The turbine engine of this American combat tank is a factor that reveals the complexity of its management, logistics and maintenance.
The 31 M1 Abrams tanks that the United States has promised to supply to Ukraine by the end of January could end up weighing kyiv down, rather than giving it a battlefield advantage. This is how the British newspaper The Financial Times estimates it in an article published this Sunday in which it highlights the complexity of logistics and maintenance that these armored vehicles require.
The M1 Abrams, which weigh between 68 and 74 tons, have a turbine engine which gives them more acceleration compared to diesel engines, although this type of propulsion plant consumes a lot of fuel and requires meticulous maintenance, recalls the newspaper.
The newspaper collects the testimony of John Nagl, former head of a US platoon during the Gulf War (1991) who also took part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, who recalls how his soldiers “spent a lot of time literally hitting the air filters“from the tank, worried because the engine”I ingested sand and it didn’t work“. Nagl emphasizes that the M1 Abrams is “a wonderful tank”, although he stresses that “it is American and the American way of war requires all the logistics in the world“.
On the other hand, the Abrams need “completely different types of machinery” regarding Western tanks promised to Ukraine by other countries (Challenger 2, Leopard), so the general training of Ukrainian crews, who will have to learn the handling of “specific devices“, it will take more time, picks up the diary.
Another important factor is logistics, since Washington’s main battle tanks need a stable supply of spare parts in great quantities. Unlike the Leopards, which have their supply network in Europe, the Abrams have theirs in the US Plus, their 500-gallon fuel tank (about 1,890 liters) must be filled with jet fuel, which is more difficult to find that diesel.
Before delivering the 31 Abrams units to kyiv, Washington will have to manufacture them. As for the production company General Dynamics, which can make a dozen Abrams a month at its plant in Ohio, it should receive instructions from the Pentagon on yes give priority to orders for Ukraine compared to other orders.
Imperfect procurement system
For all these reasons, The Financial Times concludes that these difficulties not only make the Abrams “less optimal” for armies like the Ukrainian one, which needs “weapons that work well“, but evidence “pitfalls of the complicated procurement system of Defense” of the U.S.
In this context, the newspaper cites a report by the US Government Accountability Office of Congress in which the agency lashed out at the Pentagon, questioning “weapon systems that have historically been unrivaled in terms of superiority , but which, as a general rule, they take much longer to installthey cost more and offer less capabilities than initially anticipated“.
- From Russia they have repeatedly warned that the shipment of arms to kyiv only serves to prolong the conflict on the battlefield. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov said this week that Western tanks will be destroyed, along with all other Western weaponry.
Source: RT
