Kuwaiti M1A1 tank upgrades

[Slater]

So they're buying 218 hulls (without turrets, presumably), guns, and engines. Maybe I'm not reading into it enough, but then don't they have to pay for all the rest of the remanufacturing which includes buying the rest of the turrets, electronics, etc?:

"The Government of Kuwait has requested a possible sale of two hundred eighteen (218) M1A1 Abrams tank hulls with 120mm cannons and two hundred eighteen (218) AGT-1500 (M1 Tank Series) engines in support of its M1A2 tank recapitalization. Also included are transportation and other logistics support. The estimated cost is $29 million. "

http://www.dsca.mil/sites/default/fi...wait_17-16.pdf

[26 Inf]

So they're buying 218 hulls (without turrets, presumably), guns, and engines. Maybe I'm not reading into it enough, but then don't they have to pay for all the rest of the remanufacturing which includes buying the rest of the turrets, electronics, etc?:

"The Government of Kuwait has requested a possible sale of two hundred eighteen (218) M1A1 Abrams tank hulls with 120mm cannons and two hundred eighteen (218) AGT-1500 (M1 Tank Series) engines in support of its M1A2 tank recapitalization. Also included are transportation and other logistics support. The estimated cost is $29 million. "

http://www.dsca.mil/sites/default/fi...wait_17-16.pdf

Sounds like this is a modification/follow-on of a previous deal:

This potential sale is associated with Congressional Notification 16-66 which was notified to Congress on December 12, 2016, regarding recapitalization of 218 Kuwait M1A2 tanks:

Kuwait intends to upgrade its fleet of 218 M1A2 Abrams tanks to significantly improve their crews' ability to respond to infantry threats while remaining protected inside the vehicle by adding a remote weapon station (RWS) and a .50-calibre machine gun mounted externally on the main gun which this purchase covers.

The plan was revealed by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) on 13 December, when it announced that the Department of State had approved the sale of an upgrade package estimated to be worth USD1.7 billion.

The package includes the Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station (CROWS) II and Counter Sniper and Anti-Materiel Mount (CSAMM) for the Kuwaiti tanks.

http://www.janes.com/article/66265/k...kage-announced

Which kind of explains this statement in the article you linked:

'Subsequent to the notification, Kuwait requested 218 M1A1 tank hulls from U.S. inventory be provided and upgraded vice using Kuwait’s current fleet of tanks due to its interest in maintaining operational readiness'

Sounds to me like they were going to do a big upgrade to their current tanks and then decided they didn't want too many non-operational. I'd imagine with 1.7B slated for the original upgrade about the only things that weren't being replaced were the hull, drive train, and cannon.

I'd be willing to bet that this program will effecticely double the Kuwaiti armored forces.

If I

[Diamondback]

IIRC, a "hull" in armor procurement context refers to the complete AFV, as opposed to in the field, "hull defilade" vs "turret defilade."

The alternate interpretation is they're just going to graft the new guns into the old turrets as part of a general refurb, then plop them onto the new zero-mile hulls and shove the new power-packs up their backsides.

[Slater]

Is going from M1A1 to M1A2 a significant upgrade?

[Diamondback]

Is going from M1A1 to M1A2 a significant upgrade?

Not really, it's mostly sensors and electronics. Main difference is the CITV (Commander's Independent Thermal Viewer) system; A1 only the gunner gets that neat toy.

Tom Clancy's Armored Cav had a really good writeup on it IIRC.