Last year, Australia pledged to send forty-nine M1A1 Abrams to Ukraine. Those valuable vehicles are currently stuck in Poland, as operations at an American-run transfer facility are stalled.
Since the end of the Second World War, there has been speculation that Germany’s delay in launching Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, contributed to its failure to reach Moscow before winter set in.
However, numerous factors were at play, including heavy rains the previous winter that swelled rivers, which meant German forces needed to wait for the ground to dry.
German tanks sat and waited in Poland, and now a similar scenario may be playing out. The Australian-donated M1 Abrams main battle tanks (MBTs) could end up stuck in Poland this spring rather than being deployed straight to Ukraine, where they are badly needed.
Tracking the Australian Support
Last year, Australia pledged to send forty-nine M1A1 Abrams, valued at $245 million, to Ukraine, as Canberra began to receive newer M1A2 Abrams from the United States that had undergone the SEPv3 (Systems Enhancement Package Version 3) upgrade.
The Australian Armed Forces will be equipped with seventy-five modernized American-made MBTs, operated from multiple bases nationwide.
Yet, it hasn’t been as simple as loading up the retired Abrams on a ship bound for Europe, as Australia needed to work with the United States to finalize the deal.
The transfer of the older M1 Abrams tanks from Australia to Ukraine required approval from Washington due to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), even though the Biden Administration had previously provided Kyiv with thirty-one of the same model tanks in 2023. Canberra notified Washington of its intentions in September 2024, and at the time, there was little reason to believe there would be any further hold-up on the delivery due to the ITAR.
The situation changed due to a change in administration.
Australian-Owned, American-made, and Stuck in Poland
According to a recent report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the current delays could be due to the situation at “the U.S.-funded logistics facility in Poland,” where the tanks are set to be processed before being sent to Ukraine.
The facility in Rzeszów processes about 80 percent of the Western military hardware that eventually travels to Ukraine, but “several U.S. military logistics units have recently withdrawn from the facility, which is where Australia’s forty-nine American-made Abrams tanks are soon due to arrive after being shipped to Europe.”
Operations have stalled at the facility, which could delay the preparation of the tanks for deployment to Ukraine.
This is just the latest setback for transferring the Australian MBTs to Ukraine.
Even before the deal was approved last year, there had been concerns within the Pentagon that the M1 Abrams wasn’t ideally suited to the conflict while operated by the Ukrainian military, which could be contributing to Washington’s lack of urgency.
“One American official, who asked for anonymity so they could speak freely, claimed the United States government cautioned Australia against donating the aging tanks because of the logistical expense and difficulties around maintaining the vehicles inside Ukraine,” the Australian news report added.
Ukraine Still Has Yet to Receive This Gift from Australia
Readying the tanks for action in Ukraine shouldn’t be that complicated, as the U.S. military has constructed another facility to provide the Polish Armed Forces training and maintenance on the Abrams.
As previously reported, the Army Preposition Stocks-2 (APS-2) facility in Powidz, Poland, is a state-of-the-art repair depot about 250 miles from the Ukrainian border. It includes 650,000 square feet of humidity-controlled warehouse space for storing and maintaining various armored vehicles.
The U.S. Army currently operates pre-positioned stock sites in seven regions worldwide, with six in Europe. The Powidz APS-2 facility is the only such deployment depot east of Berlin, and it could reportedly reduce the deployment timelines for NATO armor in Eastern Europe from more than sixty days to just a week.
There had been speculation that the facility could handle the work for the approximately four dozen MBTs in a few years.
However, given the current political climate, it remains unlikely that any Australian M1 Abrams will be processed from the APS-2 facility. As a result, the MBTs will likely be stuck in Poland for several additional weeks or longer.
That course of action has been met with ire from Australian officials.
“If the U.S. military system isn’t able to move these things in a timely fashion, we should be looking at working with our Polish friends or even private contractors, considering security issues, to get these things to Ukraine as soon as we possibly can,” Major General Mick Ryan of the Australian Army claimed.
For now, the MBTs will collect dust in Poland.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He hascontributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites, with over 3,200 published pieces and over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author at [email protected].
Image: Shutterstock/ Karolis Kavolelis.