On Sunday, American legislators demanded that the U.S. government send M1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine, arguing that even sending a symbolic amount would be sufficient to persuade friends in Europe to follow suit.
According to Michael McCaul, the recently appointed Republican head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, “only one” Abrams tank would be sufficient to convince allies, particularly Germany, to release their own tank inventory for the conflict with Russia.
“Even saying that we’re going to put Abrams tanks in would be enough,” he said.
In order to stave off a full-scale Russian invasion, Ukrainian officials have been pleading with their Western partners to send them modern tanks for months.
Britain recently announced it was supplying 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, but the real prize are Germany’s Leopard 2 heavy tanks, which Ukraine’s allies are in a position to supply.Since many weeks, Berlin has come under increasing pressure to either send some of its Leopards to Ukraine or at the very least, authorise their transfer from other nations.
Although American officials have stated they are hesitant to send its own Abrams tanks due to the difficulty of maintaining the vehicles, it appears that Germany has tied any such contribution to a U.S. effort to send its own Abrams tanks.
According to Democratic Senator Chris Coons, it’s time to put these worries to rest.
“If it requires our sending some Abrams tanks to unlock getting the Leopard tanks from Germany, from Poland, from other allies I would support that,” he said.
I understand that our military commanders believe the Abrams is a more expensive and advanced platform than the Leopards, but we must continue to cooperate with our close allies and advance together.
