At least one M1 Abrams main battle tank in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine was equipped with a kit of explosive reactive armor, a photo published online testifies. Specifically, it shows an M1A1SA Abrams with a set of the 1st generation Abrams Reactive Armor Tiles (ARAT), or simply ARAT-1.
M1 Abrams rarely get into the spotlight or appear in media which makes it an interesting case in itself, even less does so the specialized equipment for this vehicle.
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The ARAT system is somewhat similar to the BRAT armor kit for M2 Bradley, previously seen utilized in Ukraine, too.
Defence24 shares a few insights about this armor. The authors note that the issue of installing ERA on Abrams tanks rose up during the Cold War, although the U.S. Army did not finish the project then, only to return to the idea in 2003 when Operation Iraqi Freedom showed the importance of creating additional protection for this tank.
The development program commenced a year later, in 2004, and resulted in two variants of ARAT. One was called ARAT-1, it consists of M19 tiles attached to the hull as a package of 32 facing sides of the tank, and optional elements to the front of the chassis or the turret.
M19 tiles can protect from shaped charge anti-tank projectiles normally penetrating 500–550 mm of homogeneous armor and from large caliber machine guns and autocannons.
The second iteration, the ARAT-2, uses more powerful M32 tiles providing multi-layered protection to the M1 Abrams. The M32 has a characteristic appearance and resemble the shields of legionnaires of the ancient Roman Empire.
Defence24 authors note that one vehicle can be equipped with both M19s from ARAT-1 and M32s from ARAT-2 simultaneously.
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