Advanced Abrams Crew Station Design: A Human Factors Perspective

Abstract

In 1994, the U.S. Army sponsored the design of a technologically advanced combat tank, the Advanced Abrams Crewstation (AACS). The goals of the AACS project were: (1) design a three-man crewstation that outperformed the four-man M1A2 tank; (2) incorporate advanced technology subsystems chosen by the Army; and (3) meet all of the Army's requirements for information management that it deemed essential to the digital synchronization of the battlefield. While aircraft have traditionally incorporated state-of-the-art equipment in their designs, main battle tanks have emphasized ruggedness and durability over sophistication. In the past decade, the M1 and M1A2 Abrams tanks have begun to modernize their crewstations with digital, electronic command and control (C2) systems. Initial feedback from field tests of these systems suggested that the addition of an electronic display to the Abrams crewstation, and the accompanying increase in information provided to the tank commander, did not improve the crew's ability to do their jobs. The difficulty of interacting with these systems limited the potential advantage of the underlying technology, and it sparked the initiation of a new soldier-centered design effort. The authors were among the human factors members of a multi-disciplinary team contracted to design a crewstation for a three-man battle tank. This paper discusses the system design and development process and specific lessons learned during the project.