The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has announced that the US State Department has approved the sale of 116 M1A1 Abrams tanks and associated equipment at an estimated cost of $3.75 billion to Poland. They are older-version vehicles to fill the gap left by the tanks Poland donated to Ukraine.
“Another step to increase the military potential of the Polish Armed Forces is behind us. The US State Department has agreed to sell Poland an additional 116 Abrams tanks with ammunition. We are entering price negotiations. First deliveries possible in 2023. A strong army is a safe Poland”, wrote Minister of National Defence Mariusz Błaszczak on Twitter.
According to the DSCA, the order includes 116 tanks, as well as 12 M88A2 HERCULES technical security vehicles, eight M1074 Joint Assault Bridge tanks, six M577 command vehicles, 26 HMMWVs (Humvees) and 26 JLTV light armoured vehicles, as well as machine guns and tens of thousands of tank ammunition.
According to an announcement by the Polish Ministry of Defence, these tanks are to fill the gap left by the machines that Poland donated to Ukraine. The head of the Ministry of Defence had previously announced that Poland was supposed to receive these Abrams at the cost of their decommissioning and a package of spare parts. They are older type vehicles than the 250 M1A2 SEP v3 Abrams previously ordered by Poland.
The delivery of 250 tanks in the latest SEPv3 version is provided for in the contract signed by the defence minister in April. They are to be the version in which the hull and turret construction has been changed, and new electronic systems have been introduced. Poland will pay over PLN 20 billion for them.
M1 Abrams tanks in various versions are on the equipment of the armies of Morocco, Kuwait, Iraq, Egypt, Australia, Saudi Arabia and soon Taiwan. They were used in the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Iraqi army’s Abrams took part in the war against the so-called Islamic State, and Saudi Abrams during the civil war in Yemen.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński