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The Abrams-X, GDLS’s 3rd generation final model tank, was revealed at the 2022 AUSA. It was developed based on the M1 main battle tank and will provide foundational technology for the development of the M1E3 tank.
In the Military Review Issue 2401, we conducted a detailed analysis on the K2 Black Panther tank and the M1A2C and new M1E3 tanks, which are competing in the export market.
The US Army developed the M1A2 SEPv3 tank based on the M1A2 SEPv2 as its main battle tank for the 2020s. The M1A2 SEPv3, which completed its development, was renamed to M1A2C. The first prototype model of the M1A2 SEPv3 was revealed through GDLS at AUSA 2015, and pre-production began in 2017.
Until recently, the US did not sell its latest military tanks overseas. However, this rule was broken due to the Ukraine-Russia war, and it is planned to provide models with equivalent defense capabilities as the US Army’s M1A2C to countries like Poland.
As a result, we conducted a detailed analysis on South Korea’s K2 tank, which has to compete not only with the Leopard-2A8 but also with the US’s M1A2C and the newly announced M1A3 tank development project.
The M1A2C tank increased the thickness of the turret and front body armor to counter Russian new tanks, and adopted a new armor applying MMC technology.
Appearance of the M1E3 Tank Project
The US Army ordered GDLS to develop the M1A2D tank, an upgrade of the M1A2C tank, in August 2017 for $310.6 million. The original plan was to start pre-production from 2023.
However, in the meantime, the Ukraine-Russia war broke out, and the combat weight and performance limitations of the M1A2D tank began to be pointed out as problems. The weight of the M1A2C tank alone reached 66.8 tons, and there were concerns that the M1A2D would approach 70 tons as the situation was gradually getting heavier.
◆ Reduce the Combat Weight!
The weight issue of the tank not only causes difficulties in transportation and increases fuel consumption but also causes significant problems in operational mobility.
Most of the bridges in Eastern European countries where the US Army is operating were built during the former Soviet era, making it difficult for 70-ton class tanks to pass through. That’s why Poland limited the combat weight of the K2PL tank to 6X.X tons.
From the front of the M1A2 SEPv2, M1A2C, and Abrams-X turrets, it can be confirmed that the Abrams-X significantly reduced its defense area by adopting an unmanned turret.
In September 2023, the US Army announced the M1E3 tank project with the goal of creating a new M1 tank that can be operated until the 2040s with a large-scale design change and modification, ending the M1A2D tank project, which has a high weight.
The US Army’s announcement stated that the M1E3 will include the latest performance of the M1A2D while complying with the modular open system architecture standard, allowing for faster performance improvement.
However, there was no further information announcement, and there is only a technical model that can guess the direction of development.
In October 2022, through the AUSA exhibition, GDLS unveiled the Abrams-X, a technology demonstrator vehicle that reduced the crew from four to three by equipping an unmanned turret with a 120mm smoothbore gun and an automatic reloading device, and reduced the combat weight to 54 tons.
This is the TTB tank that the US Army researched in the 1990s. It is a test model equipped with a 120mm tank gun on an unmanned turret, with three crew members located in the front of the body.
Analysis of Abrams-X Tank
Military Review Issue 2401 analyzed the M1E3 tank project, but due to space limitations, it could not sufficiently explain the Abrams-X, which is the development direction. Therefore, I would like to supplement it.
The Abrams-X tank, which GDLS unveiled in October 2022, is a model planned to secure technical data in response to the US’s next-generation tank project and corresponds to the final model of the third generation.
The biggest feature of the Abrams-X is that it unmanned the turret to reduce the combat weight by about 10 tons compared to the M1A2C tank, and arranged three crew members side by side in the front of the body. This arrangement is similar to the M1 TTB, an unmanned turret-type experimental tank that the US studied in the mid-1980s, or Russia’s T14 Armata tank.
This arrangement structure is similar to the M1 TTB, an unmanned turret-type experimental tank that the US studied in the mid-1980s, or Russia’s T14 Armata tank.
The Abrams-X tank was able to use a small turret reminiscent of South Korea’s K1 and K2 tanks, as the three crew members located in the turret basket disappeared and there was no need to comply with the ergonomic design regulations for the crew space.
◆ Technical Characteristics of Abrams-X
The Abrams-X reduced its combat weight by adopting a small unmanned turret and reduced its exposure area and significantly reduced the weight of the turret thanks to the small unmanned turret.
The unmanned turret of the Abrams-X was basically developed by modifying the turret design of the M1 tank, but in detail, it was influenced by the redesigned modular structure of the Griffin-II firepower vehicle turret, which was adopted for the MPF (Mobile Protection Firepower) using the M1-based turret.
With the disappearance of the three crew members who were located in the turret basket, there was no need to comply with the ergonomic design regulations for the crew space. And the 34-round automatic reloading device supplied by Meggitt also has a lower vertical height than the burst ammunition storage where 42 rounds of ammunition were loaded.
