Will Enough Abrams Tanks Get to Ukraine Fast Enough to Stop Russia?

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington D.C.) Abrams tanks are on the way to Ukraine, a massive and potentially paradigm-changing move in support of the ongoing Ukrainian efforts to reclaim and advance through Russian held territory with heavily armored, mechanized force-on-force Combined Arms Maneuver. ….

However the operative questions are..can they get there fast enough? Will Ukraine get enough of them? Of equal significance, will Ukrainian fighters know how to use them and, given that the Abrams is known to operate with logistical challenges and complexities, can they be maintained?

Abrams Tanks

Clearly the Abrams tank could be quite impactful in Ukraine, yet only 31 have thus far been authorized to be sent. Is that enough? Certainly the Ukrainians have some Soviet-era T-72s and are of course receiving Bradleys, yet it seems the Ukrainians will need to “mass” in larger formations to truly “hold” large areas of territory. Bradleys, Abrams and other armored vehicles may help Ukrainians breach a Russian perimeter and “close with an enemy” using heavily armored attack formations, yet fully reclaiming Ukraine may require more Wide Area Maneuvers wherein greater numbers of tanks and armored vehicles expand across a more dispersed area in disaggregated, yet networked formations preserving the necessary “range of fire.”

Video Above: New AbramsX — AI-Enabled, Fuel-Efficient, Unmanned Turret & “Silent” Attack

This will be critical, as Ukraine’s long term success may depend largely upon an ability to truly “pivot” from its successful more defensively oriented hit-and-run, ambush-style anti-armor fight which stopped Russia’s initial advance into more mechanized offensive operations designed to retake and hold territory. The Pentagon, NATO and the 50-nation-strong Ukraine Contact Group have all supported this, which is why many more tactical trucks, support vehicles and logistical equipment have been sent to Ukraine in recent months, as advancing forces claiming territory need sustainment, troop transport, supplies and protection to secure their advances

The Pentagon says larger numbers of tanks will arrive over time as they are built for and sent to Ukraine through a special Ukraine contracting vehicle established to enable US weapons builders to produce new platforms for Ukraine.