Romania will acquire a battalion of Abrams tanks under a Government-to-Government (G2G) agreement with the United States, confirmed Major General Teodor Inchikas, head of the General Directorate of Armaments. The tanks will be equipped with modern equipment according to the specifications required by the army, said the MoD official, who also explained why this particular type of tank was chosen.

“These days, we will send to the Parliament of Romania for the preliminary approval of the Parliament the purchases related to tracked howitzers. Also a tracked infantry fighting vehicle, short and very short range air defense systems, and two types of missiles for F-16 aircraft. At the same time, our request for approval for the purchase of a battalion of Abrams tanks is on the way to the preliminary approval of the parliament,” said Major General Teodor Incitsas, head of the General Directorate of Armaments.

No. It is worth noting that in the current configuration of the army, a tank battalion will have 54 units, but there are still no details about exactly how many tanks we are talking about, which version of the Abrams, and at what price.

“Regarding this tank, it’s funny to me that everyone thinks: “Okay, I’m taking an old tank”, not knowing the American specifics of tank modernization. If we are talking about bringing a tank to the enterprise, completely cleaning it, treating it with a protection system and equipping it with new equipment according to the option we need,” said the Ministry of Defense.

Why was Tankurl Abrams chosen? “Very simply. Because the General Staff of the Army believed that for the mission of the brigade, which it wants to reinforce with this type of tank, the Abrams is the best means and has a uniqueness in the execution of missions,” Inchikas said.

“Why (no – Abrams’ choice for Romania)? Very easy. Because the General Staff of the Army believed that for the mission of the brigade, which it wants to strengthen with this type of tank, the Abrams is the best means and has a uniqueness in the execution of the missions,” Inchikas said.

In May 2022, at the Black Sea Defense and Aerospace (BSDA) exhibition, the Americans from General Dynamics presented the Abrams tank as an option for Romania, and the US Army presented the tank with a crew.

It should be noted that General Dynamics already operates a joint venture in Romania through which it builds Piranha 5 armored personnel carriers in Bucharest, a combat vehicle for which turrets, guns, machine guns and mortars are already manufactured in Romania by other companies such as Elbit.

In addition to the announcements presented at the General Dynamics booth, the US Army displayed the M1A2 Sepv2 tank, one of the most advanced tanks in the US Army today, on the Romaero platform.

“We use it as a main battle tank, it is very mobile and has a very advanced fire control system. It has a crew of four, a 120-mm gun with different types of ammunition, and three machine guns of different types,” American Sergeant Jesse Bell told HotNews.ro.

“This tank is used in various conditions. I have used it in different parts of the world, in Asia and the Middle East. This is a very effective weapon system. It’s very mobile, it has very good ballistic protection and it’s tough, but at the same time it’s very lethal, it has very high firepower,” Sergeant Boell said.

Poland bought more than 250 modernized Abrams M1A2 tanks and 116 Abrams M1A1 tanks – what is the cost? Almost 6 billion dollars

Poland’s defense minister signed a contract on April 5 to buy 250 upgraded American Abrams battle tanks for a total of $4.74 billion (€4.32 billion), according to statements made last year.

According to the Polish media, it is about 250 Abrams tanks in the M1A2 SEPv3 version produced by the American group General Dynamics, 26 Hercules M882 repair tanks and 17 M1110 amphibious assault bridges.

The first tanks will be delivered to Poland this year, and deliveries will continue until 2026.

In parallel, Poland also signed a contract with the USA for a batch of 116 Abrams tanks of the older M1A1 model.

According to the message of the Ministry of Defense of Poland on Twitter, the value of the new contract is 1.4 billion dollars, of which 200 million is financed by the American side as part of the aid provided to Poland.