Key Factors and Abstract: The cancellation of the US Military’s M10 Booker program, which turned too heavy for its meant gentle infantry assist position, leaves a major functionality hole.
-Whereas the M1 Abrams predominant battle tank presents heavy firepower and safety, its weight limits deployability with gentle forces.
-The highly-regarded M2 Bradley IFV, although efficient, lacks the armor and large-caliber gun wanted for sure direct fireplace assist missions.
-The unique want for a cell, protected gun system deployable alongside infantry stays unmet.
-Future choices like lighter Abrams variants, unmanned automobiles, or wheeled platforms face their very own challenges, suggesting the Military might have a devoted new design effort.
Exit the M10 Booker – However the U.S. Nonetheless Wants A Mild Tank
The demise of the M10 Booker spares the U.S. Military from a venture that overpassed its objective. As a substitute of a light-weight tank to offer cell fireplace assist for the infantry, the Military ended up with a car that weighed as a lot as some predominant battle tanks.
However this leaves a query: what armored car will the Military use for infantry assist? The Military nonetheless has the highly effective M1 Abrams, which packs a 120-mm cannon and thick armor. However weighing in at 74 tons for the most recent M1A2SEPv3 mannequin, the Abrams chews up roads and bridges, requires in depth logistics and upkeep, and is cumbersome to move by air and sea.
Then there may be the M2 Bradley, a 30-ton infantry combating car (IFV) armed with a 25-millimeter cannon and TOW2 anti-tank missiles. It’s a testomony to the Bradley that Ukrainian troops prize it greater than its Western-supplied Abrams, Leopard and Challenger predominant battle tanks. Ukrainian troops love the Bradley’s firepower and safety, in addition to its mobility. Its rapid-fire cannon has confirmed devastating towards Russian infantry and armored automobiles, together with a 2023 incident the place a Bradley fired a hail of 25-mm shells that destroyed a Russian T-90 tank.
Ukrainian troopers swear by the Bradley’s armor safety, which has withstood IEDs and mines that might have destroyed Russian armored. Certainly, Russia’s army concluded that the Bradley is superior to its Russian counterpart, the BMP-3.
However the M2 Bradley shouldn’t be a tank. It seems like a tank, and it may possibly carry out some tank-like capabilities. However a Bradley’s base armor has a thickness of simply 1 inch thick, in comparison with 2 toes for the frontal armor of an M1A2 Abrams. Even when the IFV idea emerged within the late Sixties with Russia’s BMP-1 – adopted by the Bradley within the early Nineteen Eighties – there have been issues that crews can be tempted to make use of their automobiles as in the event that they have been tanks.
The Bradley’s 25-mm cannon is extremely deadly, and as seen in Ukraine, it may possibly even destroy tanks which have poorly educated crews utilizing sloppy ways. However there are occasions when an enormous gun is beneficial, equivalent to taking over enemy tanks in a frontal battle, or firing at fortifications.
The M10 Booker Fight Car proudly shows its namesake on the gun tube throughout the Military Birthday Competition on the Nationwide Museum of the U.S. Military, June 10, 2023. The M10 Booker Fight Car is called after two American service members: Pvt. Robert D. Booker, who posthumously acquired the Medal of Honor for actions in World Battle II, and Workers Sgt. Stevon A. Booker, who posthumously acquired the Distinguished Service Cross for actions throughout Operation Iraqi Freedom. Their tales and actions articulate the Military’s want for the M10 Booker Fight Car, an infantry assault car that can present safety and lethality to destroy threats like those that took the lives of those two Troopers. (U.S. Military picture by Bernardo Fuller)
Thus, the U.S. Military’s Cell Protected Firepower program wasn’t essentially a nasty thought. Develop a tracked, turreted armored car that was light-weight, airdroppable and had enough armor to face up to machine gun and light-weight cannon fireplace. It might carry a 105-mm cannon highly effective sufficient to destroy bunkers and enemy armor. The brand new car would supply natural armored assist for Infantry Brigade Fight Groups brigades in locations the place heavy armor couldn’t function or couldn’t be transported to.
In idea, what ought to have emerged was a greater model of the infamous M551 Sheridan, a 15-ton airdroppable gentle tank suffering from issues equivalent to skinny armor and an unreliable 152-mm cannon that additionally fired infrared-guided Shillelagh anti-tank missiles. As a substitute, what emerged was the 42-ton M10, which the Military labels an assault gun relatively than a light-weight tank, however which really weighs the identical as some variations of Russia’s T-72 predominant battle tank.
Military officers concede that including extra necessities burdened the M10, making it too heavy to be airdropped. “We acquired the Booker mistaken,” Military Secretary Dan Driscoll instructed reporters. “We needed to develop a small tank that was agile and will do [airdrops] to the locations our common tanks can’t.”
Nonetheless, with the M10 Booker gone, the U.S. Military nonetheless wants a alternative. The deliberate M1E3 – a redesigned Abrams – could also be considerably smaller and lighter than the present 70-ton fashions, together with a hybrid-electric engine in addition to an autoloader to scale back crew measurement. However given the historical past of American tank growth, the M1E3 is prone to develop heavier than deliberate. In any case, it is going to be too heavy to parachute out of a aircraft.
One answer for infantry assist unmanned tanks, which could be smaller, lighter and cheaper than manned fashions. However even with advances in AI, robotic armored automobiles could be a legal responsibility if their knowledge hyperlinks are jammed or hacked, or their AI suffers “hallucinations.”
One other chance is wheeled automobiles such because the France’s AMX-10 RC, which the French known as a light-weight tank, however which seems very very similar to a heavy armored automotive with a 105-mm gun. A wheeled tank can be lighter and sooner than a tracked car, however would have thinner armor and fewer cross-country mobility. Ukrainian crews discovered the AMX-10 RC’s firepower and safety poor, and ended up utilizing it as crude self-propelled artillery.
In the long run, the Military might merely should return to the drafting board. And this time, design a light-weight tank that actually is gentle.
In regards to the Writer: Michael Peck
Michael Peck is a protection author whose work has appeared in Enterprise Insider, Forbes, Protection Information, Overseas Coverage journal, and different publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Comply with him on Twitter and LinkedIn
