Poland to buy 116 used Abrams tanks from US

Poland has agreed the purchase of 116 used Abrams tanks from the United States, the defence minister has confirmed, as the government seeks to fill gaps created by the decision to donate over 240 of its own T-72 tanks to Ukraine earlier this year.

The IAR news agency this morning reported news of the deal, which is separate from an agreement reached last year for Poland to purchase 250 new M1A2 Abrams tanks. The first deliveries of the used Abrams are scheduled to begin in early 2023. The cost of the sale has not been announced.

“We have sought to fill the gap that arose after the donation of the T-72 tanks to Ukraine,” defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak told IAR. “Our efforts were successful; we have an agreement with the US that 116 older versions of the Abrams tank will be transferred to the Polish army.”

Last month, President Andrzej Duda announced that Poland had donated arms and other military equipment to Ukraine worth at least $1.7 billion. He appealed for allies to help fill the resultant gaps.

“We are now asking almost all our allies, especially the most serious ones, to send us equipment, not necessarily new equipment,” said Duda at the time. “On the contrary, we have donated used equipment, so we are also able to accept used equipment as long as it replenishes, at least in part, what we have lost.”

A few weeks earlier, Duda had accused Germany of breaking a promise to provide Poland with tanks to replace the T-72s donated to Ukraine. Berlin denied the accusation, saying that Warsaw had made unrealistic demands for the latest version of the Leopard tank that even its own army has very few of.

Three weeks ago, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that the European Commission had agreed to “reimburse a large part of our expenses” relating to the equipment donated to Ukraine. Poland has, after the US, been the largest donor of weapons to Ukraine this year.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also prompted the Polish government to accelerate and expand its efforts to enhance the country’s defence capabilities. A new homeland defence act passed in March increases the defence budget to 3% of GDP, one of the highest levels in NATO.

When Błaszczak visited Washington the following month, his American counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, pledged that the US would “help the Polish military become one of the most capable in Europe”.

As well as the purchase of 250 of the latest Abrams tanks, Poland has also signed or is seeking deals with the US for Patriot air defence systems, HIMARS rocket launchers, F-35 combat aircraft, attack helicopters and drones.

Yesterday, Błaszczak announced that deliveries of C-130H Hercules military transport aircraft – five of which Poland is buying from the US – have begun.

In June, President Joe Biden announced that the US will establish a permanent military base in Poland, the first time it has done so anywhere on NATO’s eastern flank, which up to now has only had a rotating American troop presence.

Earlier this month, the Polish Armaments Agency announced the purchase of several thousand grenade launchers from Norwegian armaments company Nammo Raufoss AS.

In June, the Polish state armaments group, PGZ, signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem to develop and manufacture the K2PL, a Polish version of the Black Panther battle tank. That followed a visit by Błaszczak to Seoul in May to discuss the supply of combat vehicles and fighter jets.

Main image credit: Marcin Platek/Marines (under CC BY-NC 2.0)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.