At last week’s Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference in Washington, D.C., which continued even as the government remained in a state of shutdown, new details emerged regarding the M1E3 main battle tank (MBT), which is now under development.
Dr. Alex Miller, chief technology officer and senior advisor for science and technology to the chief of staff of the Army, said in a live interview with Jen Judson of Defense News that an early prototype of the next-generation Abrams could soon be delivered for testing, possibly by the end of this year.
The Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Systems (PEO-GCS), located at the Detroit Arsenal, MI, is leading the developmental effort, while General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) remains the prime contractor. GDLS received an initial M1E3 design contract in 2024.
Earlier this spring, reports circulated that the U.S. Army had sought to accelerate work on the program, finding the original proposed date of 2032 for an unveiling to be unacceptable.
At the recent AUSA conference, a few details regarding the M1E3 came into focus.
“[We] gave them [PEO-GCS] a challenge, gave General Dynamics a challenge,” Miller explained. “I want a tank by the end of the year, and we need a platoon by the end of next year. We understand there’s a lot of process things that we, the government, impose. So things like critical design review, things like final design review, those are government processes.”
Shifting Gears Based on Changing Combat Conditions
Just over two years ago, the United States Army canceled the M1A2 System Enhancement Package version 4 (SEPv4) program, which was to introduce a host of improvements for the M1 Abrams MBT. The Army Science Board, a federally-sanctioned independent group of experts that advises the Secretary of the Army, warned in an August 2023 report that the upgrades would be insufficient to support missions conducted from 2040 and beyond.
“All of the M1’s advantages in mobility, firepower, and protection are at risk. The M1A2 SEP V3&4 upgrades will improve effectiveness but will not restore dominance. Near transparency in all domains will significantly increase the lethality our forces will experience. China and Russia have studied our forces and doctrine and are fielding countermeasures,” the report stated.
That marked the end of the line for incremental improvements to the Abrams, which had first rolled into service in the early 1980s. Yet, it didn’t mean the complete end for the tank.
As previously reported, the decision to scrap the SEPv4 came from lessons learned in Ukraine, including how any further upgrades would add significant weight, which has already been a serious problem for the tank. Instead, the efforts had focused on providing better protection for the crew from within the vehicle instead of just adding more to it.
Enter the M1E3
The United States Army isn’t going back to square one in tank development. Even after four decades, the Abrams has proven to be a highly capable MBT, and the Army is taking an evolutionary rather than revolutionary approach to its follow-up.
The M1E3 will be a successor to the current M1 Abrams, with significant design changes. It will be lighter, and more efficient, putting great emphasis on its defensive systems. It will also take advantage of the “best features” of the M1A2 SEPv4.
The highly anticipated prototype could be about as “fresh” as possible when it is delivered to the Army.
“The paint will still be wet,” Miller added. “It will be very fresh.”
However, the calls for acceleration don’t mean to cut corners.
“The way that we move that faster, was we focused on commercialization,” Miller continued. “So rather than building a bespoke power plant and a bespoke transmission, and a bespoke integration cell, we said, hey, there are other companies that do this.”
A Hybrid Tank
One notable change in the M1E3 will be its powerplant, which will incorporate hybrid propulsion. Although Secretary Pete Hegseth has remained committed to proven technology, there are still those within the U.S. Army that see the future is going to include some electric propulsion. This isn’t about being “greener” but rather is about being more fuel efficient, something the M1 Abrams certainly is not! Its gas turbine engine is a guzzler in every sense of the word. A hybrid powerplant will help extend the range of the MBT.
“It’ll be hybrid. It will not be fully electric,” Miller continued after the interview with Judson, per The War Zone. “We don’t want fully electric, because there’s no place to charge. You need the liquid fuel to actually generate power. But what we’re seeing, and I have not put this to the test, so this is just sort of the math behind it, is the way that they’re going to deliver it, it’ll be about 40 percent more fuel efficient.”
A Lighter MBT, But NoT A Light Tank
The M1E3 will also be far lighter than the current M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams model, which is among the heaviest MBTs in service in the world today, weighing in at nearly 78 tons. That came about from “weight creep,” which occurred by piling on more armor and by cramming in additional equipment. It has presented challenges in transporting the tank, as well as to its mobility, as some bridges can’t support it!
A weight goal of 60 tons has been set for the M1E3, but that is still a far cry from a light tank.
The new MBT will employ an integrated active protection system (APS), possibly a streamlined version of the Israeli-designed Trophy APS.
It could also be armed with a more powerful main gun than the current 120mm version used on the M1A2 Abrams. There has also been speculation it could employ an autoloader, a feature that would reduce the crew size by one. As TWZ added that would “in, turn translate to more significant changes to the design of the turret and other aspects of the tank. A smaller turret would lower its profile and help reduce weight.”
However, Soviet/Russian-designed MBTs have seen problems with autoloaders, notably when a direct hit at the turret by an anti-tank projectile or shape-charge blast hits penetrates the armor and sets off the ordnance.
It isn’t clear how the M1E3 will deal with such threats, but the future MBT could feature technology to launch small drones and other unmanned aerial systems, allowing it to strike enemy positions behind its line of sight. That could include GDLS’ newly unveiled Precision Effects & Reconnaissance, Canister-Housed (PERCH) launcher system that is capable of firing loitering munitions like the Switchblade 300 and 600 and take out enemy troops before they are a threat.
There have also been reports that the tank’s APS will also be equipped with stealth-enhancing paint to help counter drones by reducing its infrared and thermal profiles.
More details could emerge once the prototype arrives and is put through initial testing.
