Australia will transfer 49 decommissioned M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine

Australia still decided to hand over American-made M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, the service life of which in the Australian army should end soon.

This was stated by the Minister of Defense Industry of Australia Pat Conroy, his words are quoted by ABC News.

It is about 49 tanks of the M1A1 modification. They were in service with the Australian army for several decades, while they were never used in combat.

For more than a year, Ukraine has shown interest in these tanks, which the Australian army planned to "write off" and did so in August 2024.

The decision to transfer the tanks was likely related to the fact that a few weeks ago the Australian army received 75 new M1A2 tanks, which will replace 59 old M1A1 vehicles.

Conroy, who is currently in London, said he would brief his Ukrainian counterpart