M1A1 AIM and M1A1 HA difference?

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

Can a M1A1HA be a M1A1 AIM? Please keep in mind i’m an Air Force guy.[:D]

I have some decals from Echelon for the M1HA and i’d like to us on Dragon’s new release.

thanks,

2

AIM is just a fancy acronym for a rebuild.

All older M1A1 and M1A1HAs destined for US use will be rebuilt to current “like new” M1A1HA standards using the AIM or Abrams Integrated Management Program. In US terms, an M1A1 AIM and M1A1HA are virtually the same thing. The “AIM” just identifies it as a tank that was rebuilt.

In Austrailian use, they do not want the heavy armor (uses depleted uranimum armor mesh) version of the M1A1 (commonly called the M1A1HA), but they want rebuilt M1A1 AIM tanks. Their M1A1 AIM tanks will have all the upgrades of a current “like new” M1A1HA but not have the “HA”. In this case, M1A1 AIM will be different from M1A1HA.

3

Externally, there is no difference. An M1A1 AIM is just a completely rebuilt to like-new, zero time, Abrams. AIM stands for Abrams Integrated Management program, which means complete rebuild. They take older M1A1s and strip them down, replace worn out parts, and rebuild them to current standards. They can also have some of the newer digital systems added to them as well. From the outside though, they look no different than any other M1A1 that has all the latest modifications added.

So to answer your question about the Echelon decals, Yes. You can use them on the forthcoming Dragon M1A1AIM. However, you will most likely not need to. It will have a huge decal selection in the kit.

Edit: Rob beat me to it!!!

4

Rg and HA,

Thanks, one would assume Dragon will release several versions of the M1…but thanks again for your time - bwog

5

They also have an M1A2 SEP listed as a future release. It could easily be built as a standard M1A2 with the ommission of a few parts and the conversion of a few others. We shall see when it comes out.