Army brass rolled the new model out last week in conjunction with the service’s 248th birthday. It was named in honor of two soldiers who died in combat: Private Robert Booker, an infantryman killed during World War II, and Staff Sgt. Stevon Booker, a tanker, who was killed in April 2003 during the invasion of Iraq.
If that sounds like the kind of mission for a main battle tank such as the legendary M-1 Abrams, Army officials say think again. The Army said the M-10 Booker development program evolved to address an “operational shortfall” in infantry units. It was intended to neutralize enemy foxholes and bunkers and take out heavy machine guns.
“The M-10 would be used, much as the original tanks in the First World War were, to defeat the machine guns that tie down infantry, destroy fixed positions, and to destroy light armor in order to restore mobility to the infantry,” he said. Smaller than an M-1 Abrams in both weight and size, the M-10 Booker can be airlifted to the front lines, with two Bookers designed to fit inside an Air Force C-17 transport jet. They intend to add M-10 battalions to their light infantry brigade combat teams, including airborne units.
The M-10 Booker won’t replace existing tanks like the M-1, so the Army is now in the process of establishing guidelines and training manuals to use them, both in peace and war and provide maintenance support. That includes determining the number of trucks required to fuel an M-10 battalion and how a disabled Booker can be pulled off a battlefield.