The chief of staff of the Army is celebrating progress on a new generation of Abrams tank that he said is lighter, more advanced and on track to be delivered years ahead of schedule.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Association of the United States Army on Tuesday, Gen. Randy George touted the M1E3, which last week made its debut as a pre-prototype at the Detroit Auto Show.
“Obviously, not as fast as the Chevy ZR1,” George said, referring to the flashy Corvette also on display at the show. “But this is a tank that can also hit a target. So it won’t meet that quarter-mile speed, but I know it can hit a target in a tenth of a second at a quarter mile.
The M1E3 is reaching prototype stage six years early, George said, adding that new features are also coming to light.
The “Formula One cockpit” contains a driver interface that “looks like an X-Box controller,” George said, referring to the control device made by Fanatec – a company that designs F1 simulator controls and many popular video game cockpits.
“It’s modular, so it can be updated,” George added.
He also touted the engine made by Caterpillar, transmission made by Michigan-based company SAPA and software through “a bunch of tech companies” enlisted to increase the tank’s awareness and effectiveness.
In a release published from the show, Army officials revealed that the M1E3 would feature GenAI among “a suite of AI-powered digital engineering tools” to help integrate other technologies more quickly and keep it up to date in a perpetually changing modern battlefield.
Unlike the current Abrams, which has a four-person crew including a loader, the M1E3 will have a crew of three and an autoloader, which will help the notoriously heavy Abrams get 25% lighter.
“We’re very excited to get that out — and again, that’s the way of the future here. Nothing should take us five to seven years to produce,” George said. “And when we get an upgrade just like we have with the [infantry fighting vehicles], it should come naturally. We’ve had upgraded engines and upgraded transmissions, and we should expect that. And I know our soldiers expect that with the equipment that’s coming to them.”
While many details are still unknown, officials have also cited advanced protection that accounts for contemporary threats including enemy drones and long-range weapons.
Michigan-based news site MLive reported that the turret on display in Detroit was remote, and featured a 120mm smoothbore main cannon — like the current M1A2 — as well as a Mk. 19 40mm grenade launcher and Javelin missile launcher.
“The crew compartment … it’s going to look a lot like a race car,” Brig. Gen. Troy Denomy, program executive officer for PEO Soldier, told the outlet.
Another new feature for the next-gen tank is a hybrid-electric drivetrain that will reportedly make the vehicle 50% more fuel efficient.
“The M1E3 Abrams represents a bold step forward in modern vehicle design, combining advanced protection, reduced weight and a smaller logistical footprint to meet the challenges of tomorrow’s battlefield,” Michelle Link, the deputy capability program executive, Ground-Combat Platforms, said in a statement.
While the M1E3 was originally slated to reach initial operational capability in 2030, officials said late last year that the first prototypes would be inside active Army formations sometime in 2026.
For George, the new tank program represents a new way of doing business in acquisition that evaluates tradeoffs and doesn’t get bogged down in developing a perfect solution. He described efforts to put more acquisition and contracting functions under a single individual, citing Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano, program executive officer for Missiles and Space, as an example.
“I think trades are critically important,” George said. “We may say, hey, it needs to go 100 miles an hour. It needs to do a certain number of things. … Frank can come back to us and basically say, ‘Hey, for 30% less cost, it can go 90 miles an hour, and you can have it in six months, or you can wait to do those things.’ And I think these are important things that were trades that we have not considered and that we need to, moving forward.”
Hope Hodge Seck is an award-winning investigative and enterprise reporter covering the U.S. military and national defense. The former managing editor of Military.com, her work has also appeared in the Washington Post, Politico Magazine, USA Today and Popular Mechanics.
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