Pentagon Expedites Delivery of Tanks to Ukraine

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Apr 25, 2023

Towards the end of April, the Defense Department found sufficient M1 Abrams tanks to refurbish and send to Ukraine despite initial claims that the delivery would take a year or more owing to a lack of inventory.

“We’ve expedited our M1 Abrams timelines to supply Ukraine with more armored capability in the coming months, and the M1s that the Ukrainians will use for training will arrive here in Germany in the next few weeks,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said to reporters. “All of this is huge progress.”

On January 25, 2023, the Pentagon announced it would deliver 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine after manifesting unenthusiastic comments about the concept a few days prior.

That announcement was made the same day Germany announced its decision to deploy Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine after alleged pressure by the US and its NATO satrapies. 

On that occasion, the Biden regime said it would take up to a year for Ukraine to receive American tanks due to the fact they would not come from US stocks. Instead they would be new purchases with congressionally approved funds as established by the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

“We just don’t have these tanks available in excess in our US stocks, which is why it is going to take months to transfer these M1A2 Abrams to Ukraine,” spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said to The New York Post on January 26.

However General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced on April 21 that the plan changed, and now US tanks “are being refurbished to accelerate their delivery.” Milley made this announcement next to Austin after a meeting organized by Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany.

“In a couple of weeks, you’re going to get training tanks — those aren’t quite combat-capable — and they’ll be used to train the crews on how to shoot, maneuver and maintain these tanks,” Milley stated. “That’ll be part of the sustainment package to get them trained up as the other tanks are being refurbished.”

On April 24, Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder said that the refurbished tanks will be sent prior to 2024 and “are being produced to Ukraine’s specifications” for use “in actual combat.”

“[Sending training tanks] will enable us to do the training concurrent with the production of the tanks which again are refurbishment of the tanks,” he stated. “[It] allows us to expedite the timeline so that they can be training on operations, on maintenance, on sustainment, then the personnel will marry up with the tanks obviously before the end of the year for delivery to Ukraine.”

This expedited delivery of tanks comes following recently leaked Pentagon documents revealing the Ukrainian military’s deteriorating condition, which US authorities have tried to continuously downplay .

One document revealed that Ukraine’s air defenses will “be completely reduced” by May 23 unless they are reinforced. 

However, Austin claimed the expedited timeline would help guarantee that Ukrainian troops can continue staving off Russian invaders.

“I am confident that this equipment and the training that accompanied it — it will put Ukraine’s forces in a position to continue to succeed on the battlefield,” he stated.

Piggybacking off Austin’s comments, Milley said he believes the M1 will “make a difference” once it reaches the battlefield in Ukraine. 

“When [the tanks] do get here and those crews are trained and they’re used in a combined-arms maneuver tactic in combination with mech infantry, the Bradley [Fighting Vehicles,] they’ll be very effective,” he stated. 

However, Milley cautioned observers about Abrams tanks not being a silver bullet in this bar.

“There’s no silver bullet in war. The outcomes of battles and wars are the function of many, many variables,” he stated. “In this case, you would have to make sure that your tanks are used in combined arms with mechanized infantry, artillery — all of that is synchronized with dismounted forces, etc.”

“So there is no silver bullet in this case, but I do think the M1 tank, when it’s delivered and it reaches its operational capability, that it will be very effective on the battlefield.”

Overall, the continued delivery of military aid to Ukraine will only prolong the suffering in the country, and potentially provoke Russia into taking harsher military action. The result will be total devastation and potential destruction of the Ukrainian nation. To avoid such a gut-wrenching scenario, the US must do everything possible to stop sending military aid and push for some form of negotiated settlement between Russia and Ukraine.

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