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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIraqi Forces Add Russian Guns to US Tanks for ISIL Fight
TEL AVIV, Israel Earlier this month, Shia militiamen in Iraq dropped off an American-supplied Abrams tank at a US-supported repair facility where workers were surprised to find an attached Russian machine gun plus Iranian ammo, Defense News has learned.
The MIA1 main battle tank one of 146 frontline tanks the US sold to Baghdad was transported through the Green Zone to a US-supported Iraqi service facility at al-Muthanna that was established as part of the Pentagons Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
The tank was equipped with a Russian .50-caliber machine gun and Iranian-stamped 12.75-mm ammunition, according to a source at the facility.
They brought it in through Iraqi checkpoints, back-rolled it off the trailer and then drove away, recounted the source.
Once all the ammo was removed, as per procedure, by Iraqi personnel, we noticed Iranian markings on the back of the shell casings. Seems they put a Russian machine gun with Iranian ammunition on an Abrams tank.
As Washington scrambles to adapt to the myriad, Iranian-backed Shiite militias fighting alongside its US-trained and -supplied partners in Iraq, new manifestations of shifting alliances may threaten the relevance of US end-use monitoring in that war-torn country.
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2015/10/15/iraq-russian-gun-iranian-ammo-found-us-origin-tank/73999398/
underpants
(182,767 posts)We pay for exclusive use as I understood it.
atreides1
(16,072 posts)Older models.
EX500rider
(10,839 posts)Australia Australian Army: 59 M1A1 (AIM) configuration tanks (hybrids with a mix of equipment used by U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps but without depleted uranium layers in armor). These tanks were bought from the U.S. in 2006 and replaced the Leopard AS1 in 2007.
Egypt Egyptian Army: 1,005 M1A1 tanks co-produced by the U.S. and Egypt for the Egyptian army. Another 200 tanks have been ordered.
Iraq Iraqi Army: 140 M1A1Ms (without depleted uranium layers in armor). Iraq was leasing 22 U.S. Army M1A1s for training in 2008.The first 11 tanks were delivered to the Iraqi Army in August 2010. All were delivered by August 2011.In October 2012, it was reported that six more tanks were being delivered.
ISIL Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant: More than 40 Iraqi Army M1A1Ms captured as of June 2015, some destroyed by U.S. airstrikes.
Kuwait Kuwaiti Army: 218 M1A2s (without depleted uranium layers in armor)
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian Army: 373 Abrams tanks, To be upgraded to M1A2S configuration in Saudi Arabia. 69 more M1A2S tanks ordered on 8 January 2013, to be delivered by 31 July 2014.
United States United States Army and United States Marine Corps have received over 8,100 M1, M1A1 and M1A2 tanks combined.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Abrams#Operators
underpants
(182,767 posts)I didn't know that
GreatGazoo
(3,937 posts)you may say I'm a dreamer...." (-with apologies to John Lennon)