Early M1 Versions
When M1 Abrams entered service in the 1980s, they worked in conjunction with the United States military’s M60A3s as well as other NATO tanks for Cold War exercises aimed at counteracting Soviet forces. The early versions of M1 Abrams tanks came equipped with the M68A1 gun. The reasons for the utilization of these weapons was both economic and practical. The U.S. Army’s previous main battle tank, the M60 Patton, used M68E1. The guns could share the same bullets between tanks. The M681A1 could also fire the M900 APFSDS depleted uranium rounds, a vast improvement between the M774.