Ukraine Demands 100 Western Tanks, Then Fighters
The American M1 Abrams main battle tank. EPA Yonhap News
The US Department of Defense announced on the 26th (local time) that it will support a new model (M1A2) rather than the old (M1A1) while the US has decided to support 31 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine, which is at war with Russia.
Sabrina Singh, deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense, said at a briefing that day, “We will provide M1A2 tanks.” “Since there is no current inventory, we will procure new tanks according to the Ukraine Security Assistance Program (USAI),” and said that it will take several months to supply tanks.
Compared to the M1A1, the M1A2 has an improved optical sight and also has an independent thermal sight.
In addition, the tank control device is digitalized, so the location of friendly and enemy vehicles can be quickly identified.
However, the U.S. bans the export of Abrams equipped with classified armor packages used by the U.S. military, so tanks using depleted uranium are not supplied to Ukraine.
Currently, the production facility that manufactures Abrams tanks is one of the Ohio plants of ‘General Dynamic’, which is owned by the US government. It can produce 12 tanks per month, but currently orders from Taiwan and Poland are also backlogged.
▲ US Abrams tanks lined up at Motskava railway station in Lithuania on September 5, 2020. Motskava (Lithuania) AFP News
Poland will receive delivery of 250 M1A2 tanks from 2025.
Former US President Donald Trump has condemned the supply of tanks to Ukraine, saying it “could lead to nuclear war”.
Former President Trump said on his social media ‘Truth Social’ that day, “After the tank comes, the next will be a nuclear warhead.” “Let’s end this crazy war now. It is too easy to do that.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine, which has secured about 100 Western main battle tanks, has requested fighter support as its next wish.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleva wrote on Twitter the day before that the US and Germany decided to support the M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 tanks, respectively, saying, “We have a new task in front of us: Western-style fighters.”
Reporter Yoon Chang-soo