Stop Calling the Army’s M10 Booker a ‘Light Tank’

Key Factors: The U.S. Military’s M10 Booker, produced by Basic Dynamics, fills a vital hole as a lighter, cellular armored car to help infantry.

-Though visually just like the heavier M1 Abrams, the Booker weighs round 38 tons, making it simpler to deploy shortly by air, particularly in distant environments.

-Geared up with a 105mm essential gun, superior armor, and concentrating on programs, the Booker gives direct fireplace help relatively than a full tank position.

-Its tactical benefits echo classes from Ukraine, the place lighter armored autos have confirmed beneficial, elevating hypothesis about potential use by the U.S. Marine Corps in Indo-Pacific operations.

Meet the M10 Booker

The U.S. Military’s M10 Booker, produced by Basic Dynamics, is the winner of the Cellular Protected Firepower program, which goals to offer the U.S. Military a well-protected and cellular direct-fire platform that may function carefully with infantry.

The M10, just like the M1, are each formidable armored autos that make the most of superior concentrating on programs to get rounds down vary and on-target. Each function a contemporary communications suite in addition to modular, adaptable armor.

However, the M10 Booker weighs considerably lower than the M1 Abrams — round 38 tons to over 70 tons, a curb weight that has steadily elevated for the reason that Abrams entered service with the U.S. Military through the Chilly Warfare. However though the Booker is outwardly not dissimilar to its bigger cousin, the M1 Abrams essential battle tank, any bodily similarity is superficial.

One of many nice benefits the Booker has over its heavier essential battle tank counterpart is tactical mobility. It may be transported by air, through cargo airplane, extra simply than the M1, which affords the Booker a deployment benefit, notably in austere and relatively distant environments by which the heavy Abrams may battle. Nonetheless, there’s a wealthy historical past of sunshine tanks inside the US.

Mild Armor: A Quick Primer

The USA Military has lengthy experimented with mild tank designs, stretching again to the Second World Warfare. Throughout that battle, the M24 Chaffee made its fight debut. Although it provided good mobility and firepower, because of its 75mm gun, certainly one of its vital drawbacks was its comparatively modest armor safety, which proved to be a big vulnerability towards extra closely armed and armored German tanks.

A dwell fireplace demonstration of the Military’s latest and most modernized fight car, the M10 Booker, marks the conclusion of the M10 Booker Dedication Ceremony at Aberdeen Proving Floor, in Aberdeen, Md., April 18, 2024. (U.S. Military photograph by Christopher Kaufmann)

Throughout Vietnam, the US fielded the M551 Sheridan, a singular and impressive mild tank with a considerably bigger 152mm essential gun. Designed to fireside anti-armor missiles, it proved unreliable in Vietnam’s humid surroundings. Its armored safety additionally proved insufficient towards devoted anti-armor weapons.

M10 Booker: Not a Mild Tank

In the end, each designs underscored the trade-offs inherent in mild tanks: buying and selling armor safety and firepower for mobility. Is the M10 Booker, then, in essence, a lightweight tank? The U.S. Military says no.

“The M10 Booker is an armored car that’s supposed to help our Infantry Brigade Fight Groups by suppressing and destroying fortifications, gun programs and trench routes, after which secondarily offering safety towards enemy armored autos,” mentioned Main Basic Glenn Dean, program government officer of Military Floor Fight Methods mentioned, rejecting the M10’s designation as a lightweight tank.

As an alternative, the M10 serves as an assault gun, a designation that, typically talking, is outlined by good off-road mobility and a comparatively highly effective essential gun supposed to offer direct fireplace help to infantry formations towards fortifications and different infantry, with a secondary anti-armor position.

A part of the rationale behind the M10’s decidedly non-tank standing is its smaller 105mm essential gun. Although lengthy a mainstay of essential battle tanks through the Chilly Warfare — and nonetheless retained by some tanks and artillery items — that dimension essential gun has since been eclipsed by the bigger 120mm essential gun now a part of the overwhelming majority of tanks throughout the NATO alliance.

The Ongoing Warfare in Ukraine

Rumors a few ceasefire and ongoing negotiations apart, the warfare in Ukraine has highlighted the helpful position that smaller armored platforms can nonetheless play in a contemporary warfare.

Take, for instance, the West German-designed Leopard 1. Though an early Chilly Warfare-era design, the Leopard 1 has been pressed into service in Ukraine.

Boomer M10. Picture Credit score: U.S. Military.

Although it will battle mightily towards bigger armored autos on the Russian facet, it nonetheless brings some mass to the combat — mass that Ukraine deeply wants. It’s been domestically upgraded as effectively; in Ukrainian service, Leopard 1s have been outfitted with explosive-reactive armor bricks, slat armor, and anti-drone cages, considerably enhancing the tank’s armor safety.

Alhough much less armed and armored than the a lot bigger M1 Abrams (which Ukraine additionally has in service), it’s confirmed useful to Ukrainian defenders.

What Occurs Subsequent on the M10 Booker? 

Although the US Military is the supposed buyer for the M10 Booker, its entry into American service raises the prospect of service with different branches, particularly, the US Marine Corps. As a part of the Corps’ Pressure Design 2030, the guiding doc that pivots the U.S. Marine Corps away from the grinding land campaigns within the Center East and towards a battle within the Indo-Pacific, they’ve divested all their tanks and tube artillery.

Regardless of some criticism, the rationale behind the choice, within the case of the Abrams, was that the tank’s huge weight, which might be logistically troublesome to deploy and maintain, would battle to function within the distinctive situations of the Indo-Pacific.

Nonetheless, the usefulness of an assault gun for the infantry-centric Marine Corps is an intriguing prospect. Given the M10 Booker’s comparatively light-weight and extra modest logistical footprint, the query arises: will the Booker enter service with the Marine Corps?

In regards to the Creator: Caleb Larson 

Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based mostly in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of battle and society, specializing in American international coverage and European safety. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the US. Most lately, he lined the warfare in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the warfare’s shifting battle strains from Donbas and writing on the warfare’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Beforehand, he labored as a Protection Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You’ll be able to observe his newest work on X.