Abrams X Next Generation Tank, Which Have Hybrid Power propulsion system with AI Technology

General Dynamics Land Systems has offered new details about its next-generation Abrams tank concept, as well as a clearer rendering of the vehicle. The company has now confirmed that the design will use a hybrid conventional-electric propulsion system, along with being lighter weight, having a smaller crew size, and featuring crewed-uncrewed teaming and artificial intelligence-driven capabilities, among other things. Hybrid propulsion was one of the features that we noted was likely to be found on what is now being referred to as the Abrams-X.

The Abrams-X was provided in a press release that General Dynamics Land Systems put out yesterday ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army's (AUSA) main annual convention and trade show, which opens next week in Washington, D.C. The company first teased the next-generation Abrams design back in June.

"The Abrams-X technology demonstrator features reduced weight for improved mobility and transportability, delivering the same tactical range as the M1A2 Abrams with 50% less fuel consumption," General Dynamic Land Systems' press release says.  "The Abrams-X’s hybrid power pack supports the U.S. Army’s climate and electrification strategies, enhances silent watch capability, and even allows for some silent mobility."

From the renderings we've seen, the Abram-X demonstrator features a turret and hull that have at least a significantly altered external shape compared to the legacy M1 design. This would align with efforts to reduce the weight of the vehicle to improve its mobility, both on and offroad, as well as its ability to be carried inside various transport assets. The U.S. Army, the M1A2 System Enhanced Package Version 3 (SEPv3) tank, the most modern version of the Abrams currently in service, tips the scales as 73.6 tons, more than 10 tons heavier than the original M1. The tank's weight, coupled with its physical dimensions, impose limits on how many of them can be carried inside ships or planes.

It's also no secret that the Army, among others, has been increasingly interested in hybrid conventional-electric propulsion systems for tanks and other vehicles to help ease logistics issues and reduce operating costs. The gas turbine propulsion system that the M1 Abrams family currently uses is well known to be fuel-hungry, maintenance intensive, and loud, too. 

As General Dynamics notes in its press release, a hybrid conventional-electric propulsion system has other potential benefits, including the ability to enable operations from static positions and potentially on the move, likely at low speeds over shorter distances, in a very quiet all-electric mode. This would help the vehicle's crew avoid detection, and possibly gain the advantage over opponents, as well as save fuel. "With a reduced crew size and AI-enabled lethality, survivability, mobility, manned/unmanned teaming (MUM-T) and autonomous capabilities, Abrams-X can be a key node in lethal battlefield networks," the press release from General Dynamics Land Systems.

The U.S. Army, among others, is certainly interested in dramatically expanding the use of UGVs of various types in the coming years, as well as various AI-driven and autonomous capabilities. The new rendering also shows what appear to be cameras arrayed around the hull, which are likely tied in with a distributed aperture system (DAS) that could offer at least near 360-degree situational awareness to the crew even while they are safely buttoned up inside. 

At the same time, the next-generation Abrams concept has a number of features that could make it very attractive to the U.S. Army, as well as other military forces, going forward. Even just a lighter weight, more mobile, and more fuel-efficient Abrams derivative that lacks the more advanced features of the Abrams-X could find space on the export market as an alternative to ever-larger, more complex, and expensive Western tank designs.

More details about the Abrams-X, as well as General Dynamics Land Systems' other advanced development efforts, are expected to come next week during the U.S. Army's (AUSA) main annual convention and trade show, and it will be interesting to learn more about this design and the company's plans for it.