Poland receives first company of M1A1 Abrams tanks

Poland received its first company of 14 M1A1 tanks at Szczecin on 28 June. (Polish MND)

Poland received its first company of 14 M1A1 Abrams tanks at the Port of Szczecin on 28 June, the Polish Ministry of National Defence (MND) announced on its website later the same day. The Polish Armaments Agency said on its website on 28 June that three M88A2 Hercules armoured recovery vehicles were also delivered.

Two more M1A1 companies will be delivered in 2023, to be followed by a second battalion in 2024.

Minister of National Defence Mariusz Błaszczak, who attended the handover, said crews of the Polish 18th Mechanised Division's 1st Armoured Brigade were already being trained at the Abrams Tank Training Academy established with the US Army at the Land Forces Training Centre in Poznań.

Poland ordered 116 M1A1 tanks adapted to the requirements of the Polish Armed Forces in January 2022. The procurement also includes 12 M88A2s, eight M1074 Joint Assault Bridges, six M577 command post vehicles, 26 Next Generation Shop Equipment Contact Maintenance (NG SECM) workshops mounted on Humvees, and an ammunition, training, and logistics package.

Błaszczak already signed a contract in April 2022 for 250 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks, 26 M88A2s, and 17 M1074s, plus ammunition, logistics, and training packages. He expected deliveries of the tanks to begin in 2024.

Under a separate agreement, the US Army transferred 28 M1A2 SEPv2 Abrams tanks to the Polish 18th Mechanised Division from US depots with instructors to train Polish crews at the Abrams Tank Training Academy in 2022.