If you haven’t seen The Pentagon Wars, take the time to see one of the only depictions on film of exactly how the Pentagon acquires systems that don’t work. The film discussed the insane process of replacing the aging infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) in the US Army in the 1980s with a wholly inadequate Bradley IFV that left the factory ancient and not fit for purpose. During the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, the Bradleys were removed from theater because hundreds were lost on the battlefield against a foe with no tanks or IFVs; approximately 150 Bradleys were destroyed and around 700 damaged at a cool 2.5-3 million each.
Now, to augment the Abrams tank with a “light” variant, the Booker stepped on the scale at 38 tons and the superheroes at the oddly shaped building discovered it was too heavy for airlift in any military aircraft in the inventory. This just so happened to be one of the requirements. It began development in 2018 and was canceled in May 2025.
I am grateful it took so little time (by Army standards) to cancel the forlorn hope.
It might be safe to say that the United States Department of Defense likely avoided a sequel to the HBO satire The Pentagon War. The 1995 film was based on the book The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard, written by retired Colonel James G. Burton, United States Air Force (Retired), about the development of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
Those familiar with the made-for-TV movie will recognize that the M10 Booker was heading into familiar territory as the M3 Bradley. That vehicle infamously evolved from a light troop carrier into a bulky tank-like vehicle that could only carry half of its original capacity.
The M10 Booker had faced similar scrutiny. It was the first major combat vehicle developed for the U.S. Army since the 1980s, and had been seen as being crucial for the service’s transformation to dominate large-scale combat operations. Armed with a 105mm cannon on a turret mounted to a tracked chassis, it would be easy to confuse the Booker with a tank, and that is where the problems began.
“Now that we’re canceling, you can call it whatever,” U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told reporters Thursday, according to Task and Purpose. “We got the Booker wrong. We wanted to develop a small tank that was agile and could do [airdrops] to places our regular tanks can’t.”
However, much like with the M2 Bradley as development of the M10 continue, it increased in weight. It resulted in the Booker weighing 38 tons, which meant it could no longer be airdropped. It was also too heavy to be carried on a Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, while it also meant that a previous plan of carrying two on a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III wouldn’t work either – as only one could be carried on that heavy lifter.
