Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and now Iraq too, apparently, they sure do love the Abrams in the Middle East. I was wondering, has anyone ever seen one in Arab markings? And, do they even have any markings? I've seen modelers do Army and USMC versions, and Australians, but never any Arab ones.
I guess the Iraqis will paint their flag on the turret, when they get theirs. The Australians have a red kangaroo emblem on that little box on each side of the turret, so maybe that's where the Iraqis will paint their flag.

The Eygptians have their own tank production facility. I have never seen a picture of an Egyptian Abrams, but would like to......
I wasn't aware that we were selling the Abrams to the Iraqis - I thought they had PLENTY of T54/55/59/69/62/72 even after OIF.

Chris

Please try to avoid making this topic political as the staff then have to lock things down.

Here's some info in the potential Iraqi Abrams.......

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/M1-Abrams-Tanks-for-Iraq-05013/

Images of the Egyptian, Saudi Arabian, and Kuwaiti Abrams are pretty rare.....I have only seen a couple of images of the Egyptian Abrams in the desert and in the tank factory (called Factory 200) in Egypt where the Abrams were built.

The Saudis are pretty close guarded about defence images and I can't recall seeing and images of the M1A2S.

Looks like it is already underway with the current administration:
http://www.dsca.mil/PressReleases/36-b/2008/Iraq_08-98.pdf

Paul

We have been in the process of selling Abrams to Iraq for a while now, along with all sorts of other US equipment. It is nothing new. We always re-equip the army with our latest equipment as we rebuild the countries we have taken over. We did the same thing following WWII. You don't want them to have inferior equipment that they can't defend themselves with.

I haven't seen any pics of them or other Arab Abrams either. They are pretty guarded about their best toys.

yeah Gino, your right we do rearm every country we've done that to...
Sorry if I ranted... ~snorts~

Chris, (and others, just in advance...)

can we stay on topic please? And lets not get sarcastic in our replies to others either. This thread is about the markings of M1 Abrams Tanks in Arab service. If it takes a different direction, I'll close it down.

Thanks

Henk

I've got a picture that I think was on Yahoo that showed an Iraqi BMP in a large scale 'chocolate chip' pattern.

What's more intriguing is the pixelated camo on some of the newest Jordanian Challengers 1s.

Paul

Chris, (and others, just in advance...)

can we stay on topic please? And lets not get sarcastic in our replies to others either. This thread is about the markings of M1 Abrams Tanks in Arab service. If it takes a different direction, I'll close it down.

Thanks

Henk
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I`m with you Henk,this is a site BY modellers FOR modellers.
Let`s not screw it up by dragging petty political squabbles into our beloved hobby,let`s face it,no one passes sarky comments about Nazis when a new King Tiger is shown.
There are plenty of those sort of sites elsewhere on the web if you want to rant about something.

According to the caption, here are some Egyptian M1A1 Abrams MBTs near the Suez canal :


HTH

Frenchy

Hey Frenchy,
Thanks for the pics. It's too bad that the markings, if there are any, aren't distinguishable. Somebody on Track Link told me the Egyptian Abrams are very elusive. I guess you could say the same about the Kuwaitis and Saudis too.
I only recently learned about the impending sale of the Abrams to Iraq. Maybe the Iraqi generals talked it over with their Egyptian, Kuwaiti and Saudi counterparts, and were told, go ahead and buy the Abrams, if the Americans will sell it to you. It's worth the money, and God knows, you guys can afford any tank you want. And I guess fuel won't be a problem, ha ha.
They say that tanks in U.S. service in Iraq will be turned over to the Iraqis, after they close the deal. I wonder when that will be?

As much as they will be using the same tanks.......I doubt that Saudi Arabia or Kuwait would confide with Iraq to discuss tank purchases.....too much bad blood and oil spilt.

I would think the markings on the Egyptian, Saudi, and Kuwaiti Abrams are all quite simple....nothing really flashy except for unit tactical markings and maybe some Arabic call sign numbers.

Not like these Abrams........haha....nothing like corporate combat sponsors.....yes, I know it is a fake photo.

http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/y/V/corporate_tank.jpg

I don't know about that. OUr tanks are pretty well beat up when a unit rotates out. Most are sent back for rebuild as part of the Unit Reset Program. I think the Iraqis will get newly rebuilt tanks as well.

Gino,

Won't the Iraqi M1s be an "export" version without the special DU armor, state of the art electronics and all that high-speed, low-drag stuff?

That's what I understood SA, Egypt and Australia purchased.

Most likely. They will still probably be new rebuilds though. As I understand it, Australia bought all the latest upgrades minus the DU due to a restriction from their government, not anything from the US. I believe the rest of the tank is the same as ours.

Very interesting. Thanks a lot for the info, guys.