The U.S. Army Has No Money To Develop And Build A New Tank

Dave Majumdar. National Interest: The U.S. Army Has No Money to Develop a New Tank

The U.S. Army would develop next-generation replacements for its armored vehicles such as the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank and the Bradley fighting vehicle, but the service simply does not have the money for such projects.

Instead, the Army is incrementally improving its venerable armored combat vehicles to keep them relevant against a rapidly modernizing threat—the Russian Armata family of combat vehicles for example. The Army does have some concepts that it is developing for next generation combat vehicles—and the service might build prototypes—but there are no plans to bring any such machines into production.

“I’d love to have replacement programs today for Abrams and Bradley and lay in plans to go do that,” Maj. Gen. David Bassett, the U.S. Army’s program executive officer for Ground Combat Systems told reporters the Association of the United States Army annual meeting in Washington on Oct. 4. “But it doesn’t fit in this portfolio in this budget environment.”

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WNU Editor: If there is no money to develop a new tank .... upgrading appears to be the route to go .... U.S. Army M1 Abrams Tanks are Being Upgraded to Detect, Track and Destroy Enemy Fire (Kris Osborn, National Interest).

Update: General Dynamics is pushing a new light tank concept ....

General Dynamics Unveils New U.S. Army Tank Prototype (Popular Mechanics)
"Griffin" Is a Featherweight, Destructive General Dynamics Tank (Inverse)