Quote Originally Posted by kagemusha
I think that it could be argued that the M1 A2 Abrams follows more the traditition of German tanks then Allied ones.It is also very heavily armored,has a very good gun and relyes wery much on hightech.It also consumes huge amount of gasoline.The tactics used by Abrams is also very much the same that was used with Tigers.Hit the enemy from so far away,that they doesnt even have the chance to penetrate your own armour.
After burying way too many Sherman drivers and other crew between '42 and '54, US design efforts increasingly focused on creating a main battle tank that combined the mobility of the T-34 and M-4 series with the relative fighting power of the Pzkw-Vs and VI's. The Abrams is the culmination of these efforts. As Kraxis points out, in the attack the number one job is indeed the blitzkrieg shock effect, and the Abrams is fast and reliable enough to do it.

As to killing at range, engagement ranges in open terrain have been increasing for years -- the Abrams is not the only tank out there that can hit and kill at those ranges, just one of the better ones at doing the job. Optics, laser-sighting etc. have greatly increase potential tank engagement ranges over the WW2 era. You combine the those advantages with excellent training and then set an Abrams platoon against under-trained opponents in a tank whose basic design is 10-15 years older and has not/cannot be upgraded to modern electronic standard (the T-72) and the result is very nasty on the receiving end.

All tanks guzzle fuel. Given that an Abrams weighs in at around 63 English tons, and is designed to haul that weight off-road at 40+kph, it's mileage isn't bad. No AFV is going to compete with hybrids any time soon.

Seamus