US Sends Abrams Battle Tanks to NATO Frontline Nation

This illustrative image from February 2022 shows an M1 Abrams Fighting tank arriving in Bremerhaven, Germany. A delivery of the U.S. tanks has arrived in Poland ahead of deployment to Ukraine.

American-supplied M1 Abrams tanks have arrived at a NATO-built storage facility in Poland that may eventually be able to equip an entire brigade.

Citing the U.S. Army, Stars and Stripes reported that 14 of the main battle tanks and an M88 armored recovery vehicle had arrived at a storage facility in Powidz, about 250 miles west of the Polish border with Ukraine.

The report did not clarify whether the tanks would be immediately transferred to Ukraine, where an estimated 31 Abrams tanks have already been deployed, or are simply part of a move to bolster NATO's defenses in eastern Europe. Newsweek has contacted the Pentagon for comment via email.

The vehicles cost about $10 million each and were among the big-ticket items in the U.S.'s package of military support to Ukraine. Kyiv had requested Abrams, whose size and complexity of supply chain sparked much debate before their arrival in 2023.

Ukrainian crews working on the vehicles told CNN in May about their concerns that the tanks lacked armor to stop modern weapons. Meanwhile, in April, U.S. military officials told the Associated Press that the tanks were being withdrawn from battlefields because of their vulnerability to Russian drones.

Footage shared on social media in March appeared to show an M1 Abrams in flames on the front line after a drone strike. At the time, Russian state media reported that Moscow's forces had struck three of the tanks near Avdiivka, soon after its capture by Russia.

The NATO-funded Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite, where the Abrams tanks arrived on Thursday, is the newest prepositioned stocks worksite in the world, and when fully functioning in 2025, it is expected to equip an armored brigade.

The site would be one of six active APS-2 worksites in Europe under the mission command of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade, which said it would be stocked with hundreds of M1A2 tanks, M2 Bradley fighting vehicles and M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers.

"Another part of the US Army's contribution to deterrence and defense of NATO's Eastern Flank," Ben Hodges, a former commanding general of United States Army Europe, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, "the equipment for an entire Armored Brigade, incl 85 M1 tanks, deployed into NATO storage site in Poland."

The deployment comes amid reports that the U.S. is preparing to announce a military aid package for Ukraine worth about $150 million, which is set to include new High Mobility Artillery Rocket System rockets, anti-armor weaponry, small arms and grenades.

The tranche of aid would also have 155 mm and 105 mm artillery shells, the Associated Press reported, citing unnamed sources. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that HAWK air defense interceptors would also be in the package, which is set to be unveiled on July 1.

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