The US Army has begun testing a promising M10 Booker light tank in Alaska, at low temperatures. The armored vehicle is similar to the reduced M1 Abrams tank: lighter, has a smaller cannon caliber, and weaker armor. TASS reasoned about why the American army needed the M10, figured out what domestic "classmates" were better and what would happen to Booker in Ukraine.
Peter George, a representative of the Office of the Armored Vehicle Supply Program to the troops, reported on the tests of the "light tank" — as the M10 Booker is often called — in the Arctic climate at Fort Greeley in Alaska. In the summer, the United States released an updated version of the Arctic Strategy. Experts believe that the United States views the Arctic as a platform for strategic competition, primarily with Russia. The Pentagon believes that the Russian Federation is "making excessive claims to resources on the seabed," and China is seeking to gain a foothold in the Arctic region.
Nedotank
The tracked armored vehicle was developed under the Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) program in accordance with the U.S. Army Strategy for Ground combat vehicles, which was published in 2015. The Pentagon was looking for a means of fire support for infantry brigade combat units that would be capable of destroying fortified positions, light armored vehicles and enemy personnel. The MPF involved BAE Systems (developer of the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle) and General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS, manufacturer of the M1 Abrams tank) with the M10 prototype. In 2021, prototypes of the vehicles began to be tested, and in 2022 it became known that the BAE Systems armored vehicle had dropped out of the competition.
The M10 was named Booker in honor of two American soldiers, Private Robert Booker, who was mortally wounded in 1943 in Algeria, and Staff Sergeant Stevon Booker, who died during the Iraq War in 2003. The manufacturer praises the machine as having the highest firepower, survivability, designed to destroy targets in line of sight. According to GDLS, the M10 combines both innovative and battle-proven solutions. According to open data, the combat weight of the vehicle is 38-42 tons (for comparison, the mass of the Bradley BMP modification M2A3 reaches 34 tons, and Abrams with the latest "body kit" — 66 tons). The main armament of the "light tank" is a 105 mm cannon, firing high—explosive shells at a range of 4 km, armor-piercing and sub-caliber — up to 1.8 km. Charging is manual. The armored vehicle also has 12.7 and 7.62 mm machine guns.
The car's reservation cannot withstand the shells of "real" 120-125 mm tanks. However, the weight and dimensions make it possible to transport two M10s by a C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft, which takes only one Abrams on board, and even with the preliminary dismantling of the dynamic protection "skirt". The M10 crew consists of a driver, as well as the commander, gunner and loader sitting in the turret. The turret design is similar to the M1 Abrams, and the fire control system is borrowed from the Abrams M1A2 SEP V3. And externally, the M10 resembles a scaled-down Abrams. The 800-horsepower diesel accelerates the car to 65 km/ h, with a power reserve of about 300 km.
"This machine, which is positioned as a light tank, weighing over 40 tons— during [During the Second World War, these were heavy tanks of the IS class," said Sergey Suvorov, an expert in the field of armored vehicles, candidate of military sciences, colonel of the reserve. — Of course, it is lighter than Abrams and Leopard. She couldn't take an anti-tank cannon shell. Yes, maybe she's holding 30mm automatic cannons, but nothing more."
In total, the US Army was going to purchase over 500 such armored vehicles, with the cost of each being about $ 13 million.
Not a match for Russian
"Light tanks play an important role in the army's mechanized forces,— [...] The National Interest opines. "They are designed for joint operations with main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers."
BMPT "Terminator"
Image source: © Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation/ tass
Sergei Suvorov expressed doubt about the expediency of using the M10 in the same battle formation with tanks for their fire support. In Russia, the Terminator Tank Support Vehicle (BMPT) has been created for this purpose. "The BMPT was created in order to operate in the same battle line with tanks. Moreover, as for the protection of BMPT, in some places it even surpasses the protection of tanks," the expert noted. The armored vehicle, based on the T-90 tank, is armed with two 30 mm automatic cannons with a twin machine gun, two 30 mm automatic grenade launchers, as well as Ataka-T supersonic guided missiles, which allows the vehicle, in addition to enemy infantry with anti-tank weapons, to destroy tanks. BMPT is successfully used in special operations. State tests of guided detonation projectiles for it have been completed — such ammunition is effective, for example, to combat drones or defeat manpower behind shelters.
