Army Overhauls Its 70-Ton Behemoth--the Abrams Tank.

While the U.S. Army, at Fort Lewis, Wash., is busy creating new, mote easily deployable brigades that will be equipped with light-armored vehicles (LAVs), it also is modernizing the much-maligned, two decade-old, 70-ton Abrams tank.

The focus of the modernization effort is half a continent away, at Fort Hood, Texas, home of the III Armored Corps-- nucleus of the Army's heavy combat force. Known as "the Phantom Corps" for its World War II tactic of hitting the enemy when and where least expected, the III Corps prides itself on being ready to deploy anywhere, anytime. Its units have deployed to such hot spots as Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Somalia and the Balkans.

In recent years, the corps' ability to deploy quickly has been called into question, primarily because of the size and weight of the Abrams, which is the key weapon in its arsenal. Row after row of them--painted desert camouflage--line the dusty tarmac at Fort Hood. Located on 340 square miles of the rolling, semiarid hill country north of Austin, Fort Hood is the only post in the United States large enough to station and train two armored divisions.

The Abrams, manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS), of Sterling Heights, Mich., has been the Army's main battle tank since it was first fielded in 1978. Altogether, nearly 9,000 of them have been produced in several configurations, from the original Ml to the most recent M1A2. More than 5,000 are still in the Army's inventory, according to Lt. Gen. Paul J. Kern, military deputy assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.

The Abrams was designed to fight the heavy tank divisions of the Soviet Union on the rolling plains of Central Europe. That never happened, but suddenly in 1991, the Abrams was deployed in Operation Desert Storm to defend Kuwait against invading Iraqi forces.

The result: According to one Pentagon report, Iraq lost 3,700 of its 4,280 Soviet-made battle tanks, many of them in shootouts with the Abrams.

In one incident, a U.S. tank--mired in mud--was attacked by three Iraqi T-72 tanks. Iraqi rounds hit the Abrams repeatedly, but failed to damage it, according to the after-action report. The Abrams returned fire, destroying all three, including one that was completely hidden behind a sand berm.

Key to the Abrams' advantage in such encounters, GDLS spokesman Peter Keating explained, were two components:

* A 120-mm gun, capable of first-shot kills at distances of two miles or more.

* Highly classified armor, made of titanium, depleted uranium and steel, which can withstand all but the most devastating hits from other tanks.

Armored bulkheads of the Abrams separate the crew's compartment from the fuel ranks, Keating explained. The top panels of the tank are designed to blow outwards in the event of a hit by enemy fire, he said. "The number one thing that the Abrams was designed to do was to protect the crew," he said.

That is important, said Lt. Col. Robert L. Groller, program manager for the Army's M 1A2 tank system, at Warren, Mich. "If the crew knows that it can hit distant targets without getting hurt themselves, they will have the confidence to keep fighting even while under heavy fire."

Despite its performance in battle, however, Desert Storm may have been the high-water mark for the Abrams. It was, thus far, the last major tank campaign fought by U.S. forces. That same year, the Soviet Union dissolved, and the Cold War came to an end. Since then, most military deployments have been rapid responses to distant crises, in places such as Somalia, Haiti and the Balkans, where it is difficult for U.S. heavy tanks to reach quickly.

"The close combat operational environment has expanded from the open, rolling terrain of Europe to one [including] close, compartmented, complex and urban terrain, worldwide, under a plethora of conditions," said the Army's chief of armor, Lt. Gen. (P) B.B. Bell III, who was nominated in July to become the next commanding general of the III Corps. "We can expect [Abrams tanks] to accompany infantry in woods, in defiles, in valleys, in cities or wherever they are required," he wrote in a recent newsletter.

Speed of Deployment

The problem is that the 70-ton Abrams is too big for rapid deployment. It won't fir on the C-130, the most common U.S. military air transport. Even the heavy-lift C-17 can carry only one at a time. The 1999 war over Kosovo ended before the Army could get its heavy forces, including its tanks, into place.

