As the Army continues its sweeping transformation efforts, officials recently tested the new M10 Booker, one of the Army’s top priorities, at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.

The M10 Booker is meant to be an armored infantry support vehicle, not a battle tank, designed to support the Army’s infantry brigade combat teams, according to the Army. The service has said it plans to acquire more than 500 of the vehicles.

“The data we are collecting is for a decision on full rate production next summer,” said Yuma Proving Ground test officer Jade Janis, according to an Army news release.

The vehicle originally underwent competition testing of prototypes at Yuma Proving Ground in 2020, with Janis serving as test officer on the entrant that was ultimately selected.

“It’s a lightweight infantry vehicle similar in weight to a Bradley [Fighting Vehicle], but with a larger weapon,” said Janis, according to the Army. “The intent is to be able to rapidly deploy them with an infantry combat brigade; you should be able to fit two of them in a C-17.”

Christened in 2023 at the National Museum of the United States Army at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, the M10 Booker is named for Pvt. Robert Booker, an infantryman who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during World War II, and Staff Sgt. Stevon Booker, an armor soldier who was killed in Iraq in 2003 and posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

The vehicle’s main weapon is an M35 105 mm low-recoil tank gun, and it also carries a 12.7 mm M2 heavy machine gun and a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun. Its diesel engine puts out 800 horsepower, powering a top speed of 40 miles per hour. “There are a lot of similarities to an Abrams [tank] as far as the turret is concerned,” Janis said. “The hull itself is all new.”

In addition to test firing the armaments in both a natural environment and from a cold chamber, the M10 Booker is undergoing a full complement of performance and reliability, accessibility and maintainability testing. Test vehicles are running across punishing desert road courses, up steep slopes and through a watery fording basin.

“Aside from being a totally new platform, there is nothing out of the ordinary for us in the way we test things. Everything should be standard practice so far as testing is concerned,” Janis said, according to the Army.

The M10 Booker is also being subjected to performance evaluation at the Arctic Regions Test Center, Yuma Proving Ground’s cold weather-testing facility, at Fort Greeley, Alaska, the release said.