Biden speeds up sending M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine by using refurbished models

[mystery-ak]

 Biden speeds up sending M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine by using refurbished models
By Mark Moore   
March 21, 2023 1:23pm

The Pentagon is accelerating the delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine by sending refurbished older models, cutting the timeline for when they could reach the battlefield from two years to several months, according to reports on Tuesday.

The Biden administration pledged in January to send 31 advanced new M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, reversing months of reluctance to supply Kyiv with the armored vehicles because they are hard to operate and maintain.

But the new tanks would have taken a year or more to build and ship.

Officials then opted for using older versions that will be taken from Army stocks, refurbished and deployed to Ukraine in as soon as eight to 10 months. 

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday morning confirmed that Pentagon officials were trying to find a way to get the tanks to Ukraine faster than had been expected.

more
https://nypost.com/2023/03/21/pentagon-to-speed-up-delivery-of-m1-abrams-tanks-to-ukraine/

[Kamaji]

So, these things will be on the battlefield by, what, November 2023, or even January 2024?

[Maj. Bill Martin]

So, these things will be on the battlefield by, what, November 2023, or even January 2024?

Who knows....

The issue is they we don't want to send the current models with all the advanced gear, but we don't have any of the older ones ready to go.  And 31 tanks is just a single battalion's worth anyway.

[Kamaji]

Who knows....

The issue is they we don't want to send the current models with all the advanced gear, but we don't have any of the older ones ready to go.  And 31 tanks is just a single battalion's worth anyway.

From the article I understood that the difference was whether we would build new tanks to send, which would take more than a year, versus sending refurbished units that would take 8 to 10 months.

Either way, I'm not sure how much fighting will be left by that time.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Either way, I'm not sure how much fighting will be left by that time.

If you'd have told folks last March that he war would still be raging this March, you'd probably have gotten the same reaction.

My guess is that it will be less than 8 months.  The holdup is contracted delivery dates with some other countries, but a little behind the scenes politicking could fix that.