After the close of the Viet Nam War, the US Army turned its attention to the European Theater of Operations. The Warsaw Pact nations had, through the 1970s, built a formidable armored strike force. It was apparent that the M60 class tank was behind in the technology of the Soviet T72 Main Battle Tank. The US began the task of designing and producing its 21st century tank. The tank that finally was produced in the early 1980s was the Abrams M1. The variant depicted in this Forces of Valor model is the M1A1, Operation Desert Storm. The M1A1s record during that war was nothing less than spectacular. It had a kill ratio of 9 to 1 and not one Abrams crew member was killed.This highly detailed 132 scale plastic version of the M1A1 Abrams is part of Forces Of Valors Bravo Team series. The 132 scale vehicle is approximately 10 inches long (12 inches long with gun barrel) and has a turret that rotates, a gun barrel that raises and lowers, and treads that roll.