HeavyArty,
The information in the Army Times is pretty much correct, although some of the information is over 2 years old now. We've known since at least 2005 that the Abrams chassis, in whatever configuration, will be around until 2050 or beyond.

The discussion in the newest version (potentially dubbed the M1A3) is only currently at the requirements document level, which afterwards will develop the future variant(s). Many of these changes that are being looked at are incorporating the spin out technologies from the FCS program (which we WILL see, just no one knows when, how, or what), while other are looking at taking advantage of new technologies to lighten the load on the chassis. Every pound we reduce somewhere allows us to increase the weight elsewhwhere. We are pretty much at max capacity on the current variants, in terms of weight.

The bad note about all of this is, there is no current prototype of the M1A3. In the world of the Bradley, though, there are tentative variants currently out there that you can touch and operate. One was shown last year at the Infantry Warfighting Conference, and will probably be shown again this September down in Fort Benning Georgia.

Jed Sargent

Is there a tweaklist of what needs to be changed on the Dragon kit to build the 'Nam version?

Defense News had a similar article about the same time that DJ was on his MRAP replacing the tank & Brad rant. Personally, I do not think that we will see FCS, maybe just some pieces and parts that get added to the current family of vehicles. However, we will see...
John