What is the future of the Abrams main battle tank?
The Abrams remains the best tank in the world and it is still the centerpiece of our heavy formations. Over the last several years in theater, the Abrams has continued to prove its value on the battlefield. The tank has had to adapt operations in Iraq were very different from the operations for which the vehicle was originally designed. The insurgent forces were encountered mostly at shorter ranges, in urban environments, and mixed among civilian populations. The underbelly IED and the side-attacking IEDs with explosively formed penetrators posed new challenges for us. We were able to meet those challenges with a number of modifications that we collectively call the tank urban survivability kit—TUSK. This adaptation is the theme for the main battle tank for the near and mid-term. The technologies that might cause us to move away from Abrams towards a completely new tank are still not developed. Perhaps the electromagnetic gun or dramatically lighter-weight armor will mature to the poin
