With the autoloader, operation of the MBT-70 required the use of only three personnel similar to Russian auto-loading MBTs. The turret was sloped on all sides and set in the middle of the design and housed the entire crew (the remarkably low silhouette - at just over 6 feet tall - necessitated that the driver be placed in the turret with the tank commander and gunner). The MBT-70 offered a low profile with a powerful main gun (152mm coupled to an XM-150 autoloader for the American model and an auto-loading 120mm Rheinmetall gun for the German model). The joint design became known as the MBT-70. The US Army was then fielding the M60 Patton series (its own origins lay in the World War 2-era M26 Pershing heavy tank) as their main battle tank and it was largely believed that the T-72 would outclass the Patton as soon as it arrived - likewise for the West Germans and their post-war Leopard 1 main battle tanks. The origins of the M1 Abrams can be traced back to a failed partnership between the United States and West Germany in producing a new generation main battle tank system with the latest capabilities to combat whatever the Soviets were brewing (this turned out to be the T-72). In US military operations, the Abrams currently serves with both the US Army and the US Marine Corps. As of this writing, roughly 8,800 Abrams have been produced in all its varied forms. Along with the United States, operators of the Abrams include Australia, Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The system has been featured in the 1991 Gulf War and Bosnia along with the US invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. The tank was introduced in 1979, entered service in 1980 and is still undergoing production. The M1 Abrams was designed by Chrysler Defense and produced under the General Dynamics brand.
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