americas new tank america's next main battle tank

The M1A1/A2 Abrams and variants were kept in service while older M1s joined the national guard and replace the former M60 and M48 still in the inventory. Just like Russia and the successor states were left with tens of thousands of obsolete and worn-out tanks and limited budgets, the US Army/Marine ground assets were to be seriously reduced in a concerted manner. The old trusted “battle taxi”, the M113, was also silently but surely out of register, also without a real replacement in view Ground Forces nowadays relies -also dictated by the experience of the longest war faced by the United States since Vietnam- by wheeled vehicles: The Stryker family, the Hummer, and numerous MRAPs/MPVs which reflects the need for vehicles adapted to the urban environment and asymmetric warfare. No real replacement program has ever taken place. The iconic main battle tank is dating back from 1978, that’s almost 40 years from now!

A good indication for that is the fate of US Modern tanks: Like the M1 Abrams. This had tremendous consequences however for the Pentagon policies (and the military-industrial complex), as there was no more incentive under the eyes of the Senate and general public to maintain a huge defense budget. Not in a cataclysmic end, but almost peacefully by the dislocation of the whole Soviet block. The nuclear Damocles sword of the cold war was lifted in 1990.

NASA/AMES/FMC HAZMAT Response M577A3 (XHRV-1).

Composite Armored Vehicle – Advanced Technology Demonstrator (CAV-ATD).

Type 1 Technical (Toyota Land Cruiser 70 Series).

EM113A2 Rapid Entry Vehicle 2 (EM113A2 REV2 / SPIRAL 2).

Deployable Universal Combat Earthmover M105 (DEUCE).

About 400,000 armored vehicles until 2016 Tanks

Americas new tank america's next main battle tank