loading…
31 units of Abrams M1 tanks aided by the United States (US) for Ukraine have arrived in Kiev to face Russian tanks. Photo/US Army/The War Zone
KIEV – 31 units of Abrams M1 tanks aided by the United States (US) for Ukraine have arrived in Kiev to face Russian tanks. Even though the aid sent was a refurbished (reconditioned) Abrams M1A1 tank, not the standard M1A1 or the more modern M1A2 version, the US boasted that its specs were still more advanced than the Russian tank.
Quoted from the Bulgarian Military page, Tuesday (26/9/2023), initially Washington decided to send the M1A2 version to Ukraine. However, this decision was changed and Ukraine actually received the M1A1 version of the Abrams tank.
This decision was made considering that Washington had a large stock of M1A1 tanks that were ready to operate, but needed to undergo renovation. Military analysts speculate sensitive technological parts of the M1A1 Abrams tank were replaced to prevent it from falling into Russian hands.
“It’s unclear what else the US is removing from its refurbished Ukrainian M1A1 Abram tanks to prevent them from falling into Russian hands. “In addition to the Abrams, the German Leopard 2 and its versions are also delivered in reduced modifications,” wrote Bulgarian Military.
The War Zone website said the decision to send reconditioned M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine instead of M1A2s was to help reduce training and logistics needs. In addition to speeding up the overall delivery schedule.
It is still not known exactly what specific configuration the Ukrainian M1A1 Abrams tank uses. It is known that the M1A1 subvariant has new digital fire control as well as various other improvements, called Situation Awareness (SA).
Pentagon Press Secretary Ryder declined to say whether the M1A1s Ukraine will receive are the SA variant or not. He emphasized that the US would offer “capabilities very similar to the M1A2,” but did not elaborate.
Simply put, the 31 US-assisted Abrams M1A1 tanks are superior to the Soviet-era tanks that still make up the bulk of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ fleet. Moreover, the Abrams M1A1 tank has much better night fighting potential and a superior level of crew protection.