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Hi guys small update on my M1A3C visual study. I made two distinct LOS thickness estimations, one with reference to the 66mm smoke grenade launcher (not a perfect solution, since because of picture perspective, the grenade launchers appear as bigger than they actually are) which yielded a LOS increase of aprox. 287mm over the older M1A2 turret. The second estimation, assuming an LOS thickness for the M1A2 turret thickness of 860mm resulted in an estimated 973mm for M1A2C turret. This second solution, IMO, is more trustworthy but there is some margin of error since it´s not that easy to estimate the exact spot where the armor module starts, to do so i used the 3d model as used in the game Warthunder, which yes, as a game has its issues but at least the developers did have access to a real Abrams to measure it. UPDATE: I just realized that i may have f*cked up the second estimation, i will need better techniques for estimating the reference LOS 860mm on the M1A2 turret, expect news in a few days or some hours depending on real life stuff.

Good news is that i managed to unf*ck my estimation. Bad news is that the extra steps taken were not really necessary (won´t go into detail) because at the end of the day i only needed a good indication of the percentage of thickness increase in M1A2C, which ended up being 13 percent. Anyways, being able to see the 3d model in WT helped me a lot realizing what i was doing "wrong", however the only measure that really needed correction was the height of the turret face. In the end, the thickness goes from 860mm in M1A2 to 971mm in M1A2C. Of course,there is an obvious margin of error but this is the best i can do with an horizontal picture and the tools i have, surely more trustworthy measurements will be possible once we get a top-down view of M1A2C.

Yes and no. The M1A3 is part of the NGCV project. The NGCV can be split between vehicles that are in service, or close to entering service, and vehicles that are only in early stages of development. All these vehicles are included in the NGCV because the Army plans to incorporate some of the core technologies developed in that project, into every AFV. Whether the vehicle is "new" or "old" only affects how much of the less important and more peripheral tech can be added as well. So in a way, they DO have some definitive plans for the M1A3 Abrams, and you can pretty much guess them by following the requirements of the OMFV. The process is similar in Israel and Germany+France (I assume, because the european project is still under wraps), where a unified architecture is pursued for multiple vehicles at once. So my take on it is that the M1A3 is very likely to have: 1)2-man crew. 2)automatic and unmanned turret. 3)autonomous driving. 4)automatic cuing to target. 5)multi-sensor pre-firing and post-firing target detection. 6)automated target recognition. 7)360° vision system. And perhaps I'm missing a few. Overall can be seen as very similar, if not identical to Carmel. It could be that RAPAT and CCDCGVSC (formerly TARDEC) are cooperating on requirement setting and technological demonstrations. First physical evidence for that was a substantial American presence during the Carmel's demonstrations. It was said, I believe around 2016-2017, that a new M1A3 might have a 3rd crewman to operate unmanned or special systems. If so, it does not yet mean the 2 man crew part is untrue. The Carmel is also said to have a 2-man crew, but in every demonstration video it was shown to have 3 seats, with 1 belonging to a person that may not be present at all times. That is, you can expect the M1A3 to drive with a core 2 person crew, and in certain missions where unmanned vehicles are required, a specialist will enter a special station in the vehicle and operate the systems. After reading the same about the Carmel, I've hypothesized it could be just a special version for the platoon commander level (and above). Alternatively, a special drone operating crew could hitch a ride on a recon unit's vehicles.

I wouldn't read too much into Marvin's website on things outside of their 'area of expertise'. If they do it isn't public info.

It was. And now a new APU replaces the batteries. http://marvingroup.com/story/m1a2-abrams-modernization/

Javelin manual, stolen from discord https://drive.google.com/file/d/14X3dDY_CyzvpIIszvT8uZK8L8CYuS6aX/view

The FDI series will be called class Amiral Ronarc'h (first ship in the serie): The four following ships will be called Amiral Louzeau, Amiral Castex, Amiral Nomy and Amiral Cabanier (description of the career of each of those man in the article). Armament of the FDI: