M1A2 Abrams tanks from the Montana National Guard, top, and the Fort Stewart, Ga.-based 3rd Infantry Division take part in the Thunderdome shoot-off event on May 6, 2026, during the U.S. Army’s Sullivan Cup competition at Fort Benning, Ga. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
FORT BENNING, Ga. — When small targets popped up downrange, two tanks opened fire with their 120 mm guns sending rounds into their mark across a hilly, treelined range on Fort Benning.
When the smoke cleared, the green M1A2 Abrams main battle tank crewed by troopers from the 1st Cavalry Division had struck more targets, giving them a first-round win in Wednesday’s Thunderdome shootout event and a leg up in the Sullivan Cup’s overall competition. The Armor Week competition held every other year at Fort Benning seeks to crown the Army’s best tank and M2 Bradley fighting vehicle crews.
“It’s a lethality competition,” said Army Col. Justin Harper, who commands Fort Benning’s 316th Cavalry Brigade, which trains armor officers and noncommissioned officers and oversaw the Sullivan Cup. “Lethality is really what the Army is all about, so we’re here to learn things about the best competitors in the Army, about the platforms and how to display combat excellence in this environment.”
Competitors — eight four-man tanks crews and seven three-man Bradley crews — have spent the past week shooting, conducting physical fitness assessments, tests of their ability to maintain and fix their platforms and knowledge of their craft, competition officials said.
Winners for the best tank and Bradley crews will be determined on Friday after the completion of the Final Charge event.
Harper said the competition is designed to stress the crews in ways they would only otherwise face in actual combat operations. The competition’s events, he said, are more difficult than the typical gunnery training they receive at their home stations.
“That is so that we can learn lessons from this event and then improve the rest of the Army and our combat proficiency,” the colonel said. “It’s not just for bragging rights or for the trophy. It is about real, concrete lessons learned that are going to translate into lethality across … our Army.”
In addition to striking targets, competition planners placed a major emphasis this year on maintenance skills, said Capt. Brian Thornton, who oversaw the two-day, six-event maintenance challenge.
“If you can’t make your platform fight, then you can’t shoot,” Thornton said. “So, you’re seeing the armor force put a lot of emphasis on maintenance.”
Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division perform maintenance on an M1 Abrams tank while competing May 5, 2026, in the U.S. Army’s Sullivan Cup competition at Fort Benning, Ga. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division perform maintenance on two M1 Abrams tanks while competing May 5, 2026, in the U.S. Army’s Sullivan Cup competition at Fort Benning, Ga. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
An armor soldier from the 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson, Colo., kneels atop an M1A2 Abrams tank during a maintenance test on May 5, 2026, at Fort Benning, Ga., during the Army’s Sullivan Cup competition to determine the top tank and Bradley crews. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
A Polish tanker takes a nap atop an M1 Abrams tank on May 6, 2026, during the U.S. Army’s Sullivan Cup competition at Fort Benning, Ga. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division perform maintenance on an M1 Abrams tank while competing May 5, 2026, in the U.S. Army’s Sullivan Cup competition at Fort Benning, Ga. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Among the tougher tasks, he said, was changing tracks on Abrams tanks and Bradleys — a common breakdown in the field. The task is technical and time consuming, Thornton said.
“A lot of crews come out here and they’re kind of tired from the live fire, they’re tired from the lanes and track is our most labor-intensive task and it’s been the discriminator for crews here,” he said.
On the ranges, the most successful crews will prove they are masters of their platforms who can quickly adjust to unforeseen circumstances, said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Stephens, the lead Abrams master gunner for the competition.
It will come down to platform preparation and then coordination with [cadre] when they have a maintenance need to ensure that they’ve got the most accurate platform possible,” Stephens said. “The other part of that is just communication [and] cohesiveness of the crew. If the crew is extremely cohesive and they communicate well and clearly [while] on the range … they’re going to do better than a crew that doesn’t.”
This year’s competition included crews from five active-duty Army divisions, two National Guard brigades, and three partner nations — tanks crews from the United Kingdom and Poland and a Bradley crew from Ireland.
The international competitors received a three-week train up on the American platforms to participate in the Sullivan Cup, Stephens said. That was especially important for the UK crew which usually works on a British Challenger 2 tank, which Stephens described as “drastically different” than the Abrams. The Irish crew also was fielding an unfamiliar platform, as their Army does not use Bradleys.
The international aspect gave Fort Benning’s trainers an opportunity to test their abilities to quickly familiarize foreign partner forces with American platforms, Harper said.
“You’re going to be able to see whether or not the training you gave them translated into real proficiency, and if it didn’t, then maybe there’s something we need to modify with our training,” Harper said. “If [the international partner crews] do well, then we probably did something good [in training] that translated to a better performance.
“That means there’s lessons there that go directly back into how we do our standard instruction in this brigade and contribute to Army lethality.”
Mississippi National Guard soldiers fire from their M2 Bradley fighting vehicle while competing May 6, 2026, in the U.S. Army’s Sullivan Cup competition at Fort Benning, Ga. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Irish soldiers fire from an M2 Bradley fight vehicle on May 5, 2026, at Fort Benning, Ga., while competing in the U.S. Army’s Sullivan Cup competition. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
A 1st Armored Division soldier rides atop an M2 Bradley fighting vehicle at Fort Benning, Ga., on May 6, 2026, during the Army’s Sullivan Cup competition. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
A United Kingdom tanks crew fires from the .50-caliber machine gun on an American M1A2 Abrams tank while competing May 6, 2026, in the U.S. Army’s Sullivan Cup competition at Fort Benning, Ga. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
A 1st Cavalry Division tank crew drives down a range on Fort Benning, Ga., on May 6, 2026, during the Army’s Sullivan Cup competition. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Army tankers from the 1st Infantry Division, based at Fort Riley, Kan., fire their M1A2 Abrams main battle tank on May 5, 2026, at Fort Benning, Ga., while competing in the U.S. Army’s Sullivan Cup competition. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
