret of the Abrams tank
weighs about as much as five Renault

But incredibly, it can also rotate 360
degrees in under 10

seconds.

The turret can slew 700 mils per second.
That's one of the many things that make

the tank amazing, is the ability to move
as much mass as it has just so quickly.

Like the FT, it can fire in any
direction.

But the big difference is that the
Abrams locates its targets using state

-the -art optic.

We can see the vehicle's sighting
systems.

We have the gunner's primary sight on
the left beneath the commander's weapon

station. And then on the right is the
CITV, the commander's independent

viewer. The sighting systems allow us to
see at night.

And then there's levels of focus and
zoom that can be brought in to scan the

battlefield for targets.

The tank is not just hardware, heavy
metal.

There's also a lot of software,
electronics, and high -tech equipment.

There's 1 .4 million lines of code on
the tank.

All this technology feeds into the
turret's interior compartment.

This is the nerve center of the tank.

20 years ago when I was a tank
commander, you felt like you were

suit of armor.

You and your three closest buddies, your
tank crew, now it's a little bit more

like getting into an Iron Man suit.

You're getting in there and there's so
much tech.

Known as the basket, this space, not
even 10 feet wide, is shared by a three

-man crew.

The loader's position is next to an
armored ammunition compartment.

The commander has controls for rotating
the turret and firing the cannon or

machine gun.

The gunner down below has his own sights
and weapons control.

So what is it like to be at the controls
of this powerful machine?

Former U .S.

Army Tank Commander Joseph Murrieta has
first -hand experience of its

capabilities. We have ourselves in the
tank commander's seat.

The tank commander has an extension of
what the gunner sees so that he can

verify. We also have usage of our 360
degree viewer.

Gone are the days of having your head
out and getting your own situational

awareness, which was really hard for a
tank commander to break because it's

really comforting to be able to see
outside your tank and see the

That generation is pretty much gone. You
have a new generation that's trained to

be undercover to use his situational
awareness and to rely on his thermals.

This new generation is also operating
the machine gun by remote control and

controlling the cannon with the
joystick.

Like any full -size video game in an old
-school arcade, you will just give the

input left, right, down, and up.

And then you have the trigger, just like
everything else.

So you have a gun here that weighs more
than 15 tons.

You can see how effortlessly it elevates
and depresses.

So when the tank is on uneven terrain
and traversing, the gun will stay

stationary to its target.

So while the tank is traveling, the gun
is basically looking like this inside.

And the reason it's doing that is it's
actually staying on target.

The cannon can lock onto targets up to
two and a half miles away, even when

traveling at speed.

The vehicle can be moving up to 40 miles
an hour over very rough terrain, and

the weapon is stabilized. So from the
gunner's standpoint, he's sitting still,

and what that results in is accuracy on
the move. That means he's going to hit

what he's shooting at.

But hitting those top speeds requires
serious motoring muscle.

So you've got a 70 -ton vehicle. You
want it to go over 45 miles an hour. And

what does it take to do that?

It's all about the speed of the battle.

It's being able to outmaneuver. That's
really the hardest part of the

engineering.

The iconic Abrams M1 is the U .S.

Army's main battle tank.

Keeping it ahead of the curve for over
four decades of service is a great

achievement for former tank commander
Bill Goyne and the team involved in

building this unique vehicle.

Even though from the outside it doesn't
look like it's very different than what

we fielded, you know, 40 years ago, on
the inside it's completely different.

The most updated electronics you're
going to find on the battlefield are

inside of this.

A tank is effectively two separate
machines in one.

The turret controls sights and weaponry.

The hull is its set of wheels.

Almost 33 feet long.

The rear is elevated to house the
engine, with the driver's compartment at

front.

The turret and the hull are worked on
separately on two giant assembly lines,

overseen by David Moore.

When the turret finishes at the end of
the line, the turret then gets its final

gun shield, the turret basket guard's
on.

At that point, we'll load it onto the
finished hull.

Once the two halves are united, the
combined weight is an incredible 70

This one looks like it's about ready to
go for a ride.

So how is it possible to get this
massive machine moving at high speed?

You've got a 70 -ton vehicle. You want
it to go over 45 miles an hour.

And what does it take to do that?

That's really the hardest part of the
engineering is getting that balance

You need to have something that's giving
you all the power that you need.

but as light as you need it to be.

Designing an engine that's heavy -duty
but lightweight seems like an impossible

mission.

