US to buy new Abrams tanks for Ukraine because military has no spares, Pentagon says
By DOUG G. WARE
STARS AND STRIPES • January 26, 2023
WASHINGTON — New Abrams tanks will be purchased by the U.S. to supply to Ukraine because the Defense Department doesn’t have any spares, delaying the shipment as Ukrainian forces prepare for an expected Russian offensive, a Pentagon spokeswoman said Thursday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recommended to President Joe Biden to obtain the tanks through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative — a funding program that procures military equipment from industry rather than from existing Defense Department stocks, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said.
“We just don’t have these tanks available in excess in our U.S. stocks,” she told reporters at the Pentagon.
Singh also said Ukraine will get 31 modified M1A2s Abrams, which is the newest and most sophisticated version of the tank that first entered service in the early 1990s.
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2023-01-26/abrams-tanks-ukraine-russia-pentagon-8900716.html
