ATK awarded contract to develop Abrams Advanced Kinetic Energy Ammo

Alliant Tech Systems (ATK) has been awarded a $77M contract to develop and qualify the next generation of 120mm Abrams tank Armor Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot ammunition, the M829E4 Advanced Kinetic Energy (AKE) (which will become the M829A4 after acceptance), according to an article at Defense Tech.

APFSDS (not M829E4, however) in flightAPFSDS rounds, known as "SABOT" to tankers like myself, are used by tanks to defeat other tanks by punching through the heavy armor through the use of kinetic energy and special materials.

This new capability is good news for the Abrams community, since they'll be able to maintain their combat edge over other tanks (and other-non-tank means of armor defense) for that much longer. Though to be truthful, there isn't that much need today. US tank ammunition already holds such an edge in performance over the tank ammo of other countries -- even with other, larger calibers -- that Abrams holds a significant advantage in lethality, despite sharing its cannon with other designs like the German Leopard 2. There's plenty M829A3 on the shelf, so M829E4 isn't needed at the moment. But since you can't exactly whistle up super ammo at a moment's notice, you want it developed and ready to go before the threats that your current ammo can't defeat emerge.

Plus, the M829E4 helps keep the US ability to produce depleted uranium armor piercing ammunition healthy -- a capability which would have been at risk had the prior generation round been allowed to cease production without a replacement in the pipeline. Places that produce DU rounds must be cleaned up and environmentally remediated soon after ceasing production, like the GD-OTS ammo plant in Marion, Illinois which used to produce the 25mm M919 DU ammo for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

The only real downside to this development, in this tanker's opinion, is that the Army can't afford to develop more than one new round at a time, and of the three type of new rounds that could be in development, the AKE is actually the least valuable right now.

The other two options have been either canceled or delayed. The biggest game-changer -- the Mid-Range Munition (MRM) -- was canceled with the Future Combat Systems Program. MRM would have allowed the Abrams to fire at targets at entended range, behind cover or beyond-line-of-sight beyond hills, and guide in to detsroy the target. The MRM was being developed on Abrams, but for the FCS Mounted Combat System, and its requirement was rather unwisely linked only to FCS. So when FCS died, so did MRM.

The other round, which may yet emerge at a future date, is the Advanced Multi-Purpose or AMP round. AMP is intended to be a round that combines the capabilities of the chemical energy shaped-charge M831 Multi-Purpose Anti-Tank (MPAT) round, the high explosive Obstacle Reduction round, and the anti-personnel M1028 Canister round. The AMP round, which has been successfully demonstrated as a tech demonstrator but is not currently in active development, would allow the Abrams crew to reduce the number of types of rounds carried but have a wider range of targets they can defeat from the same load of ammo, whereas today they must roll out with a mix of several ammunition types and hope that they have chosen the right mix for the targets they encounter.

Given the history on MRM, I'd say:" Good luck ATK. Don't screw it up!"

Comments

[james]

Tank warfare began with the ability to stride trenches.
The MK 1 was an enormous stride.
To kill a tank you must have penetration,much like a harpoon.
Tanks can"t protect their crew if if their armor is weak.
Gunners must know how to lead the target.
Fire is DEATH.
Loaders must be strong.
Mines can give a bad headache.
If you are the driver ,you must take care of the tank.
25 to 63 metric tons,There all beautiful.