Solving it requires imaginative
engineering from the past.

Aerospace engineer Ben Evans is taking
to the skies in a pioneering aircraft

that may hold the key for the team
working on the Abrams tank.

Wow.

Mike Cattell owns this iconic 1963
Alouette II helicopter.

The Alouette II helicopter really became
one of the most influential helicopters

in the middle of the 20th century.

It set the trend for modern -day
helicopters.

The first helicopters were powered by
piston -driven engines like those used

cars. And as the aircraft grew in size,
so did their engines.

But ambitious helicopter designers
struggled with this weight problem.

They wanted to make helicopters bigger
and more powerful, which meant bigger

engines. But increasingly they were
finding that as helicopters got bigger,

and more of the power from those piston
engines was actually being used to lift

the weight of the piston engine.

Another thing the helicopter wanted to
left, which was the cargo, the

passengers. They faced the same problem
as the team behind the Abrams tank.

They needed an engine that was powerful
but lightweight.

In 1950s France, one man came up with
the perfect solution.

Joseph Szydlovsky was a Polish -born
engine designer who pioneered the use of

the turboshaft gas turbine engine in
helicopters.

The Alouette II was the first mass
-produced helicopter to use the new

So basically what we've got here is a
jet engine, but instead of generating

thrust, we're generating mechanical
power down a shaft.

This is one of the air intakes, and
there's another one on the other side of

engine. It's sucking air in at the front
of the engine here, and that air passes

into a compressor.

That compressor is squeezing the air,
increasing its pressure and its

temperature before it passes into the
combustion chamber.

So in this region here, fuel gets added
and ignited, and then you end up with

lots of hot, high -pressure exhaust
gases which need to escape somewhere.

they come out of the back of the engine
through the exhaust.

But unlike a jet engine, where those
exhaust gases are accelerated into a jet

push the aircraft forward, what we have
inside here is a turbine.

And that turbine is connected to a shaft
running down the centre of the engine.

You can actually see the shaft coming
out the front of the engine here into

this. gearbox system here, converting
that power and sending it vertically

upwards into the propeller system.

The key elements of the turboshaft
engine are the compressor, which

pressurized air for added turbopower,
and the turbine, which turns the shaft

that spins the rotors.

Although the engine weighs just 315
pounds, it generates 530 horsepower.

So this engine system is revolutionary
because you can generate more power for

less weight than the conventional piston
engines that were being used before the

Alouette II. This makes it perfect for
something like a helicopter where you

need a lot of power, but you really need
to keep the weight of the aircraft down

as low as possible.

Delivering maximum punch for minimum
weight, the turboshaft engine took

helicopter design to new heights.

The turboshaft really was a game
changer. And what this allowed designers

was to build bigger and more powerful
helicopters.

So how can the team building the Abrams
battle tank make use of a helicopter

engine pioneered in the 1950s?

By supersizing it.

Engineers behind the U .S.

Army's premier fighting machine, the
Abrams Tank, are taking inspiration from

1950s engineer Joseph Shidlovsky and his
innovative helicopter engine.

This gargantuan gas guzzler is a 1 ,500
-horsepower version of Shidlovsky's gas

turbine turboshaft.

In tank terms, it's known as the Power
Pack.

What we've got here is what we call a
full -up power pack. It has the AGT 1500

gas turbine engine, basically the same
kind of turbine that you'd find in a

helicopter.

So this will kick out the 1500
horsepower that we need to move the 70

beast. At 1 .25 tons, it's a whopper.

But it's the optimal power -to -weight
ratio.

A diesel engine with the same output
would weigh twice as much.

So the turbine is actually about here.
It's very small. So you have the air

that's coming in through where this kind
of red bag is.

Goes in through a compression stage just
like you'd find in any other jet

engine. We've got our turbine.

The turbine is spinning.

There's a shaft that goes right through
here and interfaces here into the

transmission. And this transmission
here, all that power gets translated out

final drives that attach the rocket,
drive the track and the tank.

The engine may be super powerful, but it
doesn't make a lot of noise.

This gives it a key strategic advantage.

So what you're hearing right now is the
turbine sound of the engine.

Most tanks are going to be diesel, and
so you're going to hear them. They're

going to be very loud, very smoky. But
as you can see with this turbine here,

there's almost no visual signature.

Although it sounds loud to us on the
battlefield, this is actually very

You can be within a few hundred meters
of this in the forest, and you won't

hear it at all when it's running.

