Ukraine's American M1A1 Abrams Tanks Are Now In Action

The American-made M-1s are stiffening the Ukrainian line of defense north and west of Avdiivka. They have reportedly already been in combat against the Russians around Stepove. JL 

Davis Axe reports in Forbes:

Ukraine’s American-made M-1 Abrams tanks are in action, around Stepove just north of Avdiivka. the 47th Mechanized Brigade—the main use of Ukraine’s best American-made armored vehicles including M-2 fighting vehicles and Assault Breacher mine-clearers—was the obvious recipient of all 31 M-1s. Enough for a battalion. In or around January, the 47th finally took ownership of the M-1s and deployed them to the front line. The Ukrainians are holding the line west of Avdiivka. And the M-1s—which the Biden administration provided before Russian-aligned Republicans narrowly took control of the U.S. House of Representatives—stiffen that line.

Ukraine’s American-made M-1 Abrams tanks are in action, around Stepove just north of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine.

Videos that the Ukrainian defense ministry circulated online on Friday depict the tanks—the best in Ukraine’s inventory—rolling along the roads outside Stepove and firing at Russian forces, apparently at night.

Ukraine got 31 of the 69-ton, four-person M-1A1 Situational Awareness tanks—with their tungsten armor, side-mounted M-19 reactive armor blocks, 120-millimeter smoothbore gun and day-night optics—starting last fall.

It took a while for the M-1s to make their way to the front. The 47th Mechanized Brigade—the main use of Ukraine’s best American-made armored vehicles including M-2 fighting vehicles and Assault Breacher mine-clearers—was the obvious recipient of all 31 M-1s. Enough for a battalion.

But the 47th Brigade first had to do some tank-swapping. Something the brigade is notorious for. When it originally formed, the NATO-trained brigade operated Ukraine’s 28 ex-Slovenian M-55S tanks—Israeli upgrades of old Soviet T-55s with modern British 105-millimeter rifled guns.

But the M-55Ss are lightly protected, so the 47th Brigade gave them away—possibly to the 67th Mechanized Brigade near the Kreminna Forest, in the east—before the 47th deployed to southern Ukraine to lead Kyiv’s counteroffensive in summer 2023. Along the way, the 47th picked up those 21 Leopard 2A6s tanks Ukraine got from Germany and Portugal.

The Leopard 2A6 is Germany’s answer to M-1A1. Similar armor and optics. Nearly identical, but longer, smoothbore gun.

The counteroffensive was hard on the 47th Brigade’s tank battalion. The brigade lost at least platoon—four or five—of its Leopard 2A6s. Others took hits and wound up in Lithuania for repairs. After the counteroffensive petered out last fall, the 47th redeployed to positions just west of Stepove in order to protect the northern flank of Avdiivka.

The brigade’s M-2s motored into Stepove nearly every day to pepper Russian assault groups with their 25-millimeter auto-cannons. Tanks sometimes supported the fighting vehicles.

The 47th Brigade lost at least one more Leopard 2A6 in Stepove. An M-2 eventually shot up the abandoned tank to prevent it falling intact into Russian hands.

With its tank battalion shrinking to the size of a company, the brigade initiated its second tank swap. It gave its surviving Leopard 2A6s to the 21st Mechanized Brigade, fighting around Kreminna, 50 miles to the north. The 12 or so active Leopard 2A6s joined the nine or so survivors of 10 Strv 122s—Swedish Leopard 2A5 variants—in the 21st Brigade, expanding that brigade’s tank company into a battalion.

That left the 47th Brigade tank-less. T-64s and T-72s from adjacent brigades filled in until, in or around January, the 47th finally took ownership of the M-1s and deployed them to the front line.

Avdiivka fell last week when the garrison ran out of ammunition—a direct consequence of Russia-aligned Republicans in the U.S. Congress withholding U.S. aid to Ukraine starting in October.

But the Ukrainians are holding the line west of Avdiivka. And the M-1s—which the administration of U.S. president Joe Biden provided before Republicans narrowly took control of the U.S. House of Representatives—stiffen that line.