The US Army test-fired the XM-1147 Advanced Multi-Purpose (AMP)
Abrams tank round which has been under development for 15 years.
The round is designed to replace 4 different kinds of 120mm tank shells.
According to developers, the AMP round has the capabilities of
all four rounds, along with others “such as breaching reinforced walls”
resolving the “battle-carry dilemma” of which round to choose, saving time and space.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how XM-1147 Advanced Multi-Purpose
(AMP) round will drastically improve the effectiveness of US Army's Abram Tanks?
Let's get started.
The US Army awarded two contracts for AMP development in 2015, in a competition between
Orbital ATK (now part of Northrop Grumman NOC and General Dynamics GD.
Last month the Army awarded the production contract to the ATK team.
Testing was supposed to take place last year but has been delayed due to COVID-19.
The crews from the Crazy Horse Company, 1st Battalion,
8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team,
4th Infantry Division, were the first to get their hands on it at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.
Further Operational Assessment is now scheduled for later this year.
The XM-1147 Advanced Multi-Purpose (AMP) round is a line-of-sight tank round developed
by Northrop Grumman Defense Systems for the Abrams tank, its designed to do the job of
four existing rounds, consolidating their abilities into one munition.
This includes the M830A1 Multi-Purpose Anti-Tank (MPAT), the M830 High Explosive Anti-Tank
(HEAT), the M1028 canister (CAN) round, and the M908 obstacle reducing (OR) round.
M830A1 MPAT is a high explosive anti-tank and air defense multi-purpose,
tactical service round with tracer. M830 HEAT round is a high explosive
multi-purpose cartridge that has anti-armor and anti-personnel capabilities.
M1028 CAN is essentially designed to sweep an area clear of infantry.
M908 OR round, an explosive warhead for breaking up concrete,
different anti-tank obstacles and destroying large buildings.
As Forbes reported this year, the AMP “can flatten bunkers, pulverize obstacles,
breach concrete walls or take out groups of personnel.
And it can destroy armored and unarmored vehicles and buildings, too.”
Not only the AMP can replace the 4 rounds, but it can also exceed the performance
of these individual rounds in specific scenarios.
For example, M1028 CAN round has an effective range of 500 meters.
This makes it almost useless when dealing with enemy personnel equipped with
Anti Tank Guided Missile like Russian-made AT-14 Kornet which have much greater range than 500 m.
AMP mitigates this as when used in airburst mode,
it can target groups of personnel at ranges of up to 2,000 meters.
Staff Sgt. Nicholas Smearman, one of the two crew members who first fired the round, explained that
it is “going to make tactical planning in an operational environment a lot easier.
“The term that we use is ‘Battle-Carry,’ what round we have in the breach when we enter combat,
usually that’s going to be decided by what we expect the enemy to be throwing at us
if we’re expecting tanks, we’re going to battle carry SABOT, our tank defeating round.
[The AMP] allows us to battle-carry that round without fear of running into a different enemy.”
Carrying the AMP makes logistics easier
since one round will work against a wide range of likely targets.
The AMP has three different fusing options making it very flexible.
1. Point Detonation mode: The round will explode on contact and s effective against
targets like light armored vehicles.
2. Point Detonation-Delay mode:
The round does not explode immediately on contact – this is the mode used against obstacles and
bunkers, as it gives enough time to penetrate into the concrete or other material before exploding.
3. Airburst mode: The round explodes at a pre-set height above the ground,
spraying the area below with tungsten shrapnel. It is designed to be the anti-personnel mode.
The AMP is also the first round to be hardened against electromagnetic pulse.
EMP can damage or destroy electronics and render the shells useless.
AMP round is the first in service to meet the HERO
or Hazard of Electromagnetic Radiation to Ordnance standard
and has been tested against electromagnetic pulse and well as static discharges.
Abram was first introduced in 1980 to replace the M60 main battle tank which was introduced in 1960.
It was significantly more potent than the M60 and featured many top-of-the-line components
like a fire control system that allowed up to 90% accuracy at ranges of 2,000 meters.
The U.S military has kept on upgrading the tank to maintain its edge.
For example, in 1986, the tank received a more powerful 120 mm German-engineered main gun
and in 1988 it got a layer of depleted uranium armor to increase protection.
This helped Abrams tanks roll over enemy tanks in Afghanistan and Iraq.
With AMP round, Abram will remain one of the most versatile
and effective Main Battle Tank going forward.