Europe currently has 17 different models of combat tanks in active use, while the US has only one, the Abrams M1. This is an argument that is often put forward between those responsible for industry and military policy in the old continent to point out the need to find synergies that change this panorama. In this context, while European countries continue to explore the paths to the future of their tanks (Germany and France maintain a project that is going through difficulties; Germany explores a bag -way with Spain, Italy and Sweden, and Poland finds its future in tanks. The Americans and their alliance with South Korea, for example), the United States has defined itself: developing it Abrams with a new version.
“The US Army today announced the path forward for its main battle tank modernization program. Abrams M1E3“, began a statement from the North American Army (US Army) dated Thursday. “The Army will close the system improvement package M1A2 VERSIONS 4 and develop the Abrams M1E3which will focus on making the capability improvements necessary to fight and defeat future threats on the battlefield in 2040 and beyond,” the text announced. In this way, the aforementioned M1E3 This is the option chosen for the long-term future of the country’s armored vehicles.
The note said “this strategic decision” culminates “years of testing, analysis, soldier feedback and mature technology.” The new approach, he added, “balances the costs of the Army’s needs and invests in the country’s defense industry base.”
In the words of director of the Army’s Next Generation Combat Vehicles Multifunctional TeamHE general Geoffrey Norman the goal is to “optimize the movement and safety of Abrams to allow the tank to continue to close and destroy the enemy as the leading predator on future battlefields. General Norman emphasized the “new challenges for the tank” posed by future battlefields, based on lessons learned from the study of “recent and ongoing conflicts.”
Lessons from Ukraine
Faced with this changing reality, recognized the executive director of the US Army’s ground combat systems program, the Major General Glenn Dean “the battle tank Abrams “It can’t increase its capabilities without adding weight, and we need to reduce its logistical footprint.” The general determined that “the war in Ukraine highlights a critical need for integrated protections for soldiers, built from within rather than added to them.”
she Abrams M1E3 will include the best features of the version M1A2 SEPv4, the source added, “and will follow the latest modular open systems architecture standards, which allow faster technology updates and require fewer resources.” In this way, the information provided by the Army continues, it is possible to “design a lighter tank with greater survivability, which will be more effective on the battlefield in the initial deployment and will be easier to update in the future.”
The architects of this modernization also mentioned an improvement “in the effectiveness and maneuverability of armored brigade combat teams in conflicts around the world by reducing the maintenance footprint and greater operational and tactical mobility.”
‘E’ will change to ‘A’
The planned schedule includes the continuation of the production of M1A2 SEPv3 at a reduced pace until production moves to Abrams M1E3“and incorporate the Army’s technologies into the modernization effort of the Abrams SEPv4“.
The denomination M1E3 from the future Abrams represents a return to a standard nomenclature and classification of the Army, where the designation E “Represents an engineering change to an existing platform that is more significant than a minor modification, and serves as a prototype design and development configuration until the vehicle is formally typed. which is classified and receives an ‘A’ designation.” This is a different route “from calling XM used for new prototype systems.”
The initial operational capability of the future development is planned for the early 2030s.
