Iraq’s slowly diminishing armour faces some of the worlds most sophisticated AFVs – so who’s who in the tank park?

T55 – Iraq Main Battle Tank (MBT) Weight: 36 tonnes Max road speed: 60km/h Engine: not available Crew: 4 Armament Main: 100mm Coax: 7.62mm Turret: 12.7mm Fact: The Cold War-era T55 carries 44 100mm rounds and has an external laser range finder above the main gun.
M1A2 Abrams – Coalition (US) Main Battle Tank Weight: 57 tonnes Max road speed 65km/h Engine: AGT-1500 hp turbine engine Crew: 4 Armament: M256 120mm smooth bore cannon; M2 .50cal; Two M240l 7.62mm Fact: At a cost of US$4.4 million the M1A2 is the most advanced MBT in the world.
T72 – Iraq Main Battle Tank Weight: 41 tonnes Max speed: 60kph Engine: 840-hp Diesel Crew: 3 Armament: Main 125mm Turret 12.7mmCoax 7.62mm Fact: Iraq has manufactured its own version and is believed to possess 2000 T72s and up to 700 old US and European MBTs.
M2 Bradley – Coalition (US) Infantry Fighting Vehicle Weight: 22,590kg Max road speed: 65km/h Engine: Cummins VTA-903T water-cooled 4 cycle diesel Crew: 3 with 7 infantry Armament: 25mm cannon (Chain-gun) 7.62 mm coaxially mounted machine gun TOW missile launcher with twin tubes Fact: The M2 Bradley is equipped with the TOW anti-tank missile system.which has a range of 3750m.
Challenger 2 – Coalition (UK) Main Battle Tank Weight: 62,500kgs Max road speed 56km/h Engine: Rolls Royce CV12 Crew: 4 Armament: L30 120mm CHARM Gun Co-axial 7.62mm MG, 7.62mm GPMG Fact: Challenger 2 carries up to 50 120mm rds and 4000 7.62mm rds. The UK MBT is a 150-point improvement on the Challenger 1.
BMP1 – Iraq Infantry Fighting Vehicle Weight:14 tonnes Max road speed: 65km/h Engine: 300hp-diesel Crew: 3 crew 8 Infantry Armament: Main 73mm AT 4/5 ATGW, 7.62mm MG Fact: The low-profile BMPI has seven firing ports and vision blocks for its infantry – fuel tanks in the rear doors.
Warrior – Coalition (UK) Infantry Fighting Vehicle Weight: 24 tonnes Max road speed: 75km/h Engine: Rolls Royce CV8 diesel NA Crew: 3 with 7 infantry Armament: 30mm Rarden cannon Coaxial 7.62mm Hughes Chain Gun Fact: Warriors carry three crew and seven fully equipped soldiers together with supplies and weapons for 48 hours battle in NBC conditions.
T62 – Iraq Main Battle Tank Weight: 41.5 tonnes Max road speed 60km/h Engine: 620-hp diesel Crew: 4 Armament: Main 115mm Turret12.7mm Co axial 7.62mm Fact: The T62’s main armament is manually fed with a rate of fire of 3-5 rounds per minute.

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