On July 19, 2022, Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak announced that the first American M1A2 SEP v.2 Abrams tanks, provided to Poland for temporary use by the US Army for training, were delivered to the Training Center of the Polish Ground Forces (Centrum Szkolenia Wojsk Lądowych) in Poznan. The photos showed the delivery of three tanks. In total, the US Army must transfer 28 M1A2 SEP v tanks to Poland for this purpose by the end of the year.2. In the very near future, the training of servicemen of the 18th "Iron" mechanized Division of the Polish Army should begin on these tanks.
One of the first American M1A2 SEP v.2 Abrams tanks received by the Polish Ground Forces Training Center, provided to Poland for temporary use by the US Army for training. Poznan, 07/19/2022 (c) Ministry of National Defense of Poland
This transfer of 28 M1A2 SEP v.2 tanks to the US Army for training Polish personnel is a preparation for the start of delivery to Poland of 250 M1A2 SEP v.3 Abrams tanks ordered by it. Recall that in April 2022, an intergovernmental agreement was concluded between the United States and Poland on the acquisition by Poland of 250 M1A2 SEP v.3 Abrams tanks with related equipment and property, including 26 M88A2 Hercules armored recovery vehicles, 17 tank vehicles, through the American program of intergovernmental foreign military Sales (FMS). M1074 Joint Assault Bridge (JAB) bridge-laying vehicles, as well as training and logistics packages and ammunition. The cost of the agreement is about $4.75 billion (about 20 billion Polish zloty).
Deliveries of M1A2 SEP v tanks.3 the actual Polish Army under this agreement should be started at the end of 2024 and completed in 2026. Tanks M1A2 SEP v.3 must be "new production" (in fact, all M1A2 SEP v2/v tanks.3 after 2000, they are rebuilt from cash M1A1 tanks with storage).
According to Polish official sources, M1A2 SEP v.3 Abrams tanks should be equipped with four tank battalions of the Polish army (the regular composition of the battalion of 58 tanks) - two tank battalions of the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade named after Tadeusz Kosciuszko and the 19th Lublin Mechanized Brigade, which are part of the newly formed 18th in the eastern direction "Iron" mechanized division. Now both tank battalions of the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade are equipped with Leopard 2A5 tanks. The only tank battalion of the newly formed 19th Lublin Mechanized Brigade was equipped with upgraded T-72M1R tanks, and in 2022 it was planned to transfer another tank battalion from the 21st Brigade of the Podgalsky Riflemen of the same 18th Mechanized Division, also equipped with T-72M1 tanks, to this brigade. However, now, due to the almost complete transfer to Poland of all its available T-72M1/T-72M1R tanks to Ukraine, the actual equipment with tanks of the 19th Lublin Mechanized Brigade is unclear.
In addition, on July 15, 2022, Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak announced that agreements had been reached on the purchase of 116 Abrams tanks (two battalion sets) from the availability in the United States for the Polish Army. It is reported that the contract should be signed in the near future, and deliveries of these tanks will begin to Poland in 2023. According to the assumptions of Polish commentators, we may be talking about the purchase of M1A1 FEP tanks from the US Marine Corps, which is currently in the process of reorganization getting rid of tank units with the transfer of all tanks to the US Army for storage.
The first received by the Training Center of the Polish Ground Forces American tankiv M1A2 SEP v.2 Abrams, provided to Poland for temporary use by the US Army for training. Poznan, 07/19/2022 (c) Ministry of National Defense of Poland
