Key Points and Summary – The U.S. Army is skipping an incremental upgrade and jumping straight to the next-generation AbramsX tank under its M1E3 modernization program.
-This revolutionary design is a direct response to the modern, drone-saturated battlefield.
FORT MOORE , Ga. Maneuver Center of Excellence hosts the 2024 Armor Week media day on Harmony Church Mar. 14, 2024. The event featured live-fire demonstrations with the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, and an opportunity to get up close and hands-on with M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Armor Week, April 29 to May 3, and the 2024 Sullivan Cup competition requires mastery of individual tasks, technical and tactical competence, and the ability to demonstrate an array of maneuver, sustainment, and gunnery skills. The competition focuses primarily on the performance of the Soldiers functioning as a crew. (U.S. Army photo by Patrick A. Albright)
-The AbramsX will be lighter and more mobile, featuring a hybrid-electric engine, an unmanned turret to better protect the crew, and advanced AI-driven networking.
-A key feature is its deep integration with unmanned systems, allowing it to control and dispatch air and ground drones for reconnaissance and support, ensuring the relevance of heavy armor for decades to come.
Why the Army Is Skipping the Abrams v4 and Jumping Straight to the AbramsX
Operating air and ground drones in the line of enemy fire, sending large robotic vehicles to clear tank ditches and breach obstacles, and using long-range, high-fidelity sensors to maneuver and target enemies in more dispersed formations are all newer tactical mission possibilities envisioned for the heavily armored Abrams main battle tank.
While an armored ability to bring massive firepower, unparalleled survivability, and mechanized assault missions still characterizes the operational scope of Army tanks, technology, networking, and unmanned systems are interestingly expanding their potential combat applications, thereby multiplying or enhancing their warfare impact.
CINCU, Romania – U.S. Army Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, setup their M1 Abram Tanks during Getica Saber 17, July 10, 2017. Getica Saber 17 is a U.S.-led fire support coordination exercise and combined arms live fire exercise that incorporates six allied and partner nations with more than 4,000 Soldiers. Getica Saber 17 runs concurrent with Saber Guardian 17, a U.S. Army Europe-led, multinational exercise that spans across Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania with more than 25,000 service members from 22 allied and partner nations. Image Credit: US Military.
A U.S. Army M1 Abrams, assigned to 4th Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, fully emerges from the tank firing point to engage the simulated enemy at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria, March 5, 2025. 1st Armored Division, a rotational force supporting V Corps, conducts training with engineers and tank operators in the European Theatre to maintain readiness and instill fundamental Soldier skills that are vital in maintaining lethality. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Kyle Kimble)
Enter the AbramsX
These are likely reasons why the Army is now fully immersed in its M-1E3 Abrams Tank Modernization Program, which features a next-generation AbramsX tank variant.
After acquiring large numbers of the massively upgraded M1A2 SEP v3, the Army appears to be skipping over its M1A2 SEP v4 variant in favor of the emerging AbramsX.
The AbramsX is lighter weight, more mobile, and expeditionary than the v4, and it is optimized for a new generation of computing, networking, and unmanned technology.
The AbramsX leverages new generations of AI-enabled computing, on-board electrical power, advanced C4ISR, a hybrid-electric diesel engine, an unmanned turret, and advanced drone integration.
Should there be a significant force-on-force engagement with a technically advanced rival force, the Abrams appears to be the only major platform capable of the kind of massive, firepower-driven engagement a combined-arms assault or counterattack might require.
An M1A2 Abrams tanks, assigned to 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, maneuver into fighting position during a battalion live-fire range during Agile Spirit 19 at Orpholo Training Area, Georgia, August 9, 2019. AgS19 is a joint, multinational exercise co-led by the Georgian Defense Forces and U.S. Army Europe which incorporates a command post exercise, field training and joint multinational live fires. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. True Thao)
A M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 Main Battle Tank navigates a range during a Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise (CALFEX) at Fort Stewart, Georgia, Nov. 8th 2023. Tank crews honed their skills to ensure proficiency of eliminating targets while coordinating with other tank crews. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Luciano Alcala)
This has been shown to be the case in Ukraine, as the arrival of heavy armored vehicles has enabled Ukrainian forces to retake and hold territory in many instances.
Today and tomorrow’s Abrams, as evidenced by the M1A2 SEPv3 variant and AbramsX in development, are much more capable and different tanks than the platform has been in recent years.