It makes it more survivable because if
you can't be seen, you can't be hit.

And so that's what's great about the
turbine engine.

Oh, it's the greatest sound in the
world.

It has such a unique quality to it, and
it just sounds like high performance,

right? It sounds like it's ready to go.
It's just chomping at the bit.

That's the real advantage that we get
from an engineering perspective over a

diesel engine is you effectively have
immediate torque, meaning when you turn

the throttle in this one, the tank's
going to move.

I think we're ready. Yeah, we're good.

Clear to start.

There's only one way to put the engine
through its paces.

Engine's firing up.

By taking it for a test drive at the
Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona.

All right, we're about to go out on
course.

Today, test chief Greg Duda is taking
the Abrams off -road.

When we do testing out here, we test on
all the road surfaces.

We're ready to roll.

The Abrams can go from 0 to 20 in 7 .2
seconds.

And has a top speed of 45 miles per
hour.

The engine can run off most types of
fuel.

And although it gets less than a mile to
the gallon, It gives the tank the turbo

force it needs.

It's always a good day to be out here
and experience the power of the Abram.

But before it's sent into combat, the
number one priority for the engineers is

working out how to keep the tank crew
safe.

How can we make this vehicle more
survivable? And that's a real challenge

from an engineering perspective.

It's a challenge Supervisor David Moore
does not take lightly.

As the product manager, I oversee them
all the way through the process to when

they're delivered.

All these tanks, I consider my babies.

Right now we have a completed tank.

Gave them a final coat of paint and then
put it onto a rail car.

And once they get a train load, we ship
them.

It's quite a sight when you see these
tanks line up.

They'll line up until you get a row of
24 of them or more.

It's pretty impressive.

Before they're sent into the field, each
one has to undergo a series of vital

tests at the military proving ground in
Yuma.

Let me know when you're ready for a
round.

Today, Test Chief Greg Duda and his team
are test -firing the cannon on this

newly built tank.

The test crew are unloading ammo, and
they're going to bring it into the safe

compartment in the tank as we prepare
for firing.

We're going to be in a safe location
behind a blast shield.

We expect to see a big bang and a large
fireball.

And you'll feel it. You can actually
feel the sound waves in your body.

So never a dull day when you're out at
the test site testing tanks.

Roger, guys.

Is there a load?

What they're doing right now, the
weapon's been loaded.

They're going through all their weapon
checks, and they're going to go ahead

fire the weapon.

Roger. They're going to fire.

They get the on -the -way command.

There you go.

Hard to beat.

That was amazing as always.

It never gets old.

I love the smell, too.

Serious shock waves, serious power.

Lots of energy being released.

But major firepower is just half the
battle.

The tanks must deliver force.

They also have to withstand it.

Using the best possible armor has
preoccupied tank engineers since the

beginning.

Originally, tanks were all made from
steel plating.

But post -World War II, as weaponry
became more powerful, new armor had to

developed.

And when a new type of anti -tank weapon
appeared, For tank engineers, once

again, the pressure was on.

Firing! Three, two, one!

Wow, that was a big bang.

Physicist Andrew Steele is at a secret
location in the British countryside to

find out what they were up against.

This steel represents the armour plating
on our tank.

We've got four 2 .5cm thick steel plates
of 10cm of armour in all. And as you

can see, there's a pretty big hole in
that.

And if we go through number two, there's
a hole.

Number three, there's a hole on both
sides.

And finally number four, there's a
pretty big hole in that one too. It's

straight through.

So what sort of weapon could blow a hole
in 10cm of steel?

Well, I've got a little model of one
here. It's called an RPG, or rocket

-propelled grenade.

In here, you've got your high explosive
crammed in the back, and when that

explodes, it crushes this inverted
copper cone.

It turns it into an incredibly hot, thin
stream of copper metal, and it just

cuts through it like a hot knife through
butter.

Engineers had to find a way to defend
against these new weapons.

For inspiration, they turned to German
ballistic scientist Manfred Held.

and a technology he pioneered in the
1960s.

What we've got here is a modern version
of Helt's invention.

It's called an explosive reactive tile.

The top layer is just this very thin
piece of steel.

Inside we've got a couple of bits of
foam, which are representing the high

explosive, and then on the back we've
got a much thicker steel plate.

Now, imagine an RPG impacting on this
tile.

