TSAMTO, January 9th. On January 4, at the location of the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade of the Polish Armed Forces, in the presence of Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak, a contract signing ceremony was held for the purchase of 116 M1A1 "Abrams" MBT.
The subject of the contract concluded with the American side is the supply of 116 M1A1 tanks, which will be adapted to the requirements of the Polish Armed Forces, as well as related equipment, including 12 M88A2 HERCULES BREMS, 8 M1074 unified assault bridges, 6 control vehicles and 26 NG SECM repair vehicles on the HMMWV chassis, as well as a training and logistics kit.
The contract is the first stage of the project, which also includes the supply of a significant amount of modern combat and training ammunition in accordance with the maximum volume of the request approved by the US Congress. Orders for sub-caliber armor-piercing ammunition and multipurpose programmable ammunition will be carried out sequentially, in accordance with the needs of the Polish Armed Forces.
The total value of the contract is $ 1.4 billion, of which about $ 200 million. they will be financed by the American side at the expense of the military assistance provided to Poland. Deliveries of tanks and other military equipment will begin in 2023 and will be completed by the end of 2024.
The logistics package includes spare parts and consumables, as well as tank maintenance equipment, mobile container workshops for armament repair and diagnostic equipment.
The training package includes comprehensive training of instructors, crews and technical personnel.
The ordered M1A1 tanks will be part of the 18th Mechanized Division in addition to the 250 M1A2 SEPv3 tanks contracted in April 2022. Deliveries of the M1A2 SEPv3 are planned for 2025-2026, however, if possible, they will be completed faster. In addition, in 2022, on the basis of a separate agreement, the US Army delivered 28 M1A2 SEPv2 tanks to Poland to train Polish crews on the basis of the Abrams Academy established at the Ground Forces Training Center in Poznan.
As reported by TSAMTO, the implementation of the Wilk program, which provides for the purchase of new tanks to replace the T-72M1 and PT-91 "Tvards" of the Polish Armed Forces, began in 2017.
In July 2021, Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak announced the decision to purchase 250 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks for the Polish Armed Forces. These tanks will enter service with the 18th Mechanized Division created in 2018, which provides defense of the eastern part of Poland. The US State Department approved the supply of 250 M1A2 SEPv3 main battle tanks and related equipment to Poland in the framework of the Foreign Military Sales program for up to $6 billion in February 2022.
In July 2022, Polish Minister of National Defense M. Blaszczak announced that an agreement had been reached with the US administration on the additional supply of 116 MBT M1A1 "Abrams" from the US Army. According to the plans, Poland will purchase a batch of used Abrams, which will make it possible to man two battalions and fill the gap formed after the transfer of 240 modernized T-72 tanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The first M1A2 Abrams tanks intended for training Polish servicemen arrived in Poland in July 2022.
According to The Military Balance 2022, before the start of hostilities in Ukraine, there were 126 Leopard-2A4 MBT (in the process of upgrading to the Leopard-2PL version), 105 Leopard-2A5 MBT, 16 Leopard-2PL MBT, 232 PT-91 MBT in PolandTvards" and 318 MBT T-72A/T-72M1/T-72M1R.
The plans of the Polish Ministry of Defense also include the purchase of up to 1,000 K2 Black Panther tanks of South Korean production. The contract worth $3.37 billion for the supply of the first 180 MBT K2 was signed on August 26, 2022.