To get into combat more quickly, the Army is organizing new Initial Brigade Combat Teams (IBCTs) at Fort Lewis. Last year, the service decided to equip the IBCTs with LAVs. A team headed by GM GDLS--a joint venture between General Motors Defense, of London, Ontario, and GDLS was awarded a six-year, $4 billion contract to build 2,131 LAVs. The first IBCT is scheduled to be fully equipped by spring of 2003, Maj. Gen. Joe Yakovac, program executive officer for ground combat support systems, told a recent Pentagon briefing.

An LAV weighs less than one third as much as an Abrams and can be transported on a C-130. Once on the ground, an LAV--a wheeled vehicle--speeds along as fast as 62 miles per hour (mph), compared to a maximum of 42 mph for the Abrams, which operates on tracks.

The LAV, however, is not intended to replace the Abrams, Army officials said, noting that the LAV has lighter armor and firepower. The LAV-equipped IBCTs will focus on small-scale contingencies, nor heavy combat, Brig. Gen. Paul Eaton, training and doctrine deputy commanding general for transformation, told reporters. They also will be able to execute peacekeeping operations, he said.

"The intent is to go in fast [and] establish overmatch-overwhelming combat power--to contain the situation before it jumps out of the box and creates a bigger problem," Eaton said.

To conduct intensive, heavy combat in a major war, the Army is developing a future combat system (FCS) that eventually will replace the Abrams. As envisioned, the FCS will have at least as much firepower as the Abrams and be much lighter and faster, but it is still in the early stages of design. Army officials caution that it will take until the end of the decade to begin fielding the FCS and perhaps another 10 years after that to complete the job.

Thus, for the next 10 to 20 years and perhaps longer, the U.S. military's main battle tank will continue to be the Abrams. To ensure that the aging platform goes the distance, the Army has embarked upon a multi-billion dollar modernization program.

Since 1999, GDLS has installed system enhancement packages (SEP) on 170 older Abrams at a cost of about $2 billion, said Groller. Earlier this year, the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command awarded GDLS two contracts, totaling $883 million to deliver another 307 upgrades by 2004. By 2012, the Army plans to rebuild 1,174. The work will be performed primarily at the GDLS plant in Lima, Ohio, Groller said.

"They completely rebuild the tank, except for the hull," he explained. "The guts are entirely new." The SEP package includes:

* An embedded version of the digitized Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade and Below (FBCB2) system to provide on-the-move, real-time battle information to commanders and soldiers.

* Commander's display for digital color terrain maps.

* A commander's independent thermal viewer, which uses second-generation forward-looking infrared (2nd Gen FLIR) technology, features 360-degree rotation and allows the gunner to engage already identified targets, while the commander continues searching for new ones.

* A second-generation thermal gunner's sight with increased range.

* A driver's integrated display and thermal-management system.

The SEP upgrades are necessary for the older tanks to fit in with the Army's plans to install digital command and control systems eventually in all of its combat units, Groller said.

By 2004, the III Corps is scheduled to become the first Army organization of its size to be digitized, that is, fully equipped with state-of-the-art computers, software and radios. One of its units-the 4th Infantry Division, also based at Fort Hood--recently became the first digitized division.

Digital Systems

Soldiers from the 4th Division tried out the digital systems last April at the two-week-long Division Capstone Exercise at the National Training Center, at Fort Irwin, Calif. An armored brigade from the division brought its Abrams tanks and other heavy equipment to the exercise. III Corps commanders were pleased by the results.

"The brigade said they did some things that no other brigade has ever done," Col. Craig K. Madden, director of the III Corps Digital Force Coordination Cell, told National Defense during a tour of his facilities. "It operated at night more efficiently than any other brigade that I've ever seen."

During the exercise, the brigade operated over an area of 40 to 50 kilometers. "That's twice the normal battle space for a brigade," Madden said. "Yet, the brigade was able to cover the space, to deny enemy approaches in ways that could have never have been done with the same size force without digital equipment.

