On January 17, 2025, the U.S. Army announced that the Joint Program Executive Officer for Armaments & Ammunition (JPEO A&A) has approved the Full-Rate Production (FRP) of the M1147 120mm Advanced Multi-Purpose (AMP) round, marking a significant milestone in the Army’s ammunition modernization efforts. This approval authorizes the transition from Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) to full-scale manufacturing, enabling the U.S. Army to meet critical operational demands and enhance its logistical efficiency by consolidating four legacy 120mm rounds into a single, versatile munition.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
The M1147 AMP round enhances the firepower of the M1 Abrams tank by combining the capabilities of four legacy 120mm rounds into a single versatile solution, providing improved effectiveness against armored threats, fortified structures, and enemy personnel. (Picture source: U.S. DoD)
The M1147 AMP (Advanced Multi-Purpose) round will provide Abrams Main Battle Tank crews with advanced firepower capabilities, ensuring readiness and overmatch capabilities for U.S. forces and international partners in future combat scenarios.
The M1147 AMP round is a line-of-sight, full-bore multipurpose cartridge specifically designed for the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, offering enhanced battlefield versatility. It replaces four existing 120mm rounds—the M830 High Explosive Anti-Tank cartridge, M830A1 Multi-Purpose Anti-Tank cartridge, M1028 Canister cartridge, and M908 Obstacle Reduction cartridge—into a single solution. This consolidation significantly enhances logistical efficiency, simplifies the Abrams’ basic load, and addresses aging stockpile challenges, ensuring long-term operational sustainability. The AMP cartridge provides Abrams tank crews with new capabilities to defeat Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) teams, which pose a significant threat to armored formations, and to breach Double Reinforced Concrete Walls (DRCW), enhancing mobility and effectiveness in urban warfare and fortified environments.
Equipped with a multi-mode programmable fuze, the M1147 AMP round provides operational flexibility by offering three selectable modes to address diverse combat scenarios. The point detonate (PD) mode is designed for direct impact against armored and fortified targets, delivering maximum kinetic force upon contact. The point detonate delay (PD-Delay) mode allows the round to penetrate structures before detonation, maximizing internal damage and improving bunker-busting capability. The airburst mode is highly effective against exposed personnel and light vehicles, creating a lethal fragmentation effect over a wide area, making it ideal for neutralizing enemy infantry or lightly armored threats.
The approval of Full-Rate Production represents the culmination of years of development and testing aimed at enhancing the firepower and effectiveness of the U.S. Army’s Abrams tank fleet. The M1147 AMP provides advanced lethality and overmatch capabilities, ensuring tank crews can respond effectively to evolving threats with improved precision and versatility. By consolidating multiple munition types into a single round, the AMP simplifies ammunition management and reduces the logistical burden associated with storage, transportation, and battlefield resupply.
This milestone also highlights the U.S. Army’s commitment to modernization and interoperability with allied nations. The M1147 AMP round is expected to play a crucial role in future coalition operations, enhancing shared capabilities and strengthening partnerships. As the U.S. Army continues to prioritize readiness and technological advancement, the M1147 AMP ensures that Abrams-equipped forces remain dominant on the battlefield, capable of engaging a wide range of threats with superior firepower and operational flexibility.
Looking ahead, full-rate production will allow the U.S. Army to rapidly field the M1147 AMP across its armored units, ensuring widespread availability and seamless integration into existing operational frameworks. The ongoing production effort will support the U.S. Army’s readiness initiatives while also providing critical ammunition supplies to allied nations operating the Abrams platform. The introduction of the M1147 AMP marks a decisive step in enhancing lethality, efficiency, and operational effectiveness in both current and future combat environments, solidifying the Abrams Main Battle Tank’s position as a cornerstone of modern armored warfare.
