The U.S. Army Armor & Cavalry Collection

02/23/2026

The Armor & Cavalry Collection, in its mission of supporting Soldier education and research, is usually not open to the public. Thanks to the support of the National Armor and Cavalry Heritage Foundation, we are able to open our doors to the public throughout the year! This Friday, 27 February, our facility will be open to visitors from 10 AM until 4PM.

This will be our final reminder for our open house program on this page. This week our social media will be shutdown in accordance with Army Directive 2025-25. Please be sure to follow the National Armor and Cavalry Heritage Foundation for artifact and public event updates!

02/20/2026

In late 1944, the U.S. began running short of 3 inch gun-armed M10A1 tank destroyers to convert into 90 mm gun-armed M36s. A batch of 187 M36s were built using M4A3 Sherman medium tank hulls, and were designated as M36B1. This morning, the Collection received one of only six M36B1s known to still exist, transferred to us from Fort Hood.

As a reminder, next week our social media will be shutdown in accordance with Army Directive 2025-25. Please be sure to follow the National Armor and Cavalry Heritage Foundation for artifact and public event updates!

02/18/2026

When the M60 Main Battle Tank had been introduced in 1959, it had orginally only been meant to serve as a stopgap until a more advanced design was fielded. Failures to produce such a tank, like the T95 and MBT-70 programs, resulted in the M60 being upgraded and serving the U.S. Army for over three decades.

The M60A3 TTS was the final version in U.S. service. Featuring the M21E1 gun data computer, a crosswind sensor, and improved turret stabilzation made the M60A3 an excellent shooting platform. This was further enhanced with the upgrade from the original passive night vision sights to the Raytheon AN/VGSG2 Tank Thermal Sight (TTS) system.

As a reminder, in accordance with Army Directive 2025-25, our social media be deactivated by the end of this month, so make sure to follow the National Armor and Cavalry Heritage Foundation page for future updates!

02/14/2026

"Roses are red, voilets are blue.
If your tank is broken down, call the M32!"

The M32 is an American Tank Recovery Vehicle (TRV) based on the M4 Sherman medium tank. It was used by the U.S. Army in both World War II and the Korean War. The Collection's M32 is based on the cast-hulled M4A1 tank, and was upgraded with the later Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension System (HVSS), making it an M32A1B1. Each American medium tank company maintenance section had a single M32.

As a reminder, in accordance with Army Directive 2025-25, our social media be deactivated by the end of this month, so make sure to follow the National Armor and Cavalry Heritage Foundation's page for future updates!

02/11/2026

While we are in the process of archiving our social media for shutdown, we still want to share some last updates before we transition efforts over to the National Armor and Cavalry Heritage Foundation.

The High Survivability Test Vehicle-Light (HSTV-L) is now in a work bay and is starting to go through preliminary work. The HSTV-L was one of the first U.S. Army vehicles to utilize a separate digital optic for the commander, a feature later incorporated in the M1A2 Abrams and -A3 Bradley variants. Amazingly, the HSTV-L's commander's optic and gunner's primary sight glass are still intact after years of outside storage. The HSTV-L also has a rack attached to the rear of the turret. This was used for mounting various recording devices during testing, and was not a part of the original design. The interior, while dirty and worn, is mostly intact thanks to the vehicle's aluminum construction.

As a reminder, in accordance with Army Directive 2025-25, our social media will soon be deactivated, so make sure to follow the National Armor & Cavalry Heritage Foundation's page for future updates!

02/09/2026

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: In accordance with updated Army policy, our social meda pages will be deactivated no later than 26 February. We are currently archiving our material in keeping with regulations.

Do to our large audience and the amount of events we have scheduled this year, we wanted to get word out so followers can continue to have information to plan visits. For future updates on our public access events, please follow our supporting foundation, the National Armor and Cavalry Heritage Foundation. All future updates will come through the NACHF.

Thank you.

02/07/2026

We like tanks! And we are pretty sure if you are following us, you like tanks too! If you would like to come see our tanks, you can plan a trip to one of our public days sponsored by the National Armor and Cavalry Heritage Foundation!

02/06/2026

Decent weather means it's a good day for tank movement. Right now, we've just pulled the High Survivability Test Vehicle (Lightweight), or HSTV(L), around from the excess storage and to the restoration shop bays. It joins our StuH42 and JagdPanzer 38 for some care before going on display amongst our Cold War vehicles. The HSTV(L) was a light tank design tested in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a possible replacement for the M551 Sheridan.

02/04/2026

We receive a lot of questions about our Ordnance counterparts at Fort Lee, and the artifacts from Aberdeen Proving Ground that did not come to us. This Saturday is a chance to visit the Ordnance Training Support Facility!

We're back in action with our first TSF Open House this Saturday, 7 FEB! Any motorcycle enthusiasts out there? Stop by Saturday from 9:00am – 4:00pm and see the BMW R75 for yourself. This WWII-era motorcycle could handle just about any terrain and weather condition, inspiring several U.S. designs.

01/31/2026

During the government shutdown, we are taking a pause on social media activity. Please join us again once the government reopens. The most recent government appropriations expired at 11:59p.m. EST on January 30, 2026. Military personnel will continue in a normal duty status, without pay until such time as a continuing resolution or appropriations are passed by Congress and signed into law. Civilian personnel not engaged in excepted activities will be furloughed.

01/28/2026

In conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, standard wheeled vehicles showed themselves as vulnerable to locally made bombs, formerly called Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles are designed specifically to survive such threats, but the available supply of MRAPs was initially low due to limited production. Several companies were contracted to build MRAPs of various designs. One major design introduced was the International M1224 MaxxPro, built by Navistar Defense (subsidiary of Navistar International). Navistar accepted the challenge to produce MRAPs in May 2007, despite not having a ready design. However, they delivered the first vehicles for testing in Iraq in July of 2007, making the M1224 one of the quickest military vehicle programs for the U.S. since World War II. 9,000 M1224s were fielded between 2007 and 2011.

01/27/2026

: On 27 January 1869, Samuel D. Rockenbach was born in Lynchburg, Virginia. An 1889 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, Rockenbach served as a cavalry officer at the turn of the 20th Century. In 1916, he was selected by then-Brigadier General John J. Pershing to serve as quartermaster of the Punitive Expedition into Mexico. In this role, Colonel Rockenbach was one of the first senior Army leaders to handle older logistics, like locomotives and horses, while learning to manage new ones like airplanes and automobiles.

It was no surprise then that in December 1917, Pershing (now the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in France) selected Rockenbach as th Chief of the AEF Tank Corps with a promotion to Brigadier General. He oversaw the train up and first combat deployment of American tank units at battles like Saint-Mihiel, Saint-Quentin, and the Meuse-Argonne. After the war, Rockenbach returned with the Tank Corps and served as Chief of the Tank Corps at Camp Meade, Maryland until 1920. Finally retiring from service in 1933, Brigadier General Samuel Rockenbach witnessed his fledgling Tank Corps evolve into the World War II Armored Force and become today's Armor Branch. He died on 16 May, 1952 and his known as "The Father of The Tank Corps".