New Army High-Tech Abrams M1A2 SEPv3 Joins Operational Unit, Next-Gen v4 Prototype Underway

File Video Above: Next-Gen Army 50mm Cannon Destroys Targets in Live-Fire Demo

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

The long-awaited next-generation Abrams tank variant is here .. ready for war .. now operational with Army units, a substantial step forward into a new era of modern warfare defined by advanced threats, a more dispersed battlefield and a growing number of multi-domain challenges.

Brig. Gen. Glenn Dean, Program Executive Officer, Ground Combat Vehicles, told The National Interest that v3 tanks have arrived and are now operational with Army units.

Abrams M1A2 SEPv3

The Army and General Dynamics Land Systems M1A2 SEPv3 introduces a new sphere of landwar technologies designed to preserve the Abrams combat relevance, functionally and lethality moving into an area. Newer applications of traditional Combined Arms Maneuver are emerging quickly as paradigm-changing weapons, sensors, cyber technologies and networking blast onto the scene, vastly altering the threat scenario.

The M1A2 SEP v3, the new Abrams, brings a new high-resolution display for gunner and commander stations and new electronic Line Replaceable Units. It also features a driver’s control panel and a turret control unit. This M1A2 SEP v3 effort also initiates the integration of upgraded ammunition data links and electronic warfare weapons such as the Counter Remote Controlled Improvised Explosive Device—Electronic Warfare—CREW. 

An increased AMPs alternator is also part of this upgrade, along with Ethernet cables designed to better network vehicle sensors together. One of the signature elements of the v3 and emerging v4 tank pertain to longer-range, higher-resolution thermal sights for finding otherwise unreachable targets.