DETROIT — The commander of the first brigade to receive the Army’s new M1E3 Abrams tank and XM30 Infantry Fighting Vehicle told Breaking Defense this week what features on the new systems he’s looking forward to the most ahead of their arrival.
“I can simply say that we are extremely excited about getting the M1E3 and the XM30 for soldiers,” Col. Todd Hertling, commander of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, nicknamed Iron Horse, told Breaking Defense in an interview Tuesday here at the GVSETS conference. “Iron Horse will be involved in the rolling out of the technology and the platforms, and we’re extremely excited about the lethality, survivability and mobility that these systems offer.”
The M1E3 is set to replace the service’s aging M1A2 Abrams tank. As Breaking Defense reported earlier this year, the next-gen tank is significantly lighter than its predecessor, has a hybrid-electric engine that reduces fuel requirements by 50 percent and can knock out targets “at a quarter mile in about a tenth of a second,” former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said in January.
It also has an unmanned turret, which Hertling called a “game changer” because it allows the tank to be manned by a crew of three soldiers instead of four. As a result, the crew should be able to operate “with a higher degree of effectiveness and efficiency,” Hertling said.
