The cancellation by the US of the light tank program of Spanish origin M-10 Booker

The history of the United States Army's airborne light tanks has once again recorded a failure.

The M-10 Booker light tank of the US Army, a vehicle with a Spanish ancestor
The success story of the ASCOD armoured vehicle, derived from the Spanish Pizarro IFV

The US Army had not had tanks of this type since 1996, when it retired from service the M-551 Sheridan, a light tank that had entered service in 1969 and whose withdrawal from service began in 1979, due to the drawbacks of this model, especially its poor armor and the problems recorded with its 152 mm M81E1 cannon, capable of firing conventional projectiles and also MGM-51 Shillelagh anti-tank missiles. The last M-551s ended up serving as Opposition Forces (OPFOR) at Fort Irwin, California, simulating to be Soviet T-72, BMP-1 and ZSU-23-4 Shilka vehicles.

As we saw here, on June 28, 2022, the US Army announced the results of its Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) program, worth $1.14 billion. The winning company was General Dynamics Land Systems with its Griffin II light tank, a 105mm gun version of its initial proposal, the Griffin I.

The chassis of the Griffin I and II is based on the Ajax combat vehicle, developed by General Dynamics UK and selected in 2010 for the British Army's Future Rapid Effect System program. In turn, the Ajax is a derivative of ASCOD, a joint project between Spain and Austria that began in the 1990s and which resulted in two infantry fighting vehicles: the Pizarro (Spain) and the Ulan (Austria). ASCOD variants are already operational or have been purchased by six countries. A variant of the ASCOD was selected a few months ago by Latvia to equip its Army with 42 infantry fighting vehicles.

The US version of the Griffin II was officially designated the M-10 Booker. The initial contract was for 96 vehicles, primarily intended for airborne units (the 82nd and 101st Divisions). However, the new US administration has decided to cancel the program, claiming that its acquisition was a "mistake" due to its 42-ton weight and design, according to Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. At the time of the cancellation, the US Army was already planning to acquire more than 500 M-10s. The first deliveries took place in February 2024. So far, the US Army had received about 80 units.

It should be noted that the error was not the manufacturer's and the cancellation is not due to any vehicle failure, as the Secretary of the Army noted, acknowledging: "We got the Booker wrong". Driscoll added: "We wanted to develop a small tank that was agile and could do [airdrops] to the places our regular tanks can’t." However, the weight of the M-10 limits its transport capacity to the USAF C-17 and C-5M, the same aircraft required to transport an M1 Abrams tank.

Another drawback of the M-10 is that the U.S. Army signed a repair clause that required the Army to go back to its manufacturer, General Dynamics, to fix parts and maintenance issues that Army mechanics could have fixed. Driscoll explained: "We have many instances where, for two dollars to twenty dollars, we can 3D-print a part. We know how to 3D print a part. We have the 3D printer, but we have signed away the right to do that on our own accord, and that is a sinful activity for the leadership of the Army to do to harm our soldiers. And so that is the type of thing that we are no longer going to be willing to concede to the private industry."

At the moment, it is unknown what will happen to the 80 M-10s already received by the US Army. There has been talk of transferring them to armored units, selling them to other countries, or even simply storing them. In any case, the case of the M-10 is yet another example of the planning errors in the acquisition of weapons systems in the US, a country where these situations have occurred repeatedly in the past. It is incomprehensible that an Army with so much combat experience would make these mistakes, but they are possible because the US has a huge defense budget and sometimes makes certain purchases hastily, something other countries cannot afford.

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Main photo: U.S. Army.