Army’s FY24 budget request doesn’t include funding for new Abrams prototype

GLOBAL FORCE 2023 — US Army leaders are weighing their long-term plans for main battle tanks and whether they should continue upgrading the existing Abrams fleet. But for now, there is no funding allocated in fiscal 2024 to kickstart a new version of the Abrams tank, according to Army acquisition head Doug Bush.

The service has yet to publish its justification documents for research and development programs, but Bush, speaking to reporters March 28 at the Association of the US Army Global Force symposium in Huntsville, Ala., stated that “There is not a decision reflected [in the FY24 budget] as we proceed with a new program beyond” the previously-announced M1A2 System Enhancement Package version 4 (SEPv4) Abrams.

Bush’s comments reflect the reality that while a new Abrams initiative is not included in the service’s $185.5 billion FY24 budget request, lawmakers could always add them in if and when the service decides on its path ahead.

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Meanwhile, industry is closely monitoring the situation to see what impact it may have on the SEPv4 upgrade plan, which is expected to include an improved gunner’s primary sight, an improved commander’s primary sight, and improved lethality by providing the ability for the fire control system to digitally communicate with the new M1147 Advanced Multi-Purpose round, according to the Director of Operational Test & Evaluation 2022 annual report.

Obviously any move to fund a future Abrams could cut into plans for the SEPv4, which is why General Dynamics Land Systems, the primary contractor on the Abrams, has been open about trying to balance meeting current needs, delivering SEPv3, working on the SEPv4 prototype, and keeping an eye on the future.

The company unveiled a lighter 59-ton Abrams X technology demonstrator last year, in a bid to show the Army what an alternative path then the one it is on for the SEPv4.

“[The Army has] been concerned about the weight class of the Abrams SEPv3… that is pushing 76 to 78 tons combat loaded,” Scott Taylor, the company’s director for US business development, told Breaking Defense during a March 21 interview. He noted that the new technologies for the SEPv4 will push that weight “slightly higher.”

“What 76 and 78 [ton] tanks do to the military is challenge its logistical supplies, its ability to get across bridging in many of the countries that we might be called upon to fight and, so, specifically [the] Abrams X was meant to stimulate the conversation about what the zone of the possible would be to lighten the tank, integrate hybrid-electric drive capability and technology to produce silent mobility and silent watch capability, substantially increasing the … lethality of that platform,” Taylor said.