Abrams tank still far from retirement.

The battle-tested Abrams tank is poised to remain in service for at least 25 more years, or until the Army is certain that it has an adequate replacement.

The tank will stay in the Army, "until we are convinced that the Future Combat Systems is going to give us better lethality," said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker.

Abrams tanks will be upgraded not only so they can stay relevant for many more years but also so they can be used as test platforms for FCS, Schoomaker told National Defense fallowing a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee.

The FCS network, which glues together 17 manned and unmanned systems, is scheduled to become operational between 2008 and 2014. The tank replacement was pushed to the latter stages of the program.

Some time between now and 2008, the Army will set up an experimental unit that will include Abrams tanks specifically assigned to lest FCS command-and-control network and communications systems, according to Army plans.

The tanks that were sent into battle in Iraq, mainly to the 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions, have received a broader command-and-control capability, said Schoomaker.

"In those formations, they can control UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]; they can connect with joint fires; they can pull down intelligence from [the] national, division and corps level," he said.

The spiral development and implementation of FCS technology is going to benefit the tank fleet, said Col. Dennis Szydlosky, the Training and Doctrine Command's systems manager for Abrams at Fort Knox, Ky. "It is going to give us the opportunity to profit from new technologies," Szydlosky told National Defense.

"Anything that is relatively mature for an FCS manned vehicle we would consider to either improve capability or address shortcomings in the Abrams."

Of high interest is the active protection system, which is expected Io be included on the Stryker light armored vehicle, as well as on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, he said.

Another goal is to have better 360-degree vision capability for the remote weapon station on the tank. That would allow a soldier to fire the machine gun from inside the vehicle, instead of from the turret where he would be vulnerable, he explained.

"In order for the tank to stay relevant, it is going to have to be integrated into the FCS network," Szydlosky said. "We see tanks working with FCS in the future," he added.

Under the Army's new modularity concept, tank brigades will be restructured into units of action, said Maj. Ben Harris, the assistant Abrams systems manager at Fort Knox.

"The unit of action, instead of having three battalions, is going to have two task forces, and they are going to have two companies of Bradley [fighting vehicles] and two companies of tanks each," he said. "In the future, the unit of action will have 58 tanks. This is how much used to be in an old tank battalion, before we decided to go to 44 when we came out with" the M1A2 system enhancement package of the mid- 1990s.

Currently, a mechanized brigade has two infantry battalions and one tank battalion, while an armor brigade has two armor battalions and an infantry battalion, he explained. In addition, a mechanized brigade has 44 tanks, while an armor brigade has 88 tanks, he explained.

By the end of the decade, the Army is supposed to have two Abrams tank configurations--the upgraded to M1A2 system enhancement package (SEP) and the M1A1. A good number of the M1A1 ranks will have been rebuilt as part of the Abrams integrated management program, and some will still be the older variant, said Szydlosky.

The Abrams tank is no stranger to extensive makeovers. More than a decade ago, the initial analog M1Als transitioned to a digital version, the M1A2. However, by the mid 1990s, additional requirements placed a burden on the original M1A2 electronics. More memory, faster processing and better displays were needed to support the Army's emerging command-and-control system, Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade-and-Below (FBCB2), and the integration of a second generation forward-looking infrared (FLIR).

The M1A2 SEP was developed to address these new requirements.

The second generation FLIR on the SEP refines target acquisition and identification. The SEP has an improved power management system that protects the electronics from voltage spikes. FBCB2 required incorporation of a color flat panel video display to support viewing a color digital terrain map with icons. The SEP also has a thermal management system that cools the tank's interior.

Under the continuous electronics enhancement program, six SEP electronics boxes were redesigned. In addition, a block upgrade to the second generation FLIR is included in the SEP/CEEP configuration. To that end, a production contract has been awarded to General Dynamics Land Systems, the Abrams' prime contractor, to build 129 SEP/CEEP tanks that will replace the remaining M1A2s in the field.

One change in store for the M1A2 SEP, based on lessons learned from Operation Iraqi Freedom, will be a new auxiliary power supply, Szydlosky said. That basically means adding batteries to a voltage regulator on the SEP, he explained.

"The regulator now is older technology, and by tweaking that we can get more out of the batteries," he said. By using batteries, the tankers can run the vehicle's electronics without turning on the engine.

"To get a near-term capability, we are going to go with some additional batteries in a space that was already available [on the tank]," he said. "They will go on the 3rd Cavalry SEPs first, but we expect [the capability] to be applied on all SEPs eventually."

The SEP will also receive improved electronics components, gunner and commander displays, Szydlosky said. "It will be a newer generation technology."

The Army has funds through 2007 to finish outfitting the M1A2 SEP tanks, said Harris, who noted that it is possible that funding could be stretched out for a few more years. In the fiscal year 2005 defense appropriations bill, the SEP program received $292 million.

