Lasers, Drones & AI – Army Future “Optionally Manned Tank” for 2050

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

Tank War in 2050 — Army Optionally Manned Tank — (picture is just image of Army concept – tank not built yet)

(Washington DC) Firing lasers, launching drones and targeting enemy vehicles with high-speed, AI-enabled targeting … are just a few attributes now being explored by the Army for its emerging Optionally Manned Tank program. 

The Army is now thinking beyond the Abrams, newly demonstrated Abrams X and RussianT-14 Armata to engineer a new generation of tank-like armored capability to fight in coming decades.

The new “tank” will fight alongside and ultimately replace the Abrams tank, as part of an integrated effort to prepare the service for combat into the 2040s and beyond.

Senior service weapons developers refer to the project as the Optionally Manned Tank, a platform expected to fully emerge in the coming years. Currently, Army weapons developers say the work is primarily conceptual and focused on research, however an initial step forward in terms of configuration and design is expected in just the next few years.

It will likely fire lasers, control drones, move at high speeds, destroy enemy helicopters, penetrate hostile armored formations and perform highly-lethal robotic operations while facing enemy fire. The Army’s new and now underway Optionally Manned Tank, a nascent project intended to propel the Army into a new generation of Combined Arms warfare.

When it comes to the kinds of platforms, technologies and capabilities now being assessed by Army thinkers, the focus is primarily upon capabilities and what particular attributes, parameters and technical characteristics might be needed to achieve “overmatch” in land forward for decades into the future. Lt. Gen Ross Coffman, Deputy Commanding General of Army Futures Command, told Warrior last year that there are technical studies now underway at the Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center and with the Army Science Board.