On January 4, 2023, on the basis of the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade named after Tadeusz Kosciuszko of the Polish Army in Wesol (Warsaw), Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak approved the conclusion of an agreement with the US government in the form of an exchange of letters LOA (Letters of Offer and Acceptance) on the purchase by Poland through the US program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS) 116 M1A1 FEP Abrams tanks from the presence of the US Department of Defense. The ceremony was attended by the Charge d'affaires of the United States in Poland, Daniel Lawton.
At the signing ceremony of the agreement on the acquisition by Poland of 116 M1A1 FEP Abrams tanks from the presence of the US Department of Defense. Warsaw, 04.01.2023 (c) Ministry of National Defense of PolandThe value of the signed agreement is $1.4 billion (6.2 billion Polish zlotys) net, of which almost $200 million (880 million zlotys) will be allocated in the form of American military assistance.
The delivery will include 116 tanks (two battalion sets) M1A1 Abrams in the FEP (Firepower Enhancement Package) version, as well as 12 armored M88A2 Hercules repair and evacuation vehicles, eight M1074 Joint Assault Bridge (JAB, on the chassis of the Abrams tank), six armored command and staff vehicles M577A3, 26 mobile repair shops NG SECM based on M1152A1 HMMWV vehicles, as well as training and logistics packages. M1A1 FEP tanks are former tanks of the US Marine Corps, transferred to the storage of the US Army due to the recent reorganization of the US Marine Corps with the complete abolition of its tank units.
During the ceremony, the inspector of the Polish Ground Forces and authorized representative for the introduction of Abrams tanks, Major General Maciej Jablonski, said that the purchased M1A1 FEP tanks are used vehicles stored at the US Army warehouse in Aniston, Alabama, where they are currently beginning to undergo training and repair. After the repair, all tanks will have the mileage and resource of the units reset to zero. The first 20 tanks were prepared in Aniston in December.
The first battalion set of M1A1 FEP (58 tanks) should be delivered to Poland by the end of 2023, and the second - by the end of 2023. Both battalion sets are to enter service with two tank battalions of the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade of the 18th "Iron" Mechanized Division of the Polish Army.
Recall that in July 2022, 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. On December 6, 2022, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) of the US Department of Defense sent a notification to the US Congress about the planned upcoming sale of 116 M1A1 Abrams main tanks from the US Army to Poland through the American FMS program. At the same time, the total cost of the proposed delivery was determined at $ 3.75 billion, since it also included more than 300,000 120-mm tank shots for the M1A1 and M1A2 SEP v tanks planned for delivery to Poland.3 - including 112 thousand armor-piercing sub-caliber shells (50 thousand M829A2, 2 thousand M829A3 and 60 thousand M829A4), 10 thousand cumulative fragmentation shells M830A1, 130 thousand high-explosive shells (60 thousand M908 and 70 thousand programmable M1147 AMR), 51751 practical projectiles (30928 M865 and 20823 M1002).
Now, regarding the purchase of shells, it is reported that it will be made by Poland under separate agreements in two stages. First, armor-piercing sub-caliber, cumulative fragmentation and high-explosive shells of existing types will be ordered from the presence of the US Army, then new-generation M829A4 (armor-piercing sub-caliber) and M1147 AMR (programmable high-explosive) shells, which will be manufactured specifically by Polish order. At the same time, Poland will become the first foreign recipient of 120-mm armor-piercing sub-caliber shells of the M829 series with armor-piercing cores made of depleted uranium.
Earlier 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 M1074 (M1110) Joint Assault Bridge (JAB) tank bridge-laying vehicles under the American FMS program, as well as training and logistics packages and ammunition. The cost of the agreement is about $4.75 billion (about 20 billion zlotys).
Deliveries of M1A2 SEP v tanks.3 under this agreement should be started in Poland 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 sources, M1A2 SEP v.3 Abrams tanks should be equipped with four tank battalions from the 18th Mechanized Division of the Polish Army (the regular composition of the battalion of 58 tanks) - one tank battalion of the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade, two tank battalions of the 19th Lublin Mechanized Brigade and one tank battalion of the planned formation as part of the 18th mechanized division of the fourth brigade.
In July-October 2022, 28 M1A2 SEP v.2 Abrams tanks were transferred to the Training Center of the Polish Ground Forces (Centrum Szkolenia Wojsk Lądowych) in Poznan, provided to Poland for temporary use by the US Army for training Polish personnel on purchased Abrams tanks.
The ceremony of concluding an agreement on the acquisition by Poland of 116 M1A1 FEP Abrams tanks from the presence of the US Department of Defense. Warsaw, 04.01.2023 (c) Ministry of National Defense of Poland and Robert Suchi / Defence24.pl Video: