The US will send the M1A2 Abrams tank to Ukraine, which has significantly improved capabilities compared to the previous M1A1 model, CNN reports.

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed on Thursday that the US will send a version of the Abrams M1A2 tank to Ukraine. She said the US “does not have a surplus of these tanks in American arsenals” and that it would take “months to deliver” the tanks to Ukraine.

The M1A2 is a significant upgrade over the older M1A1, mainly because the A2 runs on a digital system as opposed to the A1’s analog system.

The difference between the M1A1 and the M1A2 is like the difference between a dial phone and an iPhone

“It’s the difference between a landline phone — a dial phone — and an iPhone in your hand,” explained retired Army Gen. Robert Abrams, the former commander of U.S. forces in Korea, whose father, Creighton Abrams, named the signals. , former US Army Chief of Staff and commander of US forces in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972.

US President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that 31 Abrams tanks would be sent to Ukraine after days of talks between the US and its allies.

Officials have not yet revealed which tank variant they will choose, and Army Acquisition Chief Doug Bush told reporters on Tuesday that the decision is still being discussed.

US President Joe Biden said at the White House on Wednesday that the tanks “will increase Ukraine’s ability to defend its territory and achieve its strategic goals.”

Aside from the digital part, the new version of the tank, the M1A1, is “significantly” more lethal than the A1, Abrams said. Includes an autonomous thermal imaging sight of the commander. If previously only the gunner had a thermal sight, now the tank commander also has it, which allows scanning and identification of targets.

The digital system also allows the tanker crew to run their own on-board diagnostics, Abrams said, instead of waiting for mechanics to run tests to identify any problems that arise.

The M1A2 is “far superior in terms of lethality, durability and mobility” to anything Russia has on the battlefield.

It is not known exactly which version of the A2 tank there will be three of. Singh declined to comment during a Pentagon briefing on Thursday, while Douglas Bush declined to comment on Wednesday.

Bush added that logistics and maintenance issues for each option, often cited as a reason why the U.S. hesitated to send the Abrams, would not affect the decision.

He also explained that the Army does not build new tanks from scratch, but instead modifies existing older models. “That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily easy or fast,” he added, but they don’t need to be built from scratch for now.

What are Abrams tanks?

The M1 Abrams is a third-generation main battle tank manufactured in the United States of America. The car is named after American General Creighton Abrams, former Chief of Staff of the US Army and commander of US forces in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. The M1 Abrams is a heavily armored, heavily armored and highly mobile tank designed for modern warfare. Notable features include the use of a powerful gas turbine, the use of complex composite armor and the storage of ammunition in a compartment separate from the crew compartment to better protect the tankers. According to Wikipedia, the M1 weighs almost 62 tons and is one of the heaviest main battle tanks.

The M1 Abrams tank entered service with the US Army in 1980, becoming the successor to the M60 model. Nevertheless, the tank was used for more than ten years alongside the improved M60A3, which appeared in 1978. Currently, the M1 Abrams is the main battle tank of the US Army and Marine Corps, the armies of Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Iraq (as of 2010). The tank is designed for operation until the 2050s with a service life of almost 70 years.

Three versions of the M1 Abrams tank were developed: M1 (original model), M1A1 and M1A2. An improved version called the M1A3 is currently under development.

The M1A2 has depleted uranium reinforced composite armor, a 120mm L/44 M256A1 smoothbore gun (42 rounds).

It has a top speed of 67 km/h on road and 40 km/h off-road and has a Honeywell AGT1500C gas turbine engine.

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