- The Department of Defense’s chief weapons tester is concerned the M1 Abrams tank is getting too heavy.
- The tank, which started out at under 60 tons, now weighs well 73.6 tons.
- Decades of improvements, big and small, have made the tank less mobile and more difficult to service.
The Department of Defense’s annual testing and evaluation report warns the latest version of the U.S. Army’s M1A2 Abrams battle tank, which weighs well over 70 tons, could be difficult to transport to the battlefield. The report says the tank’s weight makes it tough to recover if damaged by enemy weapons.
The Pentagon’s Director, Operational Test and Evaluation report (DOTE) is a yearly rundown of the issues facing the military’s latest weapon systems. The report also covers upgrades to existing weapons, and this year’s edition highlights the efforts to upgrade the M1 Abrams.
The report, per Defense News, says the latest upgrades to the tank “increased the weight of the vehicle and intensified recovery and transportation challenges.”
The M1 Abrams tank has been in service since the early 1980s. The earliest version of the tank, the M1 Abrams, weighed 58 tons fully loaded, which was considered excessive even back then. The M1’s main adversary at the time, the Soviet Union’s T-72 main battle tank, weighed 44.5 tons combat-loaded. Although heavy, the M1’s Avco Lycoming AGT-1500 gas turbine engine cranked out 1,500 horsepower, giving the Abrams a sprightly horsepower to weight ratio of 21.2 horses per ton.
The Abrams tank is the longest-serving tank in Army history. Previous attempts to replace it have failed, and the M1 is now projected to remain in service until 2030 or later. As threats, particularly anti-tank missiles, become both more common and powerful, the Army has beefed up the Abrams to keep it viable on the battlefield.
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An early upgrade swapped the smaller, less powerful M68 105-millimeter main gun for the German-made M256 120-millimeter gun used today. In the 1990s, the M1 Abrams gained several tons with the addition of superheavy depleted uranium to the armor matrix. Other upgrades, including power generators, electronics, and remote-controlled machine guns, have added more weight still.
According to the DOTE, the M1A2SEPV3 performs well, accomplishing its assigned task “in 19 of 20 missions during operational testing.” The problem? The upgrades that turn an Abrams into the latest SEPV3 version boost the tank to a whopping 73.6 tons.
The upgrades “introduce suitability concerns,” the report says. “Weight growth limits the tank’s tactical transportability. The M1A2 SEPv3 is not transportable by current recovery vehicles, tactical bridges, or heavy equipment transporters. Crews had difficulty operating government-furnished equipment.”
The V3 upgrades include power generation and distribution, compatibility with joint battle command network, Next Evolution Armor, reduction in vulnerability to IED, a digital datalink that allows crews to program ammunition, and the incorporation of an under armor auxiliary power unit.
Alone, the addition of an active protection system designed to detect and shoot down incoming rockets and missiles increases the tank’s weight by 5,000 pounds, Defense News points out.
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Kyle Mizokami is a writer on defense and security issues and has been at Popular Mechanics since 2015. If it involves explosions or projectiles, he's generally in favor of it. Kyle’s articles have appeared at The Daily Beast, U.S. Naval Institute News, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, Combat Aircraft Monthly, VICE News, and others. He lives in San Francisco.
