Australia Delivers Final Batch of Abrams Tanks to Ukraine

Australia has completed the delivery of M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine as part of its military assistance, ABC reports.

The final batch of 12 tanks was delivered over the past two weeks.

The armored vehicles, accompanied by five Australian Defence Force personnel, departed for Europe in October aboard a commercial cargo vessel.

After a 55-day journey, the tanks arrived in Europe and were then transported to a classified location in Poland, where they were inspected and prepared before being transferred to Ukraine.

Previously, the first 37 Australian tanks arrived in Ukraine in July this year.

Militarnyi previously reported that Australia will supply Ukraine with M1A1 tanks as part of a new military aid package worth $245 million.

Overall, Australia has transferred 49 M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. These tanks were used by the Australian Army from 2007 to 2024 as part of two armored regiments.

In addition, as part of the upgrade to the SA version, the Australian Government Department of Defence also ordered additional protection kits in the form of M19 explosive reactive armor blocks, in an unspecified quantity. It remains unclear whether these kits were transferred along with the tanks.

In late November, media reports said that Australia and New Zealand were ready to invest about $65 million to purchase U.S.-made weapons for Ukraine.

In early December, it became known that the Australian government is assessing Ukraine’s request for the transfer of Tiger attack helicopters, which the army is retiring as part of its transition to U.S.-made AH-64E Apache helicopters.