The US Army is planning to enter full production and officially ended the M10 Booker light tank program, on which it had spent more than a billion dollars The fate of the M10 Booker, which was expected to be the first new combat vehicle to join the military in the last forty years, revealed strategic changes and budget priorities in military procurement processes.
Program Cancellation and Reasons
The US Army announced plans to cancel the M10 Booker procurement in a memorandum published early last month, The program officially ends on June 11, 2025 The following statements were made in the statement made by Ordu:
“In response to current world events and in support of the strategic objectives outlined in the Army Transformation Initiative, the M10 Booker combat vehicle has ceased its current low-rate initial production run for convenience and will not enter full-rate production as originally planned.”
Change in Process and Purpose Leading to M10 Booker
The Army has been on a quest to close the lethality gap in infantry units. Following the analysis led by Maj. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who leads the Army’s future-focused efforts at Training and Doctrine Command, the service Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) It was decided that the new light tank needed a vehicle that it referred to as the . It was expected that the new light tank would offer increased survivability and lethality against enemy machine guns and light armored vehicles, and would also be able to be air-dropped from a C-130 aircraft.
But the requirements changed along the way. According to Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll, “Ultimately, the requirements focused on a vehicle that required tracked traction, could survive in a variety of terrains, and was also more lethal; that did not mean an air-droppable vehicle.”
The Birth of “Frankenstein” and the “Sunk Cost Fallacy”
Driscoll made important comments about the program's cancellation in an interview with Defense News at the Pentagon on June 9. "The concept of the sunk cost fallacy is something that people often struggle with. If you've invested too much in the past, and we're doing that in our personal lives, we get attached to things that are not necessarily the best fit for the future," he said.
The Booker was initially intended to be “a light tank that would serve all these new purposes,” Driscoll said. “It ended up being a medium. I don’t think the manufacturer was very happy with it, and we, the Army as a customer, helped create this Frankenstein that came out.” Driscoll emphasized that while the Army has historically been less than thrilled about these types of situations, it has continued to pursue the program, but is now trying to acknowledge that it was “misunderstood.”
Costs and Production Status
According to past service budget documents, the Army initially planned Spending more than $4 billion and would purchase between 362 and 504 systems. Early in the program, initial estimates of research and development (R&D) costs were in the neighborhood of $1 billion. However, when the Army decided to award a reduced-rate production contract to General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) earlier than planned following a rapid prototyping competition with BAE Systems, total R&D costs dropped to between $349 million and $460 million, according to budget documents.
The Army has so far built M10 Bookers spent at least $1 billionThe Booker turrets were built at GDLS’s Lima, Ohio facility, and the hulls were built in Saginaw, Michigan. Final assembly was at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama. The cost assessment does not include the possibility of additional costs associated with an ancillary study to procure a new recovery vehicle suitable for the M10 Booker.
According to the latest budget documents, the Army ordered 2022 vehicles between fiscal 2024 and fiscal 84. An additional 2025 vehicles were planned to be ordered in fiscal 33. The initial low-rate production order totaled 96 vehicles.
An Army spokesman said the service would not abruptly halt low-rate production. Sözcü“There are currently a number of M10 Bookers in the final stages of production that will be accepted by the Army,” he told Defense News. SözcüHe noted that the Army has 26 Booker production vehicles, adding, “The final number of M10 Bookers will be determined once those nearing completion are accepted by the Army.”
Program Acceleration Efforts and Future Steps
While the service is known for its slow-paced acquisition efforts, the Mobile Protected Firepower program moved at a risky, fast pace. This meant that industry brought mature designs to the table; both GDLS and BAE Systems based their designs on chassis already in the field. The first prototypes of both competitors were delivered 14 months after the contract was awarded, allowing soldiers to evaluate the options more thoroughly.
“The Army will request reallocation of remaining funds in fiscal year 2020 to accelerate the fielding of war-winning capabilities and anticipates significant additional savings to be fully realized over the next 18-24 months,” the Army statement said. “The ongoing contract termination process will ultimately determine the divestiture of remaining assets,” the Army added.
This decision raises important questions about how the U.S. Army will meet its future light armored vehicle needs and balance modernization goals under budget constraints.
