National Security Journal article on WHY the M1 will continue to evolve.
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â The drone era didnât kill the tank; it killed sloppy tank employmentâ. 
correct.
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Absolutely
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I think if the Ukrainians had more robust shorad resorces things would be different
For thier Armored formation and us and our NATO allies wouldnt fare any better
And the same goes for the Russians im surprised they dont employ thier ZSU-23-4 Shilka or thier Tangusta to protect thier armor is it me or is mobile ADA to protect the mech brigades a thing of that past and what let us down this path to phase out very same mobile air defense artillery that protects those mech brigades,
I donât know, not a knock on UA armor, they are doing a great fundamentally changing everything about how they fight with lots of unknown equipment. I think we and NATO might have fared slightly better knowing the equipment and understanding the western style fighting fundamentals.
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The game changer is the drone. Without it the Russians would just pound tanks with battalions of artillery. Drones are as tough on artillery as on tanks.
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Personally, I think the drones hitting soft targets in Russia are doing more to make Russians oppose the war than the meat grinder in Ukraine. Theyâre seeing refineries and airbases blow up and itâs scary.
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Itâs not really a story on the M1E3 than a story on the history of the M1 Abrams. Itâs a good story (articles are called âstoriesâ these days), and it is an opinion piece.
That said, are tanks obsolete? NoâŚbut I do wonder if the turret is even required. A M1E3VLS with vertical launch missiles occupying the turret basket, no turret with gun, and the crew of three sitting in the hull may be more capable than a M1E3 with a 120mm main gun. Picture the hull of the M1E3 without a turret and a VLS bank of missiles like a warship where the open turret hole is. An AI low-profile RWS machine gun on a telescopic sensor pole for targeting and tracking can occupy the center of the turret hole for close-in defense as the missile launchers are ringed around the machine gun. New concepts need to be created to adapt to changing battlefield conditions.
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Interesting idea, not sure how the VLS would work but maybe a bank of APKWS or hydra in a smaller setup than the TOS. A few attached to the tank battalion. Could even bring but the LAD turret modified to fix the Abrams for anti drone operations. Either could be a crew of two.
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The challenge I continue to see is the cost of missiles compared to a 120mm round. Carrying 20 hellfire missiles would be great but at what cost? When we go to war we will relearn what the Russians did in the Ukraine. You will rapidly use up your âfuturisticâ munitions, far outpacing manufacturing. So a years worth of heavy combats material reserve needs to me maintained. That sounds super expensive. I could see an M1A1 hull fitted with 20 Hellfire missiles in a launcher and a 30 mm chain gun
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The missile is definitely more expensive.
About US $4000 for a 120 mm HE round?
What if some or even most of those explosive charges
were delivered by a drone? A guided HE round that can loiter,
attack targets behind obstacles preventing line-of-sight shooting,
a HE round that can be re-targeted after being launched.
The drone would cost less than $4k and a few pounds of high
explosive are relatively dirt cheap. If shrapnels are needed the
drone needs to be a bit more powerful, shrapnel can be bought
at the hardware store or from a scrap merchant.
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US M829A4 APFSDS is ~$10K/round
Javelin is $80k-$240k/round.
The Javelin has a âspam in a canâ version that was tested. But fitting the VLS is not just stuffing a tube assembly into the open turret. It will be closed, there will be electronics, and reloading will be hazardous. Itâs a system, not just a missile.
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Speaking of placing missiles inside the turret basket of a turretless M1E3, look what just releasedâŚa 24 VLS JAGM Fuchs by Rheinmetall!
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Many years ago, I was in a Navy course as an introduction to naval warfare; they had a guest lecturer, Lieutenant Lane, RN, whoâd gotten off the HMS Coventry after it was bombed by the Argentines during the Falklands/Malvinas conflict. One of the more amusing points he raised was that, out of all of the Exocets fired by the Argentines, the only ones that functioned correctly â launched, flew to and hit their targets, and detonated â were the MM40 model, which comes in a sealed launch canister; apparently if you let Argentine aviation mechanics âmaintainâ air-launched Exocets, something gets done wrong and they fail in use.
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