Australia Sent 49 M1A1 Abrams Tanks to Ukraine (America is Mad)

Key Points and Summary – Australia’s decision to send 49 of its retired M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine is a well-intentioned but strategically questionable move. It comes as the US has paused some of its own munitions shipments to Kyiv due to low stockpiles, leaving Ukraine increasingly reliant on a patchwork of international aid.

-US officials have privately expressed concern that Ukraine will struggle to sustain the complex and fuel-hungry Abrams tanks.

-In the current war of attrition, where Russia is ramping up its own tank production, providing a small number of maintenance-heavy, non-standard tanks may create more logistical problems for Ukraine than it solves.

Australia’s Big M1A1 Abrams Tank Mistake? 

Earlier this year, Australia decided to send 49 retired M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine, pulling the tanks out of mothballed retirement and prepping them for service with Ukrainian forces.

“This latest package, valued at approximately $245 million, will add to the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s firepower and mobility, and complement partners’ support for Ukraine’s armoured brigades,” a statement from the Australian government explained.

“This announcement brings the total value of Australia’s military assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion to over $1.3 billion, and overall support to more than $1.5 billion.”

Despite Canberra’s distance from Ukraine, the outcome of that war has significant implications for the Indo-Pacific region, and Australia has a vested interest in preventing similar outcomes from occurring in the Indo-Pacific.

The move came ahead of the country’s acceptance of the M1A2, a more advanced variant of the American tank, into service. “As was announced in January 2022, the Australian Army’s M1A1 Abrams are to be replaced by the M1A2 fleet. To support the transition, the Australian Army will retain a small number of M1A1 Abrams tanks to assist the introduction of the new M1A2 fleet,” the statement also added.

“The Australian Defence Force also continues to make significant contributions to multinational efforts to train Ukrainian military personnel under Operation Kudu. The Australian Government will continue to work with the Government of Ukraine and our international partners to deliver meaningful support for Ukraine to end the conflict on its terms.”

Though the export decision required the approval of the United States, which Washington gave, American officials reportedly bemoaned the decision privately.

“Last year, even before Donald Trump returned as president, we warned the Australians that sending these Abrams tanks would be complicated, and once they finally get to the battlefield the Ukrainians will find them difficult to sustain,” an American official told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The Drone Threat and Sustaining the Fleet

It was fashionable during the early stages of the war in Ukraine for many highly online armchair analysts to surmise that the tank, a mainstay of warfare for over one hundred years, had been resigned to obsolescence thanks to the FPV drone threat.

While FPV drones certainly play a significant role in the fighting in Ukraine, the cat-and-mouse game between offense and defense continues, and far from being obsolete, the tank has adapted its active and passive protection measures to remain relevant.

A War of Attrition

But in the current war of attrition, reliable and continuous supplies of war materiel make all the difference. It certainly is important for the Russian side. The Conflict Intelligence Team, an independent investigative group that utilizes human and open-source intelligence, recently released a report on Russia’s T-90 tank production.

“As the term suggests, the decisive factor in wars of attrition is one side’s ability to inflict losses on the other over time at a rate that exceeds the opponent’s capacity to replenish. This makes each side’s military-industrial base—its ability to produce equipment and recruit personnel—a critical and often opaque variable in the war’s equation.”

Weapons Deliveries

The Department of Defense has taken the unusual step of curtailing some ammunition and weapons deliveries to Ukraine, according to a report by POLITICO.

The decision affected air defense missiles as well as other precision munitions due to concerns that the United States’ own stockpiles had dropped to unacceptably low levels. Elbridge Colby, policy chief for the Pentagon, reportedly made the decision, which comes at a challenging time for Ukraine’s beleaguered defenders.

Over the weekend, Ukraine survived the biggest missile and drone attacks launched by Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February of 2022. Ukraine has withstood increasingly massive barrages this summer, part of Russia’s strategy to deplete Ukraine’s air defense assets. In terms of an attritional war, Russia’s aim is to grind down and expend Ukraine’s air defense missiles and other assets more quickly than the United States and Europe can send Kyiv new Patriot missiles, Gerard air defense ammunition, and other tools for defending Ukrainian skies.

It is not just drones that are causing harm to Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, either. Russia continues to launch ground and air-launched ballistic missiles at targets across Ukraine, purposefully targeting Ukrainian civilian infrastructure as well as apartment buildings. Faster, Iranian-origin Shahed drones continue to pose a threat as well. The need for air defense assets in Ukraine is, in a word, acute.

M1A1 Abrams for Ukraine: Good or Bad Idea?

A great deal of anticipation had been built up before the American deployment of American M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. One of the criticisms that the platform faced, both then and now, was that it would not be able to survive on the battlefields of Ukraine, given the acute drone threat to armored vehicles.

And tank losses, even of the most advanced Western pieces of equipment, such as the Abrams or the German Leopard 2, have been documented online.

The main battle tank, even the Abrams, is not a silver bullet, nor do tanks operate alone. It is only in concert with other armored vehicles, infantry, artillery support, and air power that a tank’s full potential can be realized. It is therefore no surprise that the Ukrainian Abrams tank fleet has tank losses in Ukraine. This is also a reason why Ukraine needs more support, and it needs it quickly.

About the Author: Caleb Larson

Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.

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