Where are tanks built?

Tanks are still be being still being built (or upgraded) around the world. At Tanklands we like this story about America’s only Army tank factory and a how President Trump helped to save it.

Owned by the US Army, The Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in Lima, Ohio, has been building Army tanks since WWII. It nearly stopped production in 2012 but it now produces about 11 tanks a month and employs a workforce of nearly 600 people. 

The first M1 Abrams tank was produced at the facility and delivered to the U.S. Army in 1980 (for those interested, this tank was named "Thunderbolt," in recognition to the name Gen. Creighton Abrams gave to his tanks in WWII). Tanks are put through onsite testing on a two-mile track, which includes driving through deep water and off-road terrain. 

In the 1980s, 3,800 workers built 60 tanks per month at Lima and after the Cold War ended the Clinton administration ceased production of new tanks in 1996 and Lima went into decline.

The Center, received a boost in 2019 when the U.S. Army said it would spend $714 million to upgrade the M1A1 Abrams which is the main battle tank used by the country's armed forces. President Trump toured the facility in 2019 and famously said “Well, you better love me; I kept this place open, that I can tell you”.

You can learn more here.

 

References: 

www.forbes.com - How President Trump saved the last tank plan in America, 2019
www.businessinsider.com - History of Ohio's Lima tank plant, 2019