The M10 Booker, the US Army's newest combat vehicle, is designed to enhance the mobile offensive capabilities of the service's Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (IBCTs).

The M10 Booker will primarily support IBCTs by suppressing and destroying adversary fortifications, gun systems and trench routes, and then secondarily provide protection against enemy armored vehicles, according to US Army officers.

The US Army, which took delivery of the first M10 Booker in April, plans to acquire 504 of the vehicles by 2035.

The 82nd Airborne Division is in the midst of conducting operational tests of the new vehicle and is expected to be the first operational company with the M10 once 33 of the tanks are delivered by summer 2025.

Formerly known as the Mobile Protected Firepower System, the M10 was renamed to honor two enlisted soldiers from different eras who died while serving their nation.

Pvt. Robert D. Booker was killed in action in April 1943 during the Tunisian campaign of World War II, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Staff Sgt. Stevon A. Booker, who was killed in action in 2003 during Operation Iraqi Freedom, was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Both soldiers represented the best of the US Army, acting selflessly and engaging adversaries to protect their fellow soldiers.

Rapid firepower

The M10 Booker armored fighting vehicle will support IBCTs with exceptional armor protection and increased firepower. It can reach a speed of 64km per hour, enough to keep up with light infantry units.

Supplementary armor panels and undercarriage protection shield the vehicle and crew from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) while traversing on and off roads.

It can engage a variety of targets across long ranges both offensively and defensively.

The Booker features a version of the fire control system of the M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams and comes with the Commander's Independent Thermal Viewer, enabling crew to identify threats at greater distances.

The vehicle is equipped with a 105mm cannon, a coaxially mounted 7.62mm M240B machine gun and a 12.7mm heavy machine gun mounted on the commander hatch.

The 105mm cannon can fire Armor-Piercing Discarding Sabots, a spin-stabilized kinetic energy projectile, at a maximum range of 1.8km and high explosive rounds at a maximum range of 4km.

The M10 Booker can launch smoke grenades to obscure movement, impede detection and impede adversary vision.

It was designed to easily fit onto the C-17 Globemaster II aircraft without having to be disassembled, unlike its larger cousin, the M1 Abrams.

Each C-17 can carry two M10s that can be easily rolled on and off the aircraft intact anywhere around the world.