"We are not converting all the M1A2s into SEP," Szydlosky noted. A few years from now, the 1st Cavalry Division, 4th Infantry Division and 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment will be the only ones to have the SEP, he said.

By fiscal year 2009, a good chunk of the remaining tanks will be converted to M1A1 AIM tanks, while other M1A1 tanks will receive certain modifications, according to Szydlosky. The AIM is a completely rebuilt M1A1, Szydlosky explained. The 2005 defense appropriations bill allotted $116.9 million for M1A1 modifications.

Some of the modifications applied over the years to the AIM tank have been a pulse jet air system for self-cleaning of the engine air filters; an external auxiliary power unit for recharging batteries and silent watch; an eye-safe laser rangefinder, making force-on-force training possible using the tank fire-control system; an embedded diagnostics system; and a digital electronic-control unit for the AGT1500 engine, which provides improved fuel economy.

But despite the extensive changes, the experience from Operation Iraqi Freedom has prompted other significant modifications to the M1A1 tanks. Under the name "M1A1 OIF tank," these changes will be introduced on the AIM production lines in late 2006, sources said. As such, the AIM ranks will receive a second-generation forward-looking infrared sensor, blue force tracking, an embedded diagnostics capability and the commander's independent thermal viewer, which already is installed on the M1A2 SEP.

Of the 115 AIM ranks that will be produced in 2006, 69 of them will have the OIF upgrade, according to officials. The AIM program produces between 115 and 135 ranks a year depending on availability of funds, the service said.

As both the upgraded SEP and AIM configurations come off the production lines, some safety modifications are being applied, said Szydlosky.

"A number of those things are automatically integrated," he said. One of these is the drivers' hatch interlock, which is the switch that keeps the turret from moving when the driver opens his hatch, he said. It is something that SEP already has. Minor design changes also are being made such as those to the gunner seat, with a pin that can adjust the driver seat.

"Anything that is being built or retrofitted has all those improvements," he said. "We go to units in the field, based on priorities, and add those modifications out in the field to the tanks that did not have them when they were produced."

The program management office for combat systems has initiated an effort to conduct sessions with each unit deploying to Iraq. The configuration of their tanks is evaluated to ensure that as many of the desirable modifications are applied as possible, according to Army sources.

The focus is on the high-payoff modifications for the units deploying into combat, he said. "None of those are show stoppers for deployment," he added.

Meanwhile, the sandy conditions, hot temperature, high mileage on the suspension and tracks and heavy power use in Iraq have prompted extensive maintenance requirements, he said.

But not all tanks undergo the same regime, Szydlosky said. "You have different tank configurations and different histories of use, either from home stations or pre-positioned stocks. Not all the tanks are the same types and [they do] not get the same disposition," he said.

Battle-damaged tanks could go to a U.S. depot, return to a pre-positioned tank stock, or be refitted and repaired in the theater. Some may return to home station, he explained. Some tanks are left at home station, and others stay behind while units deploy and get additional maintenance, he said.

Parallel with the necessary upgrades and maintenance, the Army is working on improved ammunition for its Abrams tanks, said Szydlosky. "We are on track to field the A29A3 kinetic energy round," he said. "It is not something that we have to have in Iraq."

The service also is developing an anti-personnel canister round, Harris said. "There was an urgent requirement from Korea in 1999 for that round. It took a long time to process the requirement." More recently, "there was a request from Europe for this round to support ops in Iraq, and it was not ready for them," he said.

Low-rate production was scheduled for the summer, but the round--which would contain about 1,003 tungsten balls--is not expected to be operational before 2007, he said.

A new training round also is on the list, Szydlosky said. The round is supposed to match the appearance and performance of the multipurpose anti-tank round, he said. Much of this new ammunition was in development well before the war with Iraq, he explained. But the current ammunition used in the conflict proved satisfactory, he said.

Another improvement to the tank not associated with the war in Iraq entails engine revitalization. However, the tank will continue to be powered by its current AGT1500 turbine engine, he said.

"We are working on a way to improve our rebuilt process, so that we have an engine that is more durable and has a lower service life," he said. "We want co improve our rebuild process and have a single rebuilt standard, [and a] tracking system of the power-pack."

The Army is planning to place lags on each engine component to track its use and maintenance to be able to refine the rebuilt program, he said. "We need to know how much it had been used," he said.

No new engines were produced after 1990, he said. Furthermore, the Army did not refine the tracking process until now, because the service focused on developing a new engine that would have been common between the tank and the Crusader, which was canceled in 2002, he said.

"For the foreseeable future, it is going to be the AGT1500, and if we rebuild it better, we are going to have a better engine," he said.

Bradley Vehicle Improvements Reflect War Lessons

Responding to needs born out of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the U.S. Army is charging ahead with quick fixes to its Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

But while the service is paying for a limited number of upgraded vehicles, concerns remain on whether the Army will have enough modernized Bradleys to equip future brigades.

