Summary: The U.S. Army accepted delivery of the M10 Booker combat vehicle in April, marking the occasion with a christening ceremony.

-Designed to enhance infantry brigades, the M10 Booker provides advanced lethality and protection.

-Only three units have been delivered so far, with comprehensive testing to follow.

-This includes evaluations in diverse environments and real-world obstacles.

-The vehicle, resulting from the Army's rapid acquisition pathway, is expected to be operational by summer 2025.

-Although it resembles a tank, the Army refers to it as a "combat vehicle," sparking debate among enthusiasts.

U.S. Army Welcomes M10 Booker: A New Era in Combat Vehicle

The U.S. Army in April accepted delivery of its newest combat vehicle, the M10 Booker. To commemorate the moment, the Army held a christening ceremony on April 18 at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. 

“The M10 Booker represents a new modernized capability for the Army, allowing light maneuvers forces to overmatch adversaries,” the Army said in a statement.

So far, just three M10 Bookers have been delivered to the Army. The new vehicle is expected to supplement the precision firepower of infantry brigades. The Army boasts that the M10 “without a doubt brings a new level of lethality and protection to our infantry forces and will allow our infantry soldiers to gain and maintain the speed and momentum that is critical on the modern battlefield.”

Doug Bush, the Army’s assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics, and technology, heralded the M10 with non-specific platitudes: “The Army is undertaking the most significant transformation in several decades to dominate in large-scale combat operations in a multidomain environment, and the M10 Booker is a crucial part of that transformation.”

Testing the M10 Booker

For two years, the Army will exhaustively test the new M10 Booker. Testing will include high-volume firing and long-distance driving – all to better understand the vehicle’s reliability and durability. 

The M10 Booker will also be tested for effectiveness in different environments – specifically in desert, arctic, temperate, and tropical conditions. The M10 Booker will also test against real-world obstacles like gaps and walls, to see how well the vehicle will perform in the field, where any sort of battleground obstruction is possible.

The 82^nd Airborne Division will be responsible for testing the M10 Booker for the next few months, with the hopes that an operational company outfitted with the vehicle will be ready for service in the summer of 2025.

The M10 Booker is the result of the Army’s Middle Tier of Acquisition pathway, which is used to develop “fieldable prototypes” and “production quantities” rapidly. According to the Army, the “M10 Booker is a benchmark modernization program, as the acquisition and requirement communities worked together to move this system into production in just under four years.”

What Is the M10 Booker?

There is debate over what exactly the new platform is. The vehicle looks like a tank – yet the Army has been reluctant to call the thing a tank. Doug Bush, for example, called the M10 a “combat vehicle” and refused to enter the “esoteric and borderline religious debate among the armored community about what [the word tank] means.”

Bush’s comments were not entirely well received. An online community of tank enthusiasts took one look at the M10, which features armor, a pivoting gun turret, and tracks, and said you could call the M10 whatever you want, but the thing is obviously a tank.

Military Times weighed in last June with a headline suggesting that the M10 is a tank: “The Army’s M10 Booker is a tank. Prove us wrong.”

What do you think?

About the Author: Harrison Kass 

Harrison Kass is a defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.

All images are Creative Commons.