The U.S. Army is shelving its plans to pursue a new variant of the M88 Hercules recovery vehicle and will pursue upgrades to the older version, the service told Defense News in a statement.
“The Army has made the decision not to pursue the M88A3 combat recovery system due to affordability and instead concentrate on improving M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift and Evacuation System (HERCULES) readiness and reliability,” according to a Friday statement from an Army spokesperson.
The decision came after the Army concluded the M88A3 development effort in March 2025. BAE Systems is the prime contractor.
“Since April 2025, the Army has been exploring alternative subsystem improvements as well as vehicle level overhaul efforts that could be accomplished on the M88A2 in lieu of procuring new M88A3 vehicles as concerns regarding affordability came to light,” the statement said.
The Army is still working on a formal path forward, but Program Executive Office Ground Combat Systems is working to initiate a service life extension program effort for the M88 in fiscal 2026.
“This path forward will allow the Army to fully concentrate on improving the readiness and reliability of the M88A2,” the spokesperson added.
Four U.S. Army soldiers were killed when their M88A2 vehicle sank in a deep peat bog in Lithuania during a training exercise in March.
The M88A3 was intended to fill a capability gap to support the recovery of 80-ton vehicles with upgrades to the powerpack, suspension, hoist and winch, according to an FY24 Defense Department report from the chief weapons tester.
The A3 variant was designed to eliminate the need to use two vehicles to raise and move some of the newer and heavier Abrams tanks. The M88A2 has been unable to recover modern Abrams tanks without working in a pair and created more costly and complex logistical constraints in operations.
The original plan was to conduct a full operational test and evaluation in FY27 and equip the first unit at the beginning of FY28.
The performance of the M88A3 from the DOD weapons test report is unclear. The report, published earlier this year, notes that data analysis from soldier touchpoint events and live fire testing was ongoing.
BAE Systems and its supply chain partners “put in great efforts to design a vehicle that performed well in test and received great feedback from soldier touch points. We remain focused on producing unmatched ground combat vehicles that are modern and ready for battle now,” a company spokesperson said in a Monday statement to Defense News.
“Although we are disappointed in the decision to not move forward with the M88A3 Single-Vehicle Recovery capability, we appreciate the customer’s decision given the department’s fiscal constraints,” the spokesperson added. “We are continuing to work closely with the U.S. Army and are confident the M88 franchise will continue to be the recovery vehicle of choice.”
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.