The Bradley Fighting Vehicle, like the Abrams tank, is poised to stay in the force until 2030, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker told lawmakers. That ultimately means that it would have to receive necessary upgrades until the service transitions into the Future Combat Systems, the Army's banner transformation program and communications network.

The problem does not lie in a shortage of Bradleys--which first entered the service in 1981--but in the funding to refurbish those available.

The Army has a total of 6,712 vehicles, "considerably more than the Army needs," said Ron Kuykendall, technical advisor to the Army for Bradley and Stryker light armored vhicles at Fort Benning, Ga. No new Bradleys are coming off the production lines, he added.

About 62 vehicles are projected for each future brigade, called "unit of action," meaning that a sizeable number of vehicles will need an overhaul.

In coming years, the Army would need to refurbish up to 400 Bradleys every 12 months to satisfy the chief of staff's plan to field 43 to 48 brigade units of action, said an Army source.

Bradleys currently in the force include the original M2A2, the M2A2 Operation Desert Storm--an upgrade to the A2 introduced after the 1991 Persian Gulf War--and the M2A3, the most advanced version available. The Bradleys come in infantry and cavalry variants.

Initially, 1,107 Bradleys were supposed to be refurbished into the A3 configurations. But budget constraints caused that number nearly to be halved to 595, Kuykendall said.

The A3 is a remanufactured A2 or A2 ODS Bradley, he said. The contractor "would basically take the vehicles down to the hull and rebuild them," he said in an interview. "It's actually not very important what variant comes in the door."

The A3 now is deployed with the 1st Cavalry Division and the 4th Infantry Division, minus three infantry battalions, said Kuykendall.

The A3 can travel at a maximum speed of 38 miles pet hour. Its turret has a 360-degree continuous traverse ability. The A3 features dual target tracking, automatic gun target adjustment and a driver's day and night vision, according to United Defense LP, the prime contractor.

Because the Bradley will support the Army "for some time to come, we are still faced with the challenge to modernize the fleet or maintain the fleet," Kuykendall said. "There is a delta between the 1,107 and 595, so we have to do something with that."

The options are either to maintain the current level for some years or "take advantage of the funding that is available" to give them the upgrades the soldiers in the field requested, he said.

The Army favored the latter scenario, which resulted in the design for the Bradley OIF. "What was identified was a desire to have an integrated [Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade-and-Below] FBCB2 system," he said.

The next item was the desire to be able to see out to the maximum effective range of its weapons systems, and the next was an accurate navigation system."

Ultimately, the Army's goal is to have a combined fleet of A3 and OIF Bradleys, said Kuykendall.

United Defense this summer was awarded a $191.1 million contract to remanufacture and upgrade 131 older Bradleys to an M3A2 (cavalry) configuration. It incorporates the latest enhancements based on the Army's lessons learned during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

As part of the same contract, United Defense will deliver 31 M7 Bradley Fire Support (BHST) vehicles and provide 40 Bradley A2 Operation Desert Storm (ODS) kit set. The company also received $19.8 million for spare parts for Bradley A3 vehicles and the Bradley A2 OIF versions, and $7.1 million to provide blue force tracking kits for Bradley A2 ODS vehicles.

United Defense received a separate $42.9 million contract in August for additional modification work. That contract includes an option worth $3.8 million to integrate the enhanced 25 mm main gun used on the Bradley M3A3 into the M3A2 vehicles.

Work on the Bradley OIF is scheduled to start in late 2005, and the vehicles are to be delivered by August 2006.

"Until then, [units] will have to deal with what they have," Kuykendall said. Still, "the concern is that you still want to give the soldiers the things that they have asked for," he added.

The Bradley OIF includes the base features of the Bradley A2 ODS and integrates the Bradley A3 improved Bradley acquisition system, second generation forward-looking infrared, improved inertial navigation system. and FBCB2 command and control.

The upgrades "can get complicated," said Kuykendall. "The vehicles that we are looking at doing these modifications to are the Bradley A2 and the Bradley A2 ODS," he said. "The A2 has no navigation system, and we have to do modifications to append the FBCB2 system to the A2 and the ODS."

It is more affordable to upgrade existing Bradleys to the OIF" version than build the A3 vehicles, which are fully digital and therefore very expensive, said Kuykendall. Digital enhancements will be added to the OIF vehicle without building it from the wheels up, which would be the case with the A3, he said.

"The Bradley A2 and ODS are analog vehicles, whereas the A3 is all-digital," he said. "What we are doing is that we are adding the main components--the navigation, the sights and the FBCB2--onto an analog vehicle, so this is sort of a hybrid."

Kuykendall said the first OIF Bradleys are slated to go to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment to respond to an immediate need. Meanwhile, Bradley recapitalization, after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, will benefit from the $114 million allotted for fiscal year 2005. along with another $34 million to Initiate the Bradley integrated modernization program, Bradley sustainment efforts also received almost $245 million in the 2005 defense appropriations bill.--Roxana Tiron