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Australia announced on July 19 that it had delivered the majority of the 49 pledged M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine.
“The Albanese Government continues its steadfast support for Ukraine, with the transfer of the first tranche of Australian-gifted M1A1 Abrams tanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Defense Minister Richard Marles said in a statement.
The American-made tanks were sent to Ukraine as a part of the 1.5 billion Australian dollars ($980.4 million) allocated in assistance for the country in response to the special military operation launched by Russia more than three years ago. The rest of the tanks will be delivered in the coming months, according to Marles.
The tanks are of the M1A1 AIM v.1 version, which keeps the same 120 mm L/44 M256 smoothbore gun and the Honeywell AGT1500 multi-fuel turbine engine, but features several upgrades.
These upgrades include a Forward-Looking InfraRed, or FLIR, and Far Target Locate sensors, a tank-infantry phone, communications gear, including FBCB2 and Blue Force Tracking to aid in crew situational awareness, and a thermal sight for the .50 caliber machine gun.
This version is not, however, equipped with the depleted uranium armor, which remains exclusive to the tanks in service with the U.S. military.
A total of 59 M1A1 AIM tanks were sold by the U.S. to Australia. Thus Ukraine could, in theory, receive more than the reported 49 tanks.
Australia announced the delivery of its Abrams tanks just days after a report by The National Interest revealed that the Russian military had effectively wiped out nearly all of the M1A1 SA tanks the U.S. delivered to Ukraine over the past two years.
A separate report by the Military Watch Magazine said that out of the 31 tanks provided, only four remain operational, indicating an attrition rate of 87%.
The Abrams supplies by the U.S., which are nearly identical to the ones just delivered by Australia, posed no real challeng to the Russian military, which took them out one by one using anti-tank guided missiles, guided artilery rounds, loitering munitisons and FPV suicide drones.
Ukrainian troops also complained about several problems with the Abrams, especially when it comes to mobility and maintenance.
The continuous delivery of such heavy weapons is not meant to make a change, as Australia and the rest of Ukraine’s backers likely understand by now that this will not happen. The real purpose of these supplies is just to prolong the conflict with Russia as much as possible.
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“as australia and the rest of ukraine’s backers likely understand by now”
they don’t, obviously.
these kind of wars are meant to last as long as possible for profits, the cia ‘strategy of tension’ to manipulate the population, depopulation and to distract people from domestic problems🤫🙈🤔
never trust an anglo slime
more scrap metal for ivan steptoeski, the famous moscow scrap dealer.
oh, the fear from more abrams, hit the transfer depot with a couple of iskanders, problem solved…
not even australia is scared of midget vlad!
heheheh
dosť ma zaráža, prečo sa o nich rusko nepostaralo, keď boli na mori. (preventívne samozrejme) dnes by boli minulosťou a nerobili by vrásky na čele vojakom rf!!! mysleniu zdar a svetu mier!!!
any russian who wants to get rich just open a scrap yard, there is millions of $$$ in scrap.
“the albanese government continues its steadfast support for ukraine”
to be expected from a bunch of peasant idiots who rank at street level within the global mafia…