U.S. Congress agreed to sell 250 Abrams tanks to Poland

The U.S. Congress has agreed to sell 250 Abrams tanks to Poland. The republic’s Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak announced this on Twitter.

“The Polish army is getting stronger. The U.S. Congress has agreed to the sale of 250 Abrams tanks to Poland. This is already the last important step before signing an agreement to acquire them. This is the most important contract in the field of armaments for many years,” he wrote.

Poland intends to buy Abrams tanks in the most modern version M1A2 SEPv3. 250 vehicles will be enough to equip four tank battalions. They will go to the new 18th division in the east of the country. The total amount allocated for the tank acquisition program is $6 billion. The program also includes a logistics package, training, infrastructure development and armament.

The M1A2 SEPv3 main battle tank is the most advanced modification of the Abrams tank, which was first introduced in 2018. Compared with previously developed versions of the fighting vehicle, it received a new multipurpose projectile and improved electronics.

Poland has been developing a program to acquire new tanks since 2017. The new tanks should partially replace the 384 Soviet T-72 tanks and 232 RT-91 Twardy tanks in service with the Polish armed forces. The Polish army also has 126 Leopard tanks in version 2A4 and 105 vehicles in version 2A5. The Polish government decided to upgrade the old 2A4 versions to the 2PL version. The total value of this contract is $1 billion and, according to the current plan, it should be implemented by 2023.