The US State Department has approved an estimated $6 billion sale of M1 Abrams tanks and other equipment to Poland as tensions on the eastern flank of Europe remain high over Russian aggression aimed at Ukraine.
Poland requested to purchase 250 Abrams tanks as well as a number of armoured support vehicles, and .50 calibre and 7.62mm machine guns.
Polish officials had said they expected the first delivery of the tanks in 2022, while GDLS said the deal could take two years to close.
After meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in October 2021, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said Austin thought “equipping the Polish Army with Abrams tanks is absolutely justified as it builds interoperability between American and Polish forces.”
Poland, whose brigades are currently equipped with Leopard 2A4 and Leopard 2A5 tanks, is seeking to replace the Soviet-designed T-72 and PT-91 tanks, to counter the most modern Russian T-14 Armata tanks.
Image: By W. B. Wilson at English Wikipedia – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Liftarn using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/…
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