The Abrams endures. Tanks will not be obsolete no matter how vulnerable they are (that vulnerability is nothing new in the endless struggle between protection and weapons) until a replacement system that provides mobile, protected,
firepower arrives.
So the Abrams tank will live on in the M1A2SEPV4:
These improvements to the tank’s gun, ammunition, armor, sensors, communications and other features haven’t just kept the Abrams relevant, they have left planners with little basis for imagining what could possibly replace the nation’s premier armored combat vehicle.
Although my understanding was that the platform is reaching the limits of upgrades.
Perhaps that has changed? Maybe the limits of upgrading are bypassed with technology that allows a new turret and drone
"wing men" within a surveillance and kill web extend the reach of the tanks
and make them completely different to the current main battle tank
platforms, as I hinted in this essay on future warfare, akin to "heavy M11A1 Legion main battle tandems" that are a system of linked platforms.
Although I don't rule out that the replacement is a new "Sherman" that is semi-expendable and cheap. That compromise might be the best option for great power competition rather than futilely pursuing the wonder tank.
My old article in Military Review (see pp. 28-33) on the basics of a replacement is still relevant, it seems.
