American Abrams tanks arrived in Poland for tank crews training.

This was reported by the Ministry of Defense of Poland.

In February this year, the US State Department decided to approve a possible foreign military sale of Abrams main battle tanks and support equipment to Poland. Estimated cost of the deal is $6 billion.

The supply of military equipment is possible through the Foreign Military Sales program. FMS is an American program intended for intergovernmental military sales.

The Polish government ordered 250 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks; 250 AN/VLQ-12 Counter Remote Controlled Improvised Explosive Device (RCIED) Electronic Warfare (CREW) Duke systems; 26 M88A2 HERCULES armored recovery vehicles; 17 M1110 Joint Assault Bridge systems; 276 M2 .50 Caliber machine guns; 500 М240С 7.62 mm machine guns; and 15 AGT1500 gas turbine engines.

The sale also includes a large number of 120-mm tank ammunition, training of technical, engineering and logistics personnel, and other related elements of logistics and software.

On April 5, 2022, Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak signed a contract to purchase 250 M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 tanks. It is planned that the tanks will be produced by the end of 2024 and delivered to Poland starting in early 2025.

Last July, it was announced that Poland procured 250 Abrams M1A2 SEPv3 tanks from the United States. The combat vehicles will serve the 18th Infantry Division named after General Tadeusza Buka, particularly the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade and the 19th Lublin Mechanized Brigade.

In accordance with the decree of the Council of Ministers of Poland, the Abrams tank procurement program will be funded outside of the Ministry of National Defense budget. Last year, the first instructors of Poland’s armored and mechanized forces completed their training with the tanks.

Poland also recently agreed to acquire 116 used M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks to strengthen its own armed forces.

The main armament of the M1A1 Abrams consists of a 120 mm smoothbore M256 gun developed by the German Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH.

M1A1 Abrams is powered by a Honeywell AGT 1500 gas turbine engine connected to the Allison automatic transmission X-1100-3B with four front and two rear gears. It can reach a top speed of 68 km/h with a maximum range of 426 km.