The U.S. is accelerating its timeline for delivering Abrams tanks to Ukraine, with plans to now provide refurbished M1A1 platforms by this fall.
While the U.S. originally planned to deliver the newer M1A2 variant of Abrams for Ukraine, the Pentagon said Tuesday refurbishing A1 variant tanks from excess hulls will allow for deliveries this year in support of Kyiv’s ongoing fight against Russia’s invasion.
“Ever since we’ve made this announcement we’ve been committed to exploring options to deliver the armored capability as quickly as possible. And after further study and analysis on how best to do this, DoD in close coordination with Ukraine, has made the decision to provide the M1A1 variant of the Abrams tank which will enable us to significantly expedite delivery timelines and deliver this important capability to Ukraine by the fall of this year,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters during a briefing.
The Biden administration announced plans in late January to supply Ukraine with 31 General Dynamics Land Systems [GD]-built Abrams tanks as part of a $400 million weapons aid package to be procured with Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funds (Defense Daily, January 25).
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told reporters in late February options for how Abrams tanks will be supplied to Ukraine were still being assessed, adding that it was possible the M1A2 tanks might not arrive this year (Defense Daily, Feb. 23).
Ryder also said Tuesday that, while no specific dates were provided, the timeline for delivering M1A2 Abrams was “probably over a year or so.”
The A1 variants to be delivered by this fall will be “excess hulls in our inventory that we will refurbish, refit through a combination of USAI and security assistance packages,” Ryder said, adding that the Pentagon doesn’t anticipate the cost will be “very much beyond” the $400 million from the previously announced USAI package.
“We’ll also give Ukraine a very similar capability to the M1A2, which includes advanced armor and weapon systems, to include a 120mm cannon and 50-caliber heavy machine gun,” Ryder said. “[The M1A1] is a very similar capability to the A2 and will definitely give the Ukrainians a significant main battle tank capability on the battlefield.”
Ryder also said Tuesday the Pentagon is confident about delivering the Patriot air defense battery for Ukraine on an “expedited timeline,” after the training of Ukrainians on the system at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma “went faster than expected.”
“We made the commitment to provide them with this Patriot capability as quickly as we could and so that’s what we’re endeavoring to do. But, again, I’m not going to get into delivery timelines for all the obvious reasons,” Ryder said.
The Raytheon Technologies [RTX]-built Patriot battery was part of a $1.85 billion weapons aid package for Kyiv the U.S. announced in December during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington, D.C. (Defense Daily, Dec. 21).