Can turn into American fighting formations (5)
I believe the answer is:
units
'fighting formations' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'can turn into american' is the wordplay.
'can' becomes 'tin' (both are metal containers).
'turn' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'into' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'american' becomes 'US' (United States).
'tin' in reverse letter order is 'nit'.
'nit' going into 'us' is 'UNITS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for units that I've seen before include "Figure on the right" , "Detachments" , "Measures of alcohol" , "military teams" , "Shops in a mall, for example" .)