M1 CATTB – Component Advanced Technology Test Bed

Component Advanced Technology Test Bed (CATTB) was a pair of highly modified prototypes conceived under the auspices of the Advanced Tank Armament Systems (ATAS) program to test several promising technologies. Two vehicles were built in 1993 and 1994: the first one, dubbed Phase I, paired a spare M1 hull with a modified turret (an evolution of the M1 Thumper’s) fitted with a 48-caliber 140 mm Watervliet Arsenal XM291 smoothbore cannon and a Benét Labs XM91 mechanical autoloader inside the bustle; the second vehicle, codenamed Phase II, used the same turret as basis, but mated it to a brand new M1 hull altered to contain a more compact Cummins XAP-1000 AIPS diesel engine and two vertically-stacked, horizontal carousels (for non-ready ammunition) between the turret basket and the powerpack compartment. Phase II also trialed new single-shoe XT166 tracks (Phase I retained the original, two-shoed T156 of the M1), an in-arm hydropneumatic suspension and the Multi-Sensor Target Acquisition System (MTAS) with its low-power, millimetric wave radar. Both vehicles were tested extensively at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The aforementioned Thumper is often erroneously described as a de-tuned CATTB, although it predates the latter by five years.

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