The Armed Forces will receive Abrams of the new version, but without a secret armor with a depleted Uranus - the media

However, Ukraine will receive 31 tank without secret armored elements. A2 has more advanced optics and control system than the old A1, which will be written off in scrap over the next few years. Externally, A1 and A2 are similar, but the latter has a modernized commander -in -hand combat module with improved optics for targeting with a separate thermal imaging, which allows the commander to find goals regardless of the weather.

The main changes were the internal part: digital control mechanisms appeared. The most notable feature is a new information system that allows you to exchange data with other vehicles. Commanders can quickly track the location of their equipment, set up enemy positions and accept artillery requests. However, according to the current rules, Abrams cannot be exported with a classified armor, one of the components of which is depleted uranium.

According to sources, before being supplied to other countries from export tanks, such a secret part of the armor is taken away. There are other armor -settings that can be supplied abroad. The tanks are collected in the West General Dynamics in Lyme (Ohio). Up to 12 pieces can be made every year. But now the conveyor is filled with orders of Poland and Taiwan, it will be difficult to postpone them.

Poland has ordered 250 A2 tanks that will be supplied since 2025, and before that Warsaw will receive emergency military assistance in the form of 116 M1A1 tanks, which have recently been decommissioned by the US Marine Corps. Poland's authorities invited these tanks after 250 Soviet T-72 tanks have handed over to Ukraine. For his part, Taiwan ordered 108 M1A2 tanks in 2019, and the first will be delivered by an island state in 2024.

General Dynamics no longer releases M1 tanks from scratch because it has several tank layouts, and when a new order comes, General Dynamics complements them with new technologies, depending on the option selected. Recall that the Armed Forces will not be given to the M1 Abrams before the spring offensive. US Secretary of State Victoria Nutland explained that the Ukrainian military needs a serious level of training to use M1 Abrams tanks in battle.