Army developing new tank round

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WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- Advanced 120mm tank ammunition that combines six different capabilities into one single round is under development by the U.S. Army.

Col. Paul Laughlin, the chief of Armor and commandant of the Armor School at the Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Benning, Ga., said the new round will replace the inventory of different rounds now being used.

"The new AMP round is long overdue," he said. "Tankers have struggled for years with a growing number of main gun rounds capable of defeating single types of threats; this resulted in a mix of ammunition types carried on board the tank that was always a problem.

"This is not just an issue of logistics. It creates both operational and survival issues. No one wants to get into a tank engagement and not have the right ammunition to defeat the range of threats that we will see on the future battlefield."

The Army said a prototype munition is ready to enter into the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase following earlier testing.

The current rounds the AMP will replace are the M830 high explosive anti-tank round, M830A1 multi-purpose anti-tank round, the M1028 canister round for use against dismounted infantry, and the M908 round for destroying obstacles.

"The AMP round is a significant advance in tank ammunition capability," said Lt. Col. Brian Gruchaz, product manager for large caliber munitions at Picatinny Arsenal. "It uses an ammunition data link and a multi-mode, programmable fuse to achieve multiple effects that currently can only be achieved by selecting, loading and firing one of four different 120mm tank rounds the AMP round will replace."