THE ARMY GOT A PEEK AT THE ‘ABRAMSX’ TANK, WHICH WILL WEIGH LESS AND NEED A SMALLER CREW
October 24, 2022 ·Hope Seck
The new AbramsX tank will weigh 13 tons less and use half the fuel of the Army’s current versions, and it will drop the need for a human loader by using an auto-load system for its main gun. Photo courtesy of General Dynamics.
The venerable M1 Abrams has been America’s core main battle tank for more than 40 years, thanks to a long series of incremental upgrades that have allowed it to remain one of the world’s most fearsome pieces of armor. But as foreign militaries roll out next-generation smart tanks that shoot, move, and communicate on a different plane than their predecessors, General Dynamics is premiering AbramsX: an Abrams for a new era of warfighting.
A demonstrator version of the tank made its debut on the show floor of the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting this month. Painted in an eye-catching grey-and-black sawtooth color scheme, AbramsX aims to address some of the Army’s longstanding beefs with the M1, while building in cutting-edge technology and protection including AI and drone launchers.
The most notable differences in the AbramsX have to do with weight and power. The M1 Abrams has gotten progressively heavier with each upgrade due to Army-built armor packages. At 73.6 tons today, the Abrams is heavier than any of its competitors, which can limit maneuverability. It’s also a massive gas guzzler: it uses 10 gallons just to start the engine, close to two gallons per mile, and up to 10 gallons per mile when idling. Even before the U.S. military started to lean into climate change resiliency, this kind of fuel use was a huge liability, particularly in forward locations with risky over-land resupply routes.
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A demonstrator of the new AbramsX made its debut at the annual Association of the US Army show in early October. Photo courtesy of General Dynamics.
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