Ukraine’s American-Made M-1 Tanks Will Be A Giant Pain To Maintain

Ukraine’s American-Made M-1 Tanks Will Be A Giant Pain To Maintain

The United States has pledged to Ukraine an initial 31 M-1 Abrams tanks, the U. S. Defense Department announced on Wednesday. The 70-ton M-1s with their 120-millimeter guns, sharp optics, tough armor mix and high-horsepower turbine engines will be among the most sophisticated tanks on the Ukraine battlefield. They also will be a huge pain for Ukrainian crews, maintainers and logisticians. "The M-1 is a complex weapon system that is challenging to maintain, as we've talked about," U. S. Air Force brigadier general Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters. "That was true yesterday; it's true today; it will be true in the future." When General Dynamics and the U. S. Army designed the M-1 back in the 1970s, they made a few critical decisions that, five decades later, will have serious repercussions in Ukraine. They gave the four-person Abrams a jet turbine engine rather than a diesel engine like almost all other armored vehicles have. The 1, 500-horsepower Honeywell AGT1500 turbine can burn practically any fuel—the U. S. Army feeds its tanks JP-8 aviation gas—and lends the M-1 high speed and excellent acceleration. An Abrams can speed along roads at 45 miles per hour or faster. General Dynamics