The Russian Armed Forces also have a machine of the same class as the M10, the Octopus-SDM1 light tank. Its 125 mm caliber cannon matches the "main caliber" of the T-90MS tank in terms of firepower, and can use modern tank high-explosive fragmentation, armor-piercing, and shaped projectiles. "Perhaps the Octopus is inferior to the M10 in terms of protection, but the Octopus is both airborne and floating and has a guided weapons system, which allows it to fight tanks quite successfully," Suvorov noted. The car with a crew of three can reach speeds of up to 70 km/h on land and 10 km/h on water. No other combat vehicle has such a combination of qualities. Another Russian light self—propelled gun with impressive firepower is the Lotus. The self-propelled gun is armed with a 120-mm cannon, its weight is 18 tons, and the crew consists of four people. Like the Octopus, the Lotus can be landed by military transport aircraft, floats, and has high mobility.
BMP-3
Image source: © Alexey Konovalov/ TASS
Finally, Russian gunsmiths have developed and continue to improve the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle, which is armed with two guns at once — a 100-mm cannon (with the ability to launch guided anti-tank missiles from the barrel) and an automatic 30-mm cannon. The armored vehicle can withstand the impact of 30-millimeter shells into the frontal projection, carries troops, and is capable of swimming. The BMP-3 is used in special operations, performs well, enters the army with reinforced armor, is equipped as standard with anti-drone weapons, the Cape camouflage system.
Is the M10 in Ukraine?
Sergey Suvorov expressed the opinion that the success of the M10 will depend on the scenarios in which it will be used. As an example, he cited the Italian Centauro wheeled armored vehicle with a 105-120 mm cannon and bulletproof armor, which can be hit by RPG-7 grenade launchers. The weak protection of machines of this class is also noted in the column "The nightmare of the M10 Booker CB USA has just begun" by the American magazine The National Interest. "The French have flooded the Ukrainian army with their AMX-10 RC light tanks, despite the fact that they are outdated. All this platform has done is kill a lot of good Ukrainians," the author of the publication expressed his opinion. "In fact, Russian anti—tank weapons and more powerful Russian tanks pierced through French light tanks," he added. According to the author, when evaluating the "light tank", a fundamental point is missed: the task of tanks is to break through enemy defenses and carry significant firepower to the front line, while the M10 cannot do either. According to the journalist, the US army's arms procurement system is divorced from reality and reflects political preferences rather than what is needed on the front line. "Yes, it's a tank. No, this is not the kind of tank that is needed to wage a modern war against a comparable opponent," the author believes. "The M10 Booker is the wrong car for the wrong war," he concludes.
Another article in The National Interest notes that the American army leadership does not think much about countering modern weapons, such as drones. "Instead of spending money on what could soon become obsolete weapons, the army should invest in the creation of ground-based unmanned systems (the Russians are developing an arsenal of such vehicles), while creating means to combat UAVs," the article says.
Speaking about the advantages of the M10 over other armored vehicles in the light of an analysis of their use in a special military operation, foreign analysts call Booker's mobility exceeding that of tanks. According to Western experts, this will help the M10 avoid destruction on the battlefield. However, the experience of using various military equipment in their military shows that the latest means of destruction overtake vehicles of any agility — even maneuvering passenger cars that rotate personnel.
"Everything is supplied to Kiev: whatever tank there is, they supply it — and cars from the 1950s, British Saxon armored personnel carriers, which have already rotted in warehouses so as not to spend money on recycling... Leopard went first and so on. For some tasks they (M10 — approx. TASS) they can throw them, but again they will burn, just like the Leopard 2A6, and [British tanks] Challenger, and everything else," Sergei Suvorov noted.
However, after the suspension by US President Donald Trump of military aid to Ukraine, the supply of any American equipment to Kiev is in question, not to mention the latest, mass production of which is just beginning.
Victor Bodrov
