U.S. Army chose the 2026 Detroit Auto Show to unveil the new Abrams M1E3 concept main battle tank. It’s the next step in battle tank technology. It has many goals. It must retain its lethal performance on the battle field, but it has to be safer for the soldiers that operate it. It drops significant weight, becomes 50% more efficient, and it’s able to connect and integrate into the high-tech battle fields of the future.
This M1E3 concept tank retains its main gun. This main gun gains an autoloader for ammunition. The design allows for a lower profile and height. In turn, this allows the tank to lose weight. The base model should weigh closer to 60 tonnes, instead of 70+ tonnes as before. This weight loss can make the tank more maneuverable and able to cross more bridges. It cannot lose too much weight because it still has to be a solid platform to fire all of its guns.
It gains a new diesel-electric power unit. The engine is a Caterpillar turbo-diesel that is commercially availably around in the U.S. and in many other countries. If you think this diesel looks to be too small to motivate this tank, don’t worry. It’s mated to a giant electric motor transmission. They call it a performance hybrid, very much like the new Chevy Corvette ZR1X. The electric motor(s) provide lots of low-end torque to compliment the power of the turbo-diesel. It also means that the tank may be able to operate on electric motor(s) alone for quieter movement. Its heat signature may be lower as well.
U.S. Army did not provide horsepower or torque figures. They also did not yet provide the battery specifications. They did say that the new hybrid powertrain could improve this M1’s efficiency by about 50%. This is a huge difference, and it will help reduce the cost of fueling these tanks around the world.
The overall goal of this program is to use more off the shelf, commercially available components. This should lower the price of these tanks and make them easier to service and maintain around the world.
Please join me in the video below, as I interview Alex Miller – the Chief Technology Officer for the U.S. Army.
