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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
US finalizing plans to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine, US officials say
2023-01-25
[CNN] The Biden administration is finalizing plans to send US-made Abrams tanks to Ukraine and could make an announcement as soon as this week, according to three US officials familiar with the deliberations.

The timing around the actual delivery of the tanks is still unclear and it normally takes several months to train troops to use the tanks effectively, officials said.

An announcement about the tanks could be part of an attempt to break a diplomatic logjam with Germany, which indicated to the US last week that it would not send its Leopard tanks to Ukraine unless the US also agreed to send its M1 Abrams tanks.

Top national security officials in the administration have been actively considering steps they could take to convince Germany to send the Leopards.

On Friday, at a meeting of western defense leaders in Germany, the US and its allies failed to convince German officials to send the Leopards as part of Berlin’s next round of military assistance to Ukraine. But on Tuesday, the German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said "We are preparing our decision, which will come very soon" on the tanks.
Looks like a deal with Germany was worked out, beginning with a company of Leopard 2A6s.
Later on Tuesday German newspaper Der Spiegel reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has decided to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine after "months of debate."

Posted by:Thruter Gloluger6393

#6  The Abrams will come out of mothball storage and will most likely be the M1A1 or the M1A2. The US still lists part of it as Top Secret, so parts will have to be stripped off and sanitized for export. On top of that headache, they will have to build out infrastructure for the repair of the tanks in Ukraine as the turbine engine is so different than the diesel the Leopard and Russian tanks use. On top of that Ukrainian mechanics will need to be trained to service the tank as well as new tankers will be trained on a tank that is so much different than their old Soviet ones it will be like a fighter pilot learning to fly a UFO.

So at the earliest we could see Abrams at the front in fall. Leopards will be there sooner as the support and supply network is already in place in Poland and is easy to build slightly forward to Ukraine.
Posted by: DarthVader   2023-01-25 21:20  

#5  Were any $100 bills blowing of those pallets? Asking for a friend.
Posted by: Omeating Sinatra4388   2023-01-25 20:38  

#4  The convoy is lengthy and will be seen on interstate. Just need to wait and see.
Posted by: Dale   2023-01-25 19:23  

#3  @#1 - I totally understand the need to protect your sources! I mean, you talk to people.
Posted by: Frank G   2023-01-25 18:39  

#2  The Abrams is rated fairly higher in quality to the German Leopard. The German Panther is rated number 1 tank in the world, higher than the Abrams and the Leopard, but is not going to Ukraine against the Russians
Posted by: Mad Eye Omeretch7959   2023-01-25 18:21  

#1  Very large convoy this week leaving California to arrive in I suspect Dulles International airport. I suppose pallets of cash sent from National Regan Airport over the years since cold war days for Russia and Obama to Iran as I recall. So one airport tasked to send money and the other bulk items.The convoy is crated for transport so no one knows what equipment is being sent. Just passing on this information. Easy to refute but this information is from good sources. No names to protect the convoy transport information leak.
Posted by: Dale   2023-01-25 15:36  

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