04/05/2026
The T14 Armata undergoing testing.
Not quite. This is the M1 TTB (Tank Test Bed), a variant of the M1 Abrams built to test an unmanned turret.
Development started in the mid 1980s and quickly led to the prototype seen here. The vehicle used a slightly modified M1 hull that placed the entire crew in the front of the hull. The normal crew consisted of a driver, tank commander, and gunner sitting side by side.
The M256 120mm gun was retained, but was placed inside of a smaller, unmanned turret atop the hull. There was no need for a loader in the crew as the gun was loaded from a carousel type autoloader. Up to forty-four 120mm rounds could be carried in the turret basket. The auto-loader worked extremely well in testing. It demonstrated a rate of fire of up to twelve rounds per minute and over the course of testing was operated 60,000 times without breaking down.
Naturally, if the concept worked so well, you might be wondering why it was not pursued further. This stems from the fact that the M1 TTB was a single part of a larger program. It was meant to be one of a series of prototypes, each experimenting with new tank technologies. While the TTB experimented with an unmanned turret, there were also prototypes experimenting with new guns, engines, and other components.
Once these prototypes were successfully tested, the final result was to take all of the accumulated data and combine it into one new next-generation tank. Unfortunately, the end of the Cold War killed the need for a next-generation tank and subsequently, all of the prototype testing was brought to an end.
Of course, the data still exists and it was no doubt used in the development of the latest abrams variants. The new M1E3 Abrams is to also utilize an unmanned turret and has no doubt used a lot of the data from the TTB prototype in its development.
