Poland: Abrams Tanks Delivery Schedule Revealed

The details of delivery schedule for M1A1 Abrams for Poland were revealed on Wednesday 12 April, during a joint briefing by Mariusz Błaszczak, Deputy PM and Minister of Defence for Poland and maj. gen. Maciej Jabłoński, Inspector for the Land Forces, MoD Plenipotentiary for the Abrams program. As gen. Jabłoński said, the first batch of 14 M1A1 Abrams tanks will be delivered to 1 Armored Brigade in Wesoła-Warsaw until the end of June.

The second batch of 42 Abrams tanks shall be delivered between August and September, while the third batch of 60 M1A1 would be delivered until February 2024. One battalion will be used by 1^st Armored Brigade and another to 19^th Mechanized Brigade, both brigades are subordinated to 19^th Mechanized Division.

Along with the "gap filler" 116 refubrished M1A1 Abrams tanks, Poland bought also 8 M1074 Joint Assault Bridges, 12 M88A2 Hercules recovery vehicles as well as six M577 command vehicles and 26 SECM Humvee-based support vehicles, plus support & training equipment. The cost of the package amounts for $1.4 billion, of which up to 200 million will be reimbursed via FMF. The purpose of the accelerated delivery of the tanks is to replenish Polish stocks after donations that have been made for Ukraine.

On the other hand, the newly manufactured M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks will start arriving in Poland early 2025, with the deliveries of 250 Main Battle Tanks, as well as 26 Hercules recovery vehicles and 17 Joint Assault Bridges are to be finished until 2026. The cost of FMS package signed in April 2022 amounts for $ 4.74 billion.