This paper presents optimal design of controllable magnetorheological suspension unit for a tracked vehicle. As a first step, a double-rod type MR suspension unit is designed on the basis of the Bingham model of commercially available MR fluid, and its damping characteristics are evaluated with respect to the intensity of the magnetic field. Subsequently, the governing equation of motion of the MR suspension system featuring the MR valve is established. Then, the optimization problem to find optimal geometric dimensions of the MR supension unit is formulated by considering an objective function which is related to damping torque and control energy. The first order optimization method intergrated with a commercial finite element method(FEM) software is adopted to obtain optimal solution of the system. The performance characteristics of the optimized MR susepnsion unit is then evaluated and compared with initial one.