What happens is that thin, hot jet of
copper pierces this outer layer very,

easily. And that then detonates this
high explosive inside.

And what that does is sends this front
piece of steel flying, which is why it's

known as the flyer plate.

That means this piece of steel can
deflect the RPG, deflect that explosive

energy away from the thicker plate
behind, and keep the tank and its

safe. So what we want to do then is
place loads and loads of these plates

over different parts of the tank.

It might seem like a counterintuitive
idea that covering the exterior of your

tank and explosives can make it safer,
but this simple invention is very

effective.

To see it in action, the team's creating
a reactive tile to try to protect a new

set of steel plates from another blast.

We've got 10 centimetres of steel plate
back here, but this time in front of it

we've got two mill of steel, and then
just in there we've got a couple of

sheets of SX -2 high explosive, which is
representing that tile of explosive

reactive armour.

We can set this thing off.

Arm the explosives.

Firing! Three, two, one!

Whoa!

Wow, this is the scene of total
destruction.

If we come down here, have a look
through the rubble, you can see this is

piece of that flyer plate, the thin bit
of steel that was on the front, and as

you can see, it's been pretty heavily
deformed.

Now, our four steel plates are nowhere
to be seen. They've probably been thrown

back somewhere into that pile of rocks.

If there was the weight of a tank behind
them, they'd still be in place

probably, but because they've just been
completely free to move, they've been

scattered by that huge, huge explosion.

Once all four plates have been found...
That's warm as well.

Wow. ...it's possible to see whether
they've been protected from the blast.

You can see here we've got piece of
armour number one. You can tell that

it's got a really big hole in it and
because it's got this indentation here

where the high explosive was just
pressed directly against it.

Then we go through to plate two, still
quite a big hole, little bit of a dent.

Plate number three, you can see that jet
has been split into two, disrupted by

that explosive reactive armour.

And finally, plate number four... You
can see, still two jets, but they've not

quite made it through to the other side.
So we've saved our tank, and we've

saved its occupants.

The success of the explosive reactive
tile turned armor design towards a

new concept.

Fighting fire with fire.

Held's invention was a real game
changer.

Just by adding a thin layer of explosive
and a thin layer of steel on top of

existing armor, you could massively
improve the safety of the crew inside.

And with some strategic placement and
21st century updates, Held's pioneering

technology just might help the engineers
behind the Abrams tank pull off the

impossible.

The team designing the Abrams tank
adapted the explosive reactive tile

technology of the 1960s and developed
their own exploding tiles that can be

added to its outer shell.

The reactive armor on the Abrams mounts
to the skirts. So the skirts are

replaced with a very similar but
different version.

And then the tiles, they're called, are
slid all the way down the hole.

That provides protection for the hull,
for the tank itself, and also the

The Abrams Reactive Armor Tiles, known
as ARATs, are fitted to each side of the

tank.

Flat box tiles are attached to the hull
and turret.

Then an additional layer of curved tiles
are hung over the top of the hull, just

like Held's original invention.

If they are hit by an incoming shell,
they detonate.

It is an incredible technology.

We do ballistic testing on the
performance of the tiles themselves, and

does is it creates just a tremendous
explosion and very loud noise, not

the weapon firing.

I'd say the ARIDE is critical for
certain threat environments when you're

operating the vehicle, having that
protection.

increases the chance that the tank is
going to survive any time it gets

And with the addition of the ARAT, the
Abrams tank is nearly unstoppable.

There is no safer place to be on the
battlefield than inside of this vehicle.

The things that can be updated have been
updated, and the things that worked

really well, no reason to break them,
that's why we're sticking with this

and true design.

The original designers of the tank are
really truly amazing to me that they

built so much margin into this tank.
It's a testament to the longevity of

tank that we can still make upgrades to
it and it can still maintain its

performance over such a long period of
time.

The Abrams tank is a victory for
impossible engineering.

After 40 years of service, This powerful
piece of machinery remains the Army's

top gun.

Engineers are curious and like to work
problems, and there's a lot of things

us to do in order to deliver something
this complex.

But it's almost impossible to keep up
with the latest technologies that are

there.

But driven to do their best work for the
tank crews, they're building on

pioneering innovations of the past and
creating new capabilities for the

To make the impossible possible.

We believe this is the best tank built
in the world.

Everybody's in awe.

It's bigger than they imagined.

It's faster than they imagined.

We take great pride in what we do.

And it brings the soldiers home.

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