And people wonder why I saw the Abrams os the best tank in the current military.I'm going to relay a story that was infamous in Iraq when I was downrange. I've heard multiple versions of this story but they almost always play out the same way. But I think it was 3rd Infantry Division during their drive on Bagdad when they walked right into an ambush and an M1A1 (might have been an A2) was essentially mission killed when its tracks were taken out. The tank was cut off from reinforcements or any aid. The crew continued to fight and essentially went black on ammo (ammunition depletion). They were recovered safely but the tank couldn't be recovered before the enemy overan their position. They stripped the tank of what they could salvage (radios, maps and the BLUE-FOR Tracker) and then made the call to scuttle the tank. Several Bradley's with TOW missiles hit the tank and failed to penetrate the armor. I think they hit it with 3 or 4 of them. They then called in an Apache to hit it with Hellfire missiles. It emptied its entire remaining rack of 6 Hellfire missiles into the tank and called mission complete.
By this point the unit had to pull back where they rearmed and refitted and then counter attacked. They retook their position and reclaimed the tank. Post battle analysis showed that while the Hellfires trashed the armor, they absolutely failed to cause a catastrophic penetratrion kill. The tank was sent back to the states for more studies by the Pentagon but was then repaired and returned to its unit where it remains to this day.
It couldn't even be killed by fucking Hellfires!