U.S. Army cancels M10 Booker (not-a-tank)

It’s official. The U.S. Army announced the cancellation of its program for the M10 Booker. The U.S. Army said in a notification, “In response to current world events and in support of the strategic objectives outlined in the Army Transformation Initiative, the U.S. Army has issued a termination for convenience of the current low-rate initial production of the M10 Booker Combat Vehicle and will not enter into full-rate production as originally planned.”

A little more than a year after it entered service with the 82nd Airborne Division, the M10 Booker program has been cancelled.

Earlier known as the Mobile Protected Firepower program, the M10 Booker created some amused controversy when the U.S. Army insisted that, despite its form and function, it was not a light tank but a combat vehicle or an infantry assault vehicle.

But its role in service became untenable in trials over the course of the last year when it became clear that it was definitely not a light tank. As it turned out, it was too heavy to be operated over most of the bridges at one of the first locations where it would be tried out in service.

It was originally hoped to be light enough to be capable of being air-dropped, but at 42 tons, the only way it was going to get close to a battlefield was by rolling off a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy airlifter.

The U.S. Army had planned on inducting 96 M10 Booker vehicles at a cost of $1.14 billion, with an inventory that was expected to go up to 500. This is now scrapped.

In its statement, the U.S. Army said ‘the M10 Booker low-rate initial production contract was awarded in June 2022 to General Dynamics Land Systems for the production and fielding of up to 96 vehicles.’

“The ongoing contract termination process will ultimately determine the disposition of the remaining assets,” said the statement.