To shorten the delivery time for Abrams tanks, the Pentagon decided to provide Ukraine with a modification of the M1A1 instead of the more modern M1A2, DW reports.
The United States plans to deliver previously promised Abrams tanks to Ukraine by autumn, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said on Tuesday, March 21. To shorten the delivery time, Washington decided to transfer to Kyiv a modification of the M1A1 tank - instead of the more modern M1A2, Ryder said.
Asked what the delivery schedule for the M1A2 modification tanks would be, Ryder replied that the US government did not initially focus on specific dates, suggesting that Abrams would take more than a year to ship.
At the end of January, the US authorities announced that they would give Ukraine a modern version of the Abrams, 31 tanks in total. Even then, the American Department of Defense emphasized that these tanks were not enough in American warehouses and it would take months for them to be handed over to Ukraine.
The United States plans to deliver previously promised Abrams tanks to Ukraine by autumn, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said on Tuesday, March 21. To shorten the delivery time, Washington decided to transfer to Kyiv a modification of the M1A1 tank - instead of the more modern M1A2, Ryder said.
Asked what the delivery schedule for the M1A2 modification tanks would be, Ryder replied that the US government did not initially focus on specific dates, suggesting that Abrams would take more than a year to ship.
At the end of January, the US authorities announced that they would give Ukraine a modern version of the Abrams, 31 tanks in total. Even then, the American Department of Defense emphasized that these tanks were not enough in American warehouses and it would take months for them to be handed over to Ukraine.