WASHINGTON \u2014 The Army is evaluating what it will need beyond the latest version of the M1 Abrams tank, according to Army leaders overseeing ground combat systems and next-generation combat vehicle development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The upgraded version of the tank is due to be delivered to the service next spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time to look at what happens after SEPV4, [the latest version of the Abrams tank]. Is it SEPV5? Is it something more dramatic?\u201d Maj. Gen. Glenn Dean, the service\u2019s program executive officer for ground combat systems, said in an interview with Defense News ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army\u2019s annual exhibition here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe started to put money into the budget to deliberately support studies, evaluation and experimentation,\u201d Dean said, and the Army has been \u201cdoing quite a bit to bound what\u2019s the art of the possible, what should we be considering?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new NGCV cross-functional team lead, Brig. Gen. Geoffrey Norman, spent the last seven months in Poland with the 1st Infantry Division. \u201cWe had a great opportunity to work not only with Poles, but with the Lithuanians and other European partners on the Eastern Front, see what was happening in Ukraine very closely day in and day out,\u201d he said during the same interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His observations there reinforced the \u201cnecessity of having operational mobility, the ability to get your vehicles where they need to be on the battlefield,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weight is a major inhibitor of mobility, Norman said. \u201cWe are consistently looking at ways to drive down the main battle tank\u2019s weight to increase our operational mobility and ensure we can present multiple dilemmas to the adversary by being unpredictable in where we can go and how we can get there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Army is also considering \u201cwhat are tanks most vulnerable to on the battlefield of today \u2026 and in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The service is finding opportunities to experiment, he added, taking a look at \u201ca range of alternatives, putting soldiers in virtual prototypes and getting their feedback, not only on the physical platforms but also operationally, how would they fight [with] systems that have different characteristics than what they have right now? \u2026 How would they fight formations differently if their tanks had different characteristics?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are many technologies and concepts considered feasible for a derivative of the current Abrams, Norman said. \u201cBut there are certain things that we would want to do with a clean sheet tank design.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Army is shaping its recommendations for new requirements \u201cas new facts come into focus\u201d gained from Ukraine or other battlegrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in a space where we will likely have information that could be presented to senior leaders within the next year about what the range of alternatives are,\u201d Norman said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to tee that up and they may have enough information to make a decision within the next year or they may tell us to continue to experiment and explore the range of options.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dean noted that funding to pursue what could be next for Abrams would likely not appear in a budget cycle until fiscal 2025 at the earliest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
General Dynamic Land Systems, which manufactures the Abrams tank, is bringing what it\u2019s calling AbramsX to AUSA this year. AbramsX is a technology demonstrator with reduced weight and the same range as the current tank with 50% less fuel consumption, the company told Defense News ahead of the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AbramsX has a hybrid power pack that enables silent watch capability and \u201csome silent mobility,\u201d which means it can run certain systems on the vehicle without running loud engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tank also has an artificial intelligence capability embedded in the system that enables \u201clethality, survivability, mobility and manned\/unmanned teaming,\u201d GDLS said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Norman said the war in Ukraine has shown the tank remains needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTanks are in certain instances vulnerable, no doubt about it, but trucks are even more vulnerable and soldiers without any protection are the most vulnerable,\u201d Norman said. \u201cSo what we need to do is not figure out what we\u2019re going to do without tanks, without Bradley [Infantry Fighting Vehicles] or without armored fighting vehicles, but figure out how to best protect them and give them the best mobility possible to present those strategic and operational and tactical dilemmas to our adversaries.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The upgraded version of the tank is due to be delivered to the service next spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":117063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,29],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3286],"class_list":["post-35767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battlefield-tech","category-home"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"6D6QYT6VUNBKBMV7VIBF5AUIMA","arc_canonical_url":"\/digital-show-dailies\/ausa\/2022\/10\/14\/what-comes-after-abrams-tanks-the-army-is-working-on-possibilities\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n