Press
On the Ukraine front, the Abrams tanks revealed clear weaknesses. But now the USA has used them to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank – as a sign against Putin.
Kiev/Washington – For a long time, the mighty M1 Abrams tanks were a great glimmer of hope for the Ukrainian armed forces in defense against the Russian war of aggression. After the United States made some of these tanks available to Kiev, however, numerous vulnerabilities and disadvantages of the Abrams tanks on the front line quickly became apparent. Now the USA has moved a number of additional Abrams tanks to a Polish NATO base.
New US M1 Abrams tanks in Poland can “equip an entire brigade”
The independent American military platform Stars and Stripes reported, based on information from the US Army, that a total of 14 main battle tanks and one M88 armored recovery vehicle were received at the NATO-funded Army Prepositioned Stocks storage facility. The NATO base is located in the village of Powidz, about 85 kilometers east of the city of Poznan and about 400 kilometers from the Polish-Ukrainian border.
“The latest delivery will allow an entire U.S. Army armored brigade to be airlifted to Poland at very short notice and made combat-ready in a few days or less,” Ray Wojcik, retired U.S. Army colonel and senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, told the U.S. intelligence agency Newsweek.
Now it is no longer necessary to wait 30 days or more for equipment to arrive at the desired location by ship. According to Wojcik, the fact that the Abrams tanks and the armored recovery vehicle have been moved to Powdiz is also to be seen as a “message to Russia,” because the base in Powdiz is the only NATO location east of Berlin.
“Another contribution by the US Army to the deterrence and defense of NATO’s eastern flank”
The Abrams, which arrived at the APS site on Thursday, cost about $10 million each and were among the most expensive items in the latest US military aid package for Ukraine. Ben Hodges, a former commanding general of the United States Army Europe, described the transfer of the Abrams tanks to Powdiz as another “contribution of the US Army to deterrence and defense of NATO’s eastern flank” in a post on the Short message service X (formerly Twitter). “Equipment for an entire armored brigade, including 85 M1 tanks, is being moved to a NATO depot in Poland,” Hodges added.
The APS depot in Powidz is said to be one of six active APS-2 sites in Europe under the command of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade, which said the depot will eventually be equipped with hundreds of M1A2 tanks, M2 Bradley fighting vehicles and M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers. The report did not specify whether the tanks will be moved to Ukraine, where an estimated 31 Abrams tanks are currently stationed. However, the APS depot in Poland is intended to bolster NATO defenses in Eastern Europe as tensions between the alliance and Russia continue to rise due to President Vladimir Putin’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Abrams tanks revealed numerous weak points on the front lines in the Ukraine war
The Abrams tanks have so far proved to be of little use on the front lines in the Ukraine war. The Abrams M1 tank is known for its “accuracy, its excellent stabilization and its maneuverability despite its high weight,” as a Ukrainian tank commander told the online portal Defense Express.
Ukrainian forces showed themselves to CNN At the end of May (29 May 2024) there were concerns that the armor of the vehicles was not sufficient to repel fire from modern weapons. In April, US military officials told the news agency Associated Press that the tanks are being withdrawn from the battlefields because of their vulnerability to Russian drones.
“The armor of the vehicles does not protect the crew,” a Ukrainian soldier told the US broadcaster in early June (June 6, 2024) CNN. It is primarily the drones that cause problems for the US tank. They specifically attack weak points, such as the one at the rear of the Abrams tank. The M1 also has inadequate top-level armor. This model has been in use since 1980 and thus dates back to a time when an impact from the front was expected and the front part of the tank was therefore particularly protected.
USA wants to support Ukraine with a 150 million US dollar aid package
For the first time, the United States deployed Abrams battle tanks to Poland in June 2023 (June 28, 2023), according to the intelligence service Euractiv reported. At that time, however, it was to replace Polish equipment that they delivered to Ukraine. The USA provided Poland with a total of 116 used M1A1 Abrams tanks
Meanwhile, the US is preparing for the press agency Reuters According to reports, the US is preparing to announce a military aid package for Ukraine worth around $150 million. It will include new missiles from the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, anti-tank weapons, small arms and grenades.
As the news agency Associated Press reported, the US relief shipment also includes 155 mm and 105 mm artillery shells. Reuters also reported that the package, which is to be presented on July 1, will also include HAWK interceptors for air defense. (fh)
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