The system "powers down information to the lowest level," said Fred Stein, liaison officer for the program executive office of Command, Control and Communications Systems, which is based in Fort Monmouth, N.J. "I used to look our of my turret constantly to see where my people were. Now, I can see where I am and where my friends are, right on the screen. If a bridge is blown up, it shows up immediately on your map.

With the digital equipment, Stein said, all elements of the force--from the commander down to the individual vehicles--have access to the same information. "The same pictures, the same graphics are seen throughout the force," he said.

The increased flow of information makes it possible for the crew to make decisions faster, Stein said. "You can't run as fast as the tank will go, unless you know where your buddies are and what's out there in front of you," he said. "If you know that, you can speed up and put the tank at the right spot earlier. You can reduce the fog and friction of war."

SEP-equipped tanks "fire a whole lot faster, easier and more accurately" than older versions, said Jerry A. Smith, GDLS site manager at Fort Hood. "Well-trained crews can hit targets at 4,000 meters with the first round," he said.

The 2nd Gen FLIR magnifies images by a power of five, compared to a power of two with 1st Gen, Groller said. "They can see what they're shooting at," Groller said. "That's how clear the picture is."

Because the crews know where their buddies are, Smith said, "the danger of fratricide is greatly reduced." Also, he said, security is improved.

"In the past, Army units were constantly chattering on the radio," he explained. "It was easy for an enemy to listen in. Now, there's very little of that."

The thermal-management system is an air-conditioning unit to keep summer temperatures--which can reach 125 degrees Fahrenheit outside in desert climates--down to 90 degrees or lower inside the tank, so computer systems can continue to function.

"Ninety degrees may not sound very cool," said Groller, "but it is compared to 135 degrees inside. The crews love it."

Eyes Glaze Over

Still, the digital equipment is a dramatic change for the crews, said Madden. Most soldiers still use maps with overlays and grease pencils. "When they see this stuff, their eyes glaze over," he said. "They go, 'what the hell is this?"'

To help soldiers learn to use the digital package, GDLS provides a 10-week training program at Fort Hood. Since 1996, 4,556 crewmen have taken the training, according to Wallace G. Blair, the company's on-site operations training supervisor.

To provide additional classroom space, the corps is building a 28,000-square-foot digital training facility, said Lr. Col. Raymond M. Bateman, chief of doctrine, training and leader development for the corps. The $4 million structure is scheduled to be completed next spring, he said.

In addition to upgrading the information technology in the Abrams, the Army also is moving to replace its engine. The current engine--the Honeywell AGT 1500 gas turbine-- "is old and is more and more expensive to use and maintain," said Bell. The last new engine was produced in 1992, he said. Every current Abrams engine has been overhauled at least once.

Last year, the Army awarded a three-year, $196 million contract to a team of Honeywell International Engines and Systems and General Electric Aircraft Engines (GEAE) to develop another gas turbine, the LV100-5, for the Abrams and the Crusader self-propelled howitzer. During the three-year period of the contract, the team is to build and test 24 of the LV100-5s.

Assuming the turbines perform as expected, the Honeywell-GE team expects to produce 3,400 of them, including 2,700 for the Abrams beginning in 2004 and 720 for the Crusader in 2005.

The LV100-5 has 43 percent fewer parts than the AGT-1500, which will reduce operations and support costs by a factor of three, according to Russ Sparks, vice president and general manager of military engine programs at GEAE. It also is lighter and smaller, he said, with rapid acceleration, quieter running and no visible exhaust.

With such improvements, the Abrams will continue to play a central role in heavy combat and even in small-scale contingencies and peacekeeping operations for years to come, Keating said. Once the tanks reached the Balkans, for example, they proved their worth, Keating said. "In Bosnia, whenever an Abrams tank rolled up, things just calmed down," he said.

Smith agreed. "A tank is an element of brute force," he said. "It gets your attention." Added Groller:

"The Abrams provides a shock effect that the Army will continue to need for another 25, maybe 30 years. Just imagine that you are sitting in a foxhole and suddenly see a 70-ton behemoth coming at you at 40 mph, firing 120-mm shells. That's shock effect."