Poland made official its M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 main battle tank (MBT) procurement to meet an urgent operational requirement with the signing of a roughly $4.75 billion deal on April 5.
Abramsy dla Polski – wzmacniamy potencjał Wojska Polskiego
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Minister @mblaszczak w @1WBPanc podpisał dziś umowę na zakup 2⃣5⃣0⃣ czołgów #Abrams dla #WojskoPolskie. Wraz z czołgami w wersji SEPv3 Polska otrzyma także pakiet logistyczny i szkoleniowy.📄 https://t.co/0jIfa27GEC pic.twitter.com/ERVm7q5eB0
— Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej 🇵🇱 (@MON_GOV_PL) April 5, 2022
The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress earlier on February 17 of the U.S. State Department’s approval of a government-to-government Foreign Military Sales (FMS) request by Poland for M1A2 Abrams System Enhancement Program version 3 (SEPv3) MBTs. The FMS proposal covers acquisition of 250 Abrams tanks, plus associated training and equipment (counter-IED systems, machine guns, ordnance, spare parts, etc.), 26 M88A2 Hercules combat recovery vehicles (CRVs), and 17 M1110 joint assault bridges. Altogether the proposal comes with an estimated price tag of $6 billion.
The Polish government is funding a significant military modernization effort that calls for spending of PLN524 billion ($132 billion) from 2021 through 2035. Part of this effort includes the expansion of the Polish Army’s mechanized capabilities, an aspect of force modernization made more urgent by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
At the center of this mechanized expansion is the upgrade of Poland’s existing inventory of surplus Leopard 2A4 and 2A5 MBT variants retired from Germany’s Bundeswehr and acquired in separate batch purchases in 2001 and 2013. The Leopard fleet is being upgraded by a group of subsidiaries operated under the umbrella of local defense giant PGZ under a contract awarded in December 2015. Once completed, the upgrade program will bring the Leopard 2A4s up to the Leopard 2A7 (or so-called 2PL) standard.
The Polish Army operates the Leopard tanks as well as Cold War-legacy T-72s and the local T-72 variant, the PT-91 Twardy. The U.S.-built M1A2 Abrams SEPv3-configured MBTs will serve as a replacement for the T-72s and PT-91s.
Polish officials see the M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 as a worthy counter to Russia’s T-14 Armata tank, which is still in early-stage production and therefore has not been utilized by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Deliveries of the Polish Abrams MBTs are slated to begin this year, with 28 expected to be handed over.
Dan Darling is Forecast International’s director of military and defense markets. In this role, Dan oversees a team of analysts tasked with covering everything from budgeting to weapons systems to defense electronics and military aerospace. Additionally, for over 17 years Dan has, at various times, authored the International Military Markets reports for Europe, Eurasia, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
Dan's work has been cited in Defense News, Real Clear Defense, Asian Military Review, Al Jazeera, and Financial Express, among others, and he has also contributed commentary to The Diplomat, The National Interest and World Politics Review. He has been quoted in Arabian Business, the Financial Times, Flight International, The New York Times, Bloomberg and National Defense Magazine.
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