American Notes DEFENSE

As American M1 Abrams tanks maneuver through war games on the West German plain, NATO strategists worry about how to protect them from increasingly powerful Soviet antitank missiles. Last week the Army announced the development of an armor that will give the Abrams far better combat survivability. "This isn't a 10% upgrade in protection, this is a 100% upgrade," said Phillip Karber, a vice president of the weapons-testing BDM Corp. and an expert on tanks. The new armor, containing depleted uranium encased in steel, will not reduce the tank's top speed of 42 m.p.h. The Pentagon says that the uranium, a residue of the weapons' production process, will expose crewmen to only a slight radiation dose that poses no health hazard. The first of 2,499 newly armored tanks is scheduled to clatter off the assembly line in October.