AbramsX Next Generation Main Battle Tank Breaks Cover

The War Zone ^ | October 9, 2022 | Tyler Rogoway

[re_tail20]

General Dynamics Land Systems has officially unveiled its AbramsX future main battle tank concept in the flesh — or should we say 'in the steel.' Earlier this week we wrote up the latest on this feature-packed M1 Abrams evolution, but now we get to see the actual hardware ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army's big conference in Washington, D.C., this week. You can get up to speed on what we know about the tank in that piece linked here.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/next-generation-abramsx-tank-will-have-hybrid-powerplant

Suffice it to say, the AbramsX very much looks the part of a future tank, with its highly revised turret that features multiple electro-optical sights and a remote weapon station sporting a big 30mm chain gun. The sniper gray-like urban camouflage with countershading along its serrated skirt also gives it a very futuristic look, as does its XM360-derivative 120mm cannon with its ported muzzle brake.

But the heavily-armored tank's hybrid powertrain buried deep inside it is probably its most exciting feature. General Dynamics says this will result in a whopping 50 percent fuel saving — the Abrams' kerosene-guzzling turbine engine has long involved a major logistics-versus-performance trade-off. This hybrid system will also allow AbramsX to operate silently while sitting idle and possibly for short durations at low speed, which would provide a huge tactical advantage.

An unmanned turret with an auto-loading ammunition system makes possible a reduced crew size, down from four to three. This is also a major draw, increasing survivability and freeing up space in the turret for more capabilities. Reducing manpower is also high on the list of wants for armies around the world. The AbramsX is lighter than its predecessors, bucking the ongoing trend of increasingly massive M1 variants.

The digital backbone for the tank will be the KATALYST Next Generation Electronic Architecture (NGEA)....

[minnesota_bound]

The armor looks too thin on top.

[GingisK]

The military has been handling that for decades.

[blitz128]

Lol sorry I was being a bit sarcastic but if it can run in a silent mode then it is going to have to have some form of a battery pack bigger than my ford pickup. Seems I recall another diesel electric tank now what was its name oh yea Maus 😂
Seriously diesel/electric makes sense been used on locomotives for decades. Putting the crew together in a compartment separate from ammunition should make crew survivability better. Of course everything gets more technologically complicated auto loaders remote targeting…Not necessarily good in a battlefield environment if it fails

[re_tail20]

Wow. A 30 mm. cannon instead of either a 7.62 machine gun, a .50 caliber machine gun, a 20 mm cannon, or even a 25 mm cannon. I hope their not taking automation too far, and have some manual back up.