AbramsX: How the M1 Abrams Tank Gets Even Better

Summary and Important Points You Need to Know: The M1 Abrams main battle tank (MBT), a cornerstone of the U.S. Army‘s arsenal for 44 years, has continuously evolved to maintain its battlefield superiority. The latest iteration is the AbramsX, which offers reduced weight, improved mobility, and a 50% reduction in fuel consumption.

The M1 Abrams main battle tank (MBT), a cornerstone of the U.S. Army’s arsenal for 44 years, has continuously evolved to maintain its battlefield superiority. The latest iteration is the AbramsX, which offers reduced weight, improved mobility, and a 50% reduction in fuel consumption. It features a hybrid power pack for silent operations, AI-enabled lethality with a 30 mm XM914 Bushmaster chain gun, and an autoloader that reduces the crew size from four to three. The AbramsX is still in the technology demonstrator phase, with operational deployment expected by 2030 as the M1E3 Abrams, ensuring its relevance into 2040 and beyond.

-It features a hybrid power pack for silent operations, AI-enabled lethality with a 30 mm XM914 Bushmaster chain gun, and an autoloader that reduces the crew size from four to three.

-The AbramsX is still in the technology demonstrator phase, with operational deployment expected by 2030 as the M1E3 Abrams, ensuring its relevance into 2040 and beyond.

The AbramsX Tank Is Coming Soon

The M1 Abrams main battle tank (MBT) is arguably the most successful in the history of warfare (with all due respect to the WWII-era M4 Sherman and T-34, of course), with 44 years of faithful service to the U.S. Army and a superb battlefield record of deadliness and survivability starting with the Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) in 1991. More recently, the tank has seen action on the battlefields of Ukraine, with 31 M1A1s sent by the United States to the embattled country starting in September 2023.

But as the saying goes, “The only constant is change.”

Like many other weapons systems that have served the US Armed Forces for multiple decades (to name a few examples, the B-52 Stratofortress bomber, the C-130 Hercules cargo plane, and the M-16/M-4 rifle series), the Abrams hasn’t remained frozen in time but rather has undergone upgrades and updates to keep it viable.

The latest example of this is the so-called AbramsX project.

AbramsX Tank Basics

As noted in a 5 October 2022 press release by General Dynamics Land Systems (GLDS; they purchased the original manufacturer of the M1 Abrams, Chrysler Defense, back in February 1982):

“A main battle tank for the next generation, the AbramsX technology demonstrator features reduced weight for improved mobility and transportability, delivering the same tactical range as the M1A2 Abrams with 50% less fuel consumption. The AbramsX’s hybrid power pack supports the U.S. Army’s climate and electrification strategies, enhances silent watch capability and even allows for some silent mobility. With a reduced crew size and AI-enabled lethality, survivability, mobility, manned/unmanned teaming (MUM-T) and autonomous capabilities, AbramsX can be a key node in lethal battlefield networks and serve as a bridge from Abrams SEPv3 and SEPv4 to a future tank.”

The Abrams SEPv3 is a state-of-the-art variant in its own right, featuring technological advancements in communications, fire control and lethality, reliability, sustainment and fuel efficiency, along with upgraded armor. A clear vote of confidence in the SEPv3 was made in August 2022, when the U.S. Army awarded a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract worth up to $1.148 billion to deliver 250 of these tanks to the Polish Army (Wojska Lądowe [“Land Forces”]), thus augmenting the Poles’  German-made Leopard 2s and Soviet-era T-72s.

To Be a Bit More Specific, i.e. a Few More Specifications

Back to the subject of the AbramsX, that “AI-enabled lethality” refers to a 30 mm XM914 Bushmaster chain gun in a remote weapon station, manufactured by Northrup Grumman; this is essentially an updated version of the M230 autocannon that had originally been built by Hughes Aircraft and was made famous by the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.

The Bushmaster (not to be confused with the infamous AR-15/M-4 rifle manufacturer of the same name) has a cyclic rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute (rpm; or, to use the officially company literature acronym, “SPM,” which I presume means “shots per minute.”) It is a multi-role, multi-target gun system designed primarily to defeat unmanned systems (read: UAVs/drones), adversarial combat systems, and lightly protected structures.

A M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank in 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division fires at a prop target during a live fire exercise on Feb. 17, 2023 in Petrochori Training Area, Greece. American armored units along with Greek armored units spent the past couple days training force-on-force and other combat simulation exercises.

Regarding the “reduced crew size,” that is made possible by an autoloader for the main gun, thus bringing the crew complement from the original four down to three (commander, gunner, driver). Speaking of the main gun, it is a Watervliet Arsenal XM360, an experimental 120 mm smoothbore cannon developed as a lightweight cannon that could equal or surpass the capabilities of the 120 mm M256 mounted on the M1A2 Abrams while being mounted on a much lighter vehicle.

The AbramsX reportedly weighs 59 tons, which is a 14.-6-ton weight savings compared with the SEPv3.

Present and Near Future Status of AbramsX

The AbramsX is still in the technology demonstrator phase. However, back in September 2023, defense officials announced that the system could be manned by live, flesh-and-blood soldiers are soon as the year 2030. The final production version will be known as the M1E3 Abrams, including improvements to sustain the fleet in 2040 and beyond.

A U.S. M1A1 Abrams tank needed for training the Armed Forces of Ukraine awaits offloading at Grafenwoehr, Germany, May 14, 2023. The M1A1 training is expected to last several weeks and will include live fire, crew qualification, maneuver, and maintainer training. Armed Forces of Ukraine training is conducted by 7th Army Training Command at Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels training areas in Germany on behalf of U.S. Army Europe and Africa. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Christian Carrillo)

As Brig. Gen. Geoffrey Norman, director of the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle Cross Functional Team, wrote:

“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.”

About the Author: Chrisitan D. Orr

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch , The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS).