On 1 May 2025, the Army unveiled its Army Transformation Initiative (ATI) in a letter to the force. As part of this transformation, the Army leadership announced it would be eliminating two of its twelve armored brigade combat teams, which each have 87 Abrams tanks; terminating the M10 Booker light tank program; and, reducing its overall tank capacity by divesting of the oldest inventory. Aside from a handful of Members of Congress who fear the loss of jobs associated with the M10 and continued Abrams tank modernization, no serious military or national security professional has challenged these decisions or their wisdom.
This is in marked contrast to the firestorm created in 2019, when then Commandant of the Marine Corps, General David Berger ended a tortured 30-year-old debate on the role of tanks within the Marine Corps by divesting of the Corps’ remaining tank inventory. While some from the retired general officer community immediately criticized the decision and asserted the loss of tanks would be the end of combined arms as known to generations of Marines, the consequences of the divestment have been much more modest; and, in light of the Second Nagorno Karabakh War and continued operations in Ukraine, the decision appears somewhat prescient.
But before I explain this last point in more detail, it is important to quickly remind everyone what purpose tanks serve within the military and within a combined-arms team. Like all units, whether an attack helicopter squadron or reconnaissance battalion, tank units are intended to satisfy tactical tasks. According to Marine Corps doctrine, tactical tasks are specific activities performed by a unit while executing a form of tactical operation or form of maneuver. They can also be understood as outcomes specific units of action are to achieve. Specifically, tank units were designed to be able to complete the following tactical tasks:
Most of these tasks are completed in conjunction with the movement and maneuver of other units, especially infantry formations. Traditionally, tanks have provided ground formations with mobile protected firepower, which has proven especially useful in urban combat, and when overcoming enemy defensive positions. The firepower of the tank is provided via its main gun, which in the case of Army and Marine Corps tanks has a maximum effective range of 2.5 miles or 4,000 meters. Finally, we should not forget that each tank requires a crew of four, and prodigious quantities of fuel and ammunition for continued operations, as well as fairly routine maintenance that is essential to the tank’s material readiness.
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