Joe Biden's Ambition to Send the M1 Abrams MBT to Ukraine is Hampered by the Issue of Depleted Uranium

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Joe Biden's Ambition to Send the M1 Abrams MBT to Ukraine is Hampered by the Issue of Depleted Uranium


In contrast to Germany, which is still hesitant to approve the delivery of the Main Battle Tank (MBT) Leopard 2 to Ukraine, on the other hand, the United States is determined to send the M1 Abrams MBT (unknown variant) to the war in Ukraine, to be precise, President Joe Biden has officially announced the delivery plan. 31 Abrams MBTs for the Ukrainian armed forces.


Even though there has been a green light to send the M1 Abrams to Ukraine, however, in fact there are several aspects that the US must consider for deploying the battle proven MBT which is wasteful of fuel.

Quoted from TheDrive, a lot of attention was paid before Abrams was actually sent to Ukraine. Among these were concerns about how complex the Abrams' electronics, plus the gas turbine propulsion system, would make the MBT extremely difficult to operate and maintain.

Not only that, the concerns that arise also include protection configurations. According to the defense policy issued by the Pentagon, that every M1 Abrams sold abroad must be in an export configuration or variant. 

This is largely due to the top-secret armor protection package unique to the US military's M1 Abrams. The protection component in question contains Depleted Uranium, and cannot be exported even to a major US ally.

With the above conditions, the United States cannot simply send the M1 Abrams in the US Army or USMC arsenal to Ukraine. So far, US officials have made it clear that the M1 Abrams delivery process will take months, not weeks. The first Abrams MBT may not arrive until later this year or even early next year.

In addition, it is not yet clear whether the M1 Abrams for Ukraine will be an entirely new production line or will come from another source. The US Army has thousands of old Abrams in storage that contractors can hire to update them to like-new condition or which can be used as an aid to help build MBTs that use a mix of new and refurbished components.

Either way, the Abrams MBT must be configured to the export variant before being delivered to Ukraine. Starting in the late 1980s, many new production M1A1s for the US military began featuring a composite armor package that included Depleted Uranium (DU), a metal known for its high density. 

An armor pack incorporating DU is included in the next variant of the A2 series. Many of America's older M1A1s were later upgraded with newer protection and other improvements, including hundreds of units that were eventually upgraded to the M1A2 standard.

The armor issue is likely to limit how quickly the US government can supply Abrams to Ukraine, regardless of the tank's source. Even if the M1 for Ukraine is pulled from storage and rebuilt, it is likely they will have an armor package that will need to be changed. It's a complicated process, as evidenced by recently publicly available contract documents related to the sale of the Abrams MBT to Poland.


For the export variant of the M1 Abrams, the armor package does not include DU components. So far, General Dynamics Land Systems as the manufacturer, has exported various variants of the Abrams MBT to Australia, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.


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