Poland officially signs agreement to acquire 250 US M1A2 SEPV V3 MBTs tanks.

According to information published by the Polish Ministry of Defense on April 5, 2022, via its Twitter account, Poland has officially signed the agreement for the acquisition of 250 American-made M1A2 Abrams SEP V3 main battle tanks.
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American-made M1A2 Abrams SEPV V3 main battle tank. (Picture source Poland MoD Twitter account)

Citing the Polish Minister of Defense, the purchase of the American M1A2 Abrams SEPV 3 main battle tanks is one of the key elements of the modernization and development of the Polish Army. In 2022, the the Polish army will also receive the first Patriot air defense missile systems and the Turkish drones Bayraktar.

In July 2021, the Polish Minister of National Defence Mariusz Błaszczak has announced a plan to acquire M1A2 Abrams System Enhancement Program version 3 (SEPv3), the latest configuration of the US main battle tank (MBT), to equip four armored battalions of the Polish army.

In February 2022, the U.S. State Department had announced a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Poland of M1A2 SEPv3 Main Battle Tanks and related equipment for an estimated cost of $6.0 billion. The Government of Poland has requested to buy two hundred fifty (250) M1A2SEPv3 Abrams Main Battle tanks; two hundred fifty (250) AN/VLQ-12 CREW Duke counter-IED systems; twenty-six (26) M88A2 HERCULES Combat Recovery vehicles; seventeen (17) M1110 joint assault bridges and associated equipment and ammunition.

In January 2022, U.S. Representatives Mike Rogers, Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, Mike Turner, Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Lisa McClain are urging U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to expedite the Congressional Notification, Foreign Military Sale, and transfer of M1A2 Abrams SEP V3 main battle tanks to Poland.

Polish army continues to increase the military of its armed forces and especially after the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine. In recent years Poland had already acquired German Leopard tanks to replace its fleet of Soviet-made battle tanks dating from the Cold War.

According to the Military Balance 2021, the Polish army has a total of 808 main battle tanks including 137 German Leopard 2A4, 105 Leopard 2A5, 232 Polish PT-91 and 239 Soviet-made T-72A/T-72M1. With the 250 M1A2 Abrams, Poland will have more than 1,000 tanks.

The M1A2 Sep V3 also called M1A2C is the latest generation of main battle tanks in the family of M1A2 Abrams. It is a modernized version of the M1A2 SEPV v2 main battle tank that benefits from a number of upgrades in the areas of survivability, maintainability, full efficiency and network capability. The main armament of M1A2 SEP V3 includes one 120 mm smoothbore M256 cannon.