The Army has announced plans for an improved main battle tank it expects will be battlefield-ready by early next decade.
Designing and building the new model — the M1E3 Abrams — “will focus on making the capability improvements needed to fight and win against future threats on the battlefield of 2040 and beyond,” according to an Army news release Wednesday.
“We appreciate that future battlefields pose new challenges to the tank as we study recent and ongoing conflicts,” Brig.
Gen. Geoffrey Norman, director of the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle Cross Functional Team, said in the release. “We must optimize the Abrams’ mobility and survivability to allow the tank to continue to close with and destroy the enemy as the apex predator on future battlefields.”
The current model is powered by a jet turbine and burns through fuel at a rate of about two gallons per mile, meaning it requires a convoy of fuel trucks.
While an Abrams can power through most challenging terrain, fuel trucks sometimes can’t.
“The war in Ukraine has highlighted a critical need for integrated protections for Soldiers, built from within instead of adding on,” Maj.
The article is not finished. Click on the next page to continue.
The article is not finished. Click on the next page to continue.
Next page
