Coming years sooner…
Eschewing a radical new design and focusing instead on dramatic technological changes, the new M1E3 Abrams Main Battle Tank from General Dynamics Land Systems features a Formula 1-style cockpit and a driver interface that resembles an Xbox controller.
The M1E3 was originally scheduled for 2030, but as part of the Army’s effort to streamline its procurement timeline for producing major new weapons systems, the first real prototypes will now be operational sometime in 2026.
The version displayed publicly at the 2026 Detroit Auto Show is more of a technology demonstrator than an actual prototype. The final tank will likely look different.
One goal of the new tank is to bring American commercial and car manufacturers that built our “Arsenal of Democracy” during WWII back to defense work.
As Colonel Ryan Howell, Director of Integration for the Army’s Office of Program Capabilities, explained in an in-depth video interview with The Chieftain YouTube channel:
The focus is on the crew. And the fundamental question that needs to be answered is: how do you fight with this vehicle with a reduced crew, using digital tools that were not previously available in the modern environment? This is what this vehicle will help determine when we actually start building prototypes.
The colonel cited the inability to overcome the fundamental problems of the existing tank as the reason for abandoning further modernization of the M1A2 to the Sep V4 level and switching to the M1E3. In particular, its heavy weight, the need for protection against drones, and the integration of new digital tools.
Engineered for rapid upgrades as battlefield technologies evolve through the 2040s, the M1E3 is also designed to be more survivable against top-attack munitions and precision-guided systems.
The crew interface, in which each workstation is interchangeable with the others, was designed by Fanatec, a company known for its video game simulator cockpits. The MBT was designed from the software up, for a generation brought up on Halo and Call of Duty.
At the heart of this is a suite of AI-powered digital engineering tools, including GenAI, which enable rapid technology integration and open systems architecture.
Col. Howell added:
… we paid a lot of attention to what the software should do and how realistic it is to switch to open source or commercial standards — that’s the key… Then the workplaces are focused on how to give an 18-year-old today, who plays War Thunder, Halo, Call of Duty, a rich user experience so that he can transfer that experience to the platform — and fight with that philosophy in the future.
The M1E3 will feature advanced optics and radar drone detection, as well as an unmanned turret and autoloading 120mm cannon, allowing the tank to require only three crew instead of four, making it considerably lighter (almost 25% lighter, 60 tons vs. 73 tons) than its predecessor, the M1A2.
It will also be 50% more fuel efficient, thanks to a hybrid diesel-electric drive.
The Army wants to abandon the controversial, gas-guzzling, gas turbine engine it has been using in future tanks, installing a modified military version of a 1,000-hp commercial diesel engine from Caterpillar instead.
Still, Howell notes, despite all the changes, the new tank will continue to have the M1 index:
The hull is the same. The gun is the same. The ammunition is the same. Most of the protection scheme is the same. It’s just a different technical implementation of what General Starry formulated in the 1970s.
So how well should it perform? Here is one take:
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Yes, but can it be operated manually is the electronics is knocked out?