Some agriculture tractors use exclusively track drive systems and have operating weights nearing thirty tons, and these tractors often use public roads. To be very frank, before going any farther, wheeled APCs are flatly going to be your best option for a street-legal “tank.” A tank with tracks is too heavy for legal roadways, and the tracks are far too hard on, well, everything to consider them a viable option.ĭriving a tracked vehicle on the roadways is not expressly forbidden nationwide, but in some areas, only farm vehicles are allowed to have them. Older streets with cobblestone or brick surfaces

If you did make a tank street legal, you would need to keep a close eye out for situations where your tank could cause damage you might be liable for. Since the armor is integral to the function and design of the tank, it is doubtful that you can pair it down any. That brings us to two of the jarring realities of driving a tank on public roads, especially if you want to do it with regularity: weight and traction.Īn M60 main battle tank has an empty weight of roughly 50 tons (100,000lbs), which exceeds the national maximum gross vehicle weight rating of 80,000lbs by ten tons. For reference, fully-loaded semis in the United States are limited to just 40 tons. In addition, tanks are equipped with massive, rifled cannons and usually two or three light machine guns for anti-personnel operations. The M60 it replaced weighs anywhere from 50 tons to nearly 55 tons. They lead mechanized infantry companies straight into the fray, seeking out and pulverizing other tanks, artillery, and reinforced positions-pretty cool stuff.īy necessity, tanks are heavy: today’s M1 Abrams main battle tank tips the scales at nearly 68 tons. Once lumbering and slow, basically a stationary target that could take enormous amounts of small arms fire while providing cover for mechanized infantry, main battle tanks are now really the tip of the spear. The Army itself states the purpose of armor better than I can: “The role of the Armor company is to fight and win engagements through speed, firepower, and shock effect.”Īs technology has advanced, so has the main battle tank. But, strategically, they are employed by ground forces (Army and Marines) as a primary offensive weapon in ground combat strategy and doctrine. We all have a good sense of a tank it is an armored military vehicle armed with a large main gun affixed to a rotating turret.

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