The most radical changes are inside, which have been redesigned to take advantage of the new technology. Control systems are digitized, notably a new inter-vehicle information system that allows vehicles to continuously and automatically exchange information. Using the new technology, commanders could fast track the location of friendly vehicles, identify enemy positions, and process artillery requests.
But federal policy prohibits the export of Abrams along with classified armor packages used by the US military that contain depleted uranium, according to a fourth person with knowledge of the policy. The US strips vehicles of this secret armor “recipe” before selling them to other countries. There are other armor packages that the US can provide for Foreign Military Sales customers.
The Pentagon plans to provide the A2 variant to Ukraine in this “exportable” form, according to a defense official and two other people with knowledge of the discussions.
Questions remain over the timing of when the Abrams tanks might be delivered to Ukraine. The tanks are assembled in only one location—a state-owned, General Dynamics-operated plant in Lima, Ohio. The facility can produce 12 tanks per month, but the line is now full with new tank orders for Taiwan and Poland – placing the order on the backburner will be difficult and potentially contentious.
The service’s acquisition chief, Doug Bush, told reporters Wednesday that the military is providing senior leaders with several options to determine the way forward.
Poland has ordered 250 A2 tanks that will be delivered by 2025, but in the meantime the Marine Corps is receiving an emergency infusion of 116 recently retired M1A1 tanks. Warsaw asked for the tanks to quickly replace the 250 Soviet-era T-72 tanks delivered to Ukraine last year, and the shuttering of Marine Corps tank units made hundreds of streamlined tanks immediately available.
Taiwan ordered 108 M1A2 tanks in 2019, and the first is expected to be delivered in 2024.
General Dynamics no longer builds the M1 from scratch, but has several “M1 seed vehicles” that are bare-bones tanks. When new orders come in, General Dynamics modifies these seed vehicles with new technology, depending on which variant is selected.
But these upgrades are not “easy or fast,” Bush said.
Rather than sending tanks to Ukraine from its own stockpiles, as it has done with previous weapons, the US has said it is buying the Abrams from industry, meaning they could be on the battlefield for several months, or potentially longer. years, given the industrial constraints in upgrading them. Meanwhile, the US would train Ukrainian forces about the maintenance and operation of the tanks, as well as help integrate the weapons into their overall operations in a “combined arms maneuver” strategy.
Either Abrams version would be a significant upgrade from the Soviet-era tanks that Ukraine now operates in firepower, accuracy and armour. But once they arrive, Ukrainian forces will be challenged to keep them in operation, experts said.
Those challenges are why the Biden administration pushed ahead with the delivery of German-made Leopard tanks, which are easier to maintain and train. The first leopards from Germany and other European countries will probably start arriving in Ukraine this spring.
Unlike other tanks that use diesel, the Abrams has a jet turbine engine that consumes JP-8 jet fuel, which is more expensive and difficult to maintain. They are also difficult to maintain, and any crew error can occur. Trigger the engine to blow up.
Meanwhile, operating them requires massive infrastructure, including M88 recovery vehicles to repair broken parts on the battlefield.
“The M1 is a complex weapon system that is challenging to maintain, as we’ve talked about,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday. “It was true yesterday; This is true today; This will be true in future.