Newer tanks feature improved armor protection, a new generation of computing and command and control, modernized thermal systems, upgraded infrared targeting sensors that enable longer range, more widely scoped target identification, and vastly expanded on-board electrical power through integrated mobile auxiliary power units.
The v3 also operates with new dimensions of GPS connectivity, moving map displays, threat-based intelligence data, force tracking systems, and an upgraded engine and transmission.
What Happened to the Abrams v4?
The on-board computing and electronics of the v3 and v4 variants likely provided the technical infrastructure for another new series of upgrades to the platform, with the now emerging and underway AbramsX.
Many v4 attributes likely inform the AbramsX, such as the integration of 3rd-gen Forward Looking Infrared sensors (3GEN FLIR), a new generation of ammunition data links, and an entirely new, varied, adjustable, and much more capable Multi-Purpose Round ammunition.
The Multi-Purpose Round lowers the logistical footprint by consolidating different types of ammunition into a single round.
It can fire high-explosive anti-tank rounds, multi-purpose rounds, and canister rounds intended to expand dispersed fragmentation for anti-personnel lethality.
This means that an Abrams tank is increasingly capable of handling a broader mission scope, partly to accommodate the changing threat environments it would likely face in an anticipated future engagement.
FORT MOORE , Ga. Maneuver Center of Excellence hosts the 2024 Armor Week media day on Harmony Church Mar. 14, 2024. The event featured live-fire demonstrations with the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, and an opportunity to get up close and hands-on with M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Armor Week, April 29 to May 3, and the 2024 Sullivan Cup competition requires mastery of individual tasks, technical and tactical competence, and the ability to demonstrate an array of maneuver, sustainment, and gunnery skills. The competition focuses primarily on the performance of the Soldiers functioning as a crew. (U.S. Army photo by Patrick A. Albright)
A U.S. Army M1A2 SEPv2 Abrams assigned to Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division prepares to move off the live fire range after completing the day portion of Table VI Tank Gunnery conducted at McGregor Range, New Mexico, Sept. 29, 2023. Gunnery Table VI evaluates crews on engaging stationary and moving targets while utilizing all weapons systems in offensive and defensive positions, ensuring our crews are trained and ready for any mission. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. David Poleski)
What this means, among many things, is that the Abrams v3 and v4—and now Abrams X—are engineered to perform both traditional tank combat operations and an entirely new sphere of needed warfare tactics.
These tactical dynamics explain why the Army continues to refine new concepts of traditional Combined Arms Maneuver tailored to a new generation of threats.
Tanks & Drones
Among many things, some of the new dimensions involve the ongoing massive, strategic, and tactical expansion of unmanned systems, multi-domain air-ground connectivity, and more networked and dispersed warfare maneuver formations.
It is precisely with these tactics in mind that the Abrams weapons developers and future war planners continue to architect and integrate a new generation of technical capabilities.
AbramsX tanks will be able to operate and even dispatch air and ground drones to carry ammunition, test enemy defenses, counter enemy obstacles and countermeasures, and surveil forward, high-risk areas under enemy fire.
A M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank in 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division fires at a prop target during a live fire exercise on Feb. 17, 2023 in Petrochori Training Area, Greece. American armored units along with Greek armored units spent the past couple days training force-on-force and other combat simulation exercises.
This wide-ranging capability, along with the increased secure networking technology and the advent of a new fleet of increasingly autonomous and semi-autonomous drones, provides much of the inspiration for why the Army is engineering a new class of lighter-weight vehicles as well.
However, the intensity with which the Army is advancing its AbramsX would seem to suggest that there is still consensus that the kind of heavily-armored ability to attack, fire upon, and close with a major enemy is something for which, at least for the moment, there is not an equivalent to the now much more capable Abrams tank.
Heavy armor is most likely here to stay, at least for many years if not decades. In future warfare engagements, war planners must account for the expected reality that armored vehicles will face more intense enemy fire than they have encountered.
At the moment, there is nothing comparable to the Abrams tank, which can withstand, fight through, and potentially counter much of this.
Longer-range, more explosive anti-tank missiles, RPGs, enemy tank rounds, and a new generation of aerial threats, such as drone-fired missiles or even drone swarms, present a much greater risk to land war formations.
This increases the likelihood that armored vehicles will face new dimensions of incoming enemy fire.
About the Author: Kris Osborn, Warrior Maven President
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
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