The M1 Abrams Tank That Won’t Roll: The US Army’s M1A2 Abrams System Enhancement Package Version 4 (SEPV4) is an impressive proposed modernization of the long-standing American main battle tank (MBT).
These upgrades offer numerous improvements over the previous SEP3 configuration.
The question is, why did the US Army pass on this option and instead decide to continue to produce the M1A2 SEPV3 at a scaled-back rate?
M1 Abrams SEPv4 RIP
This will continue until the M1 production line is retooled and switched to manufacture the next-generation M1E3 Abrams.
The Army was reportedly unwilling to go forward with SEPV4 upgrade due to the weight growth that would result from the many add-ons to the tank’s configuration.
This increased weight was projected to have serious negative impact on the tank’s mobility, as well as its survivability – both of which were the central considerations in the cancellation decision.
“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 a September 2023 interview. “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 Abrams tank can no longer grow its capabilities without adding weight, and we need to reduce its logistical footprint,” said Maj. Gen. Glenn Dean, program executive officer for Ground Combat Systems, added in. “The war in Ukraine has highlighted a critical need for integrated protections for soldiers, built from within instead of adding on.”
Next-Generation Option: M1E3
That “built from within instead of adding on” is literally the mantra upon which the M1 design was based on from its inception, said a retired Army flag-rank officer who participated in the development of the original program. “The armor community in general and the M1 in particular is what drags the Army into the digital age,” he explained.
“Up until the M1 years, an US Army MBT was a mechanically-based system with some electronic hardware – like improved sights, night vision, etc. – that were bolted on as required. With the M1, the MBT becomes a modern-day weapons platform – not just an armored vehicle with a main gun mounted on a turret. M1E3 looks like an effort to get away from the ‘add-on’ tendency and make the model a set of integrated systems again.”
Like the US military’s modern-day combat aircraft and naval vessels, the concept behind the M1E3 is a weapons platform with a modular open systems architecture (MOSA). This approach will allow for more rapid technology insertion and facilitate upgrades to the onboard electronic systems – a number of which will now be software updates rather than hardware-based substitutions.
This approach to the design of the next-generation M1E3 tank will also reduce the logistical “tail” of the M-1 fleet. One example might be where hardware upgrades need to be installed, they may be as simple as swapping out line-replaceable units (LRU) – rather than removing and entire systems module and then installing another in its place.
The Electric Revolution and AbramsX
According to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report issued on the program earlier this year, Army officials state that the M1E3 Abrams will be the service’s first hybrid-electric combat vehicle. The objective of this revolutionary change in basic armored vehicle propulsion technology will be to reduce the fuel consumption of the Army’s armored corps and extend the battlefield endurance of the entire M-1 fleet.
One Army official echoed these talking points, stating “the hybrid version of the upgraded tank [M1E3] will reduce the amount of fuel the service has to lug around the battlefield and will reduce the vehicle’s electromagnetic footprint. The tank will be lighter than ever, and it will come with an active protection system that can take down enemy drones through kinetic or non-kinetic means.”
The M1E3 Abrams is also planned to incorporate innovations developed in the process of constructing the AbramsX technology demonstrator, which the prime contractor General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLA) first rolled out in October 2022.
Some of the major developments that were shown in the AbramsX debut were:
-A weight reduction of approximately 10 tons compared to that of the current M1A2 SEPV3 Abrams.
-A hybrid-electric diesel engine that will produce some 50 per cent improved fuel efficiency.
-An unmanned turret similar to other contemporary new MBT designs seen in both Europe and Russia. This has the possibility of reducing the crew size from four to three.
-An advanced set of armor protection developments designed to defeat drone-deployed munitions.
-A command and control system that permits Integration with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
-An AI-powered threat detection and fire control systems.
Other advanced features for the M1E3 will incorporate measures to reduce heat and other signatures. These are some of the more sensitive technological developments of the vehicle, and therefore, few details are available about that part of the design.
What is clear is that the concerns about being stealthy and as invisible as possible to one’s opponents, seen for decades in the tactical aircraft world, are now an issue in the armor community as well.
About the Author:
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
The Best Tanks on Earth
AbramsX: The Tank the US Army Wants
