The M1147 AMP, formally a 120 mm High Explosive Multi-Purpose with Tracer cartridge, is a U.S. multipurpose tank round for Abrams crews. Army, DOT&E, and budget material describe it as an Abrams-employed line-of-sight munition that consolidates several legacy 120 mm cartridge roles into a programmable round with point-detonate, delayed, and airburst settings, while a 2026 contract notice shows production planned for U.S. Army and possible Foreign Military Sales customers.
Public Army and test-report material ties the M1147 AMP to Abrams tank employment rather than to a separate launcher family.
| Firing weapon | Weapon type | Firing evidence |
|---|---|---|
 | Main battle tank | The Army describes M1147 as a 120 mm round for M1 Abrams crews, and DOT&E describes the AMP cartridge as a line-of-sight munition employed by Abrams tanks. Sources: M1147 120mm Advanced Multi-Purpose Round Enters Full Rate Production, DOT&E FY2024 M1147 AMP Assessment |
The AMP round is best understood as Abrams-family ammunition rather than a standalone launcher or platform. Public Army, DOT&E, and Northrop Grumman material describe a programmable 120 mm cartridge intended to combine several older high-explosive, multipurpose, canister, and obstacle-reduction effects into one round.
Point detonate, delayed point detonate, and airburst modes are documented for the M1147 AMP.
DOT&E reported that AMP uses the Abrams Ammunition Data Link hardware interface, the same interface associated with the M829E4 kinetic-energy munition.
DOT&E identifies the M830, M830A1, M1028, and M908 cartridges as the four legacy rounds whose capabilities the AMP consolidates.
The Army approved full-rate production in December 2024, and a 2026 contract notice covers procurement for the Army and future Foreign Military Sales customers through March 2031.
Army budget material says the XM1147 AMP program achieved Milestone B and entered Engineering and Manufacturing Development in FY2015, with two competitive Phase I contracts.
Sources: FY2022 Army RDT&E Budget: ED7 Advanced Multipurpose Cartridge
The Army's FY2022 RDT&E budget says a cartridge demonstration supported down-select to one contractor for the second engineering-development phase.
Sources: FY2022 Army RDT&E Budget: ED7 Advanced Multipurpose Cartridge
DOT&E's FY2023 and FY2024 assessments say the AMP program entered Milestone C in December 2020; DOT&E approved the test-and-evaluation master plan and live-fire strategy that month.
Sources: DOT&E FY2023 M1147 AMP Assessment, DOT&E FY2024 M1147 AMP Assessment
DOT&E says the Army completed IOT&E in September 2021 and later tied the delayed full-rate production decision to a First Article Acceptance Test failure from that month.
Sources: DOT&E FY2023 M1147 AMP Assessment
DOT&E published a classified combined IOT&E and live-fire report assessing M1147 operational effectiveness, lethality, suitability, and survivability.
Sources: DOT&E FY2023 M1147 AMP Assessment, DOT&E FY2024 M1147 AMP Assessment
After an earlier first-article issue delayed the production decision, DOT&E reported that root-cause work and follow-on First Article Acceptance Testing in May 2024 supported the full-rate production decision.
Sources: DOT&E FY2024 M1147 AMP Assessment
JPEO Armaments & Ammunition approved the M1147 AMP round for full-rate production, allowing production beyond low-rate initial production for Army and international-partner demand.
Sources: M1147 120mm Advanced Multi-Purpose Round Enters Full Rate Production
A U.S. contract notice listed Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. for procurement of M1147 HEMP-T cartridges for the Army and future Foreign Military Sales customers, with an estimated completion date in March 2031.
Sources: Contracts for March 27, 2026
