The Army is canning the short-lived M10 Booker, an armored fighting vehicle, amid concerns over its deployability and relevance on future battlefields -- but the move could also leave infantry units with significantly less firepower in the next war.
The decision reflects a broader pivot by the service toward high-tech warfare and away from legacy platforms. While the Booker was only in service for two years, the cancellation marks the first notable pivot from a conventional ground warfare mindset as the Army accelerates investment in emerging technologies.
"We are infusing [infantry units] with drones, autonomous systems, robots," Gen. Randy George, the Army's top officer, said during an appearance on the War on the Rocks podcast this week.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has an ambitious goal of fielding drones and anti-drone weapons in every Army division by the end of next year, though how plentiful those capabilities will be, or whether the service will have doctrine and training for that integration by then, is unclear.
The Booker was designed to bolster the firepower of light infantry brigades, offering mobile protection and offensive capabilities against armored threats and fortified positions.
The vehicle filled a critical gap identified as service officials were reorienting the Army toward fighting more conventional conflicts. Light infantry brigades went relatively unchallenged in the wars in the Middle East and Africa against terror groups with limited capabilities.
Its removal, however, raises questions about whether infantry brigades will be adequately equipped to face peer or near-peer adversaries in future conflicts -- particularly in terrain requiring maneuvering against enemy armor.
"You still need to be able to move the infantry and get into close contact with the enemy," Patrick Donahoe, who was an armor officer until he retired in 2023 as a two-star general, told Military.com. "The most critical element is that last mile of the infantryman. In the end, it's an infantry squad seizing an objective; that's how we impose our will on the enemy."
Those light brigades would likely need the support of other formations, such as tank units, to effectively seize terrain, hold on to objectives or move to different locations.
"You want the cannon to kill an enemy armored vehicle or to breach a wall," Donahoe added.
Originally pitched as a lightweight, air-deployable solution for the Army's airborne formations, the Booker ultimately came in too heavy to meet its initial mobility goals. While the Army hoped to deploy two Bookers aboard a single C-17 transport aircraft, the vehicle's 42-ton weight limits each plane to one.
By comparison, the M1 Abrams, the Army's main battle tank, weighs 74 tons.
Also, long-term deployments of infantry brigades typically rely on more complex logistics than air insertion alone, and would likely require the additional logistics of rail and ships in a future conflict. In addition to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the Army planned to field the Booker to the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado, and the 101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, neither of which do airborne operations.
It's unclear whether the service plans to replace the Booker with another armored vehicle for infantry units that packs a lot of firepower. The Army declined to comment.
Axing the Booker comes as the Army is trying to balance the modernization of its force with new technology while not totally forgoing its traditional ground combat role. Service planners have been carefully studying the war in Ukraine, which has become something of a Silicon Valley for future warfare with the influx of new technologies and tactics.
The defense industry has been quick to develop and pitch new technologies to the Defense Department, which can offer contracts worth billions of dollars.
"We have to be careful to not be so quickly seduced by the promises of tomorrow, and put all of our eggs in one basket. A lot of people are trying to sell a lot of things to the Army; we need to be smart," said one senior Biden administration-era defense official, who spoke to Military.com on the condition of anonymity. "We do need to modernize, but in most cases, the Army will still have to be able to seize an objective."
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