Next year, the U.S. Army is expected to choose a larger tank to replace its Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, which has been in service since 1981. If the army accepts one contractor's proposal, its armored brigades could be relying heavily on a tank with a hybrid engine for several decades.
General Dynamics currently manufactures the army's main battle tank, the Abrams, and BAE Systems builds the Bradley. Those two companies are now competing for the new contract, which the Congressional Budget Office predicts will be worth approximately $29 billion.
The new tank will ideally seat nine passengers instead of the seven who can fit in a Bradley, and it will probably weigh around 70 tons. That's about twice as much as the Bradley and around the same as the Abrams. BAE's proposed vehicle, which it would build with help from Northrop Grumman, would be among the largest land vehicles ever constructed with an electric battery in a hybrid engine.