Pentagon to speed up delivery of M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine

The Pentagon is accelerating the delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine by sending refurbished older models, cutting the timeline when they could reach the battlefield from two years to several months, according to reports on Tuesday. 

The Biden administration pledged in January to send 31 advanced new M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, reversing months of reluctance to supply Kyiv with the armored vehicles because they are hard to operate and maintain.

But the new tanks would have taken a year or more to build and ship. 

Officials then opted for using older versions that be taken from Army stocks, refurbished and deployed to Ukraine in as soon as eight to 10 months.  

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday morning confirmed that Pentagon officials were trying to find a way to get the tanks to Ukraine faster than had been expected.

“We’re working on that. There’s some changes that you can make to the process to sort of speed that up,” Kirby said on MSNBC. 

He said the Abrams tanks are “sophisticated” and require 16 weeks of basic instruction for American soldiers, while also pointing out that a supply chain would need to be established to deliver parts and other equipment to keep them running.

The new timetable means that the highly maneuverable tanks will not get to the battlefield by this spring when Ukraine and Russia are expected to launch new offensives. 

The 70-ton Abrams tanks are seen as a game-changer for Kyiv in the fierce battles along the plains in the Donbas area where Ukrainian forces are trying to recapture territory taken by Russia. 

US officials – including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin – have been mulling a number of options to speed up delivery to Ukraine, weighing removing some sensitive equipment from the tanks and changing positions in the delivery line. 

During a tour of a plant in Lima, Ohio, last month, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth met with officials on finding ways to cut the delivery timeline. 

“Part of it is figuring out — among the different options — what’s the best one that can allow us to get the Ukrainians tanks in as timely a fashion as we can,” without disrupting foreign military sales, Wormuth said.​

The General Dynamics Corp. plant is ​currently ​building about 15 to 20 armored vehicles each month, including tanks, and could boost​ production. ​

​But development of new tanks for Ukraine would have to be crammed between existing sales contracts with Poland and Australia. 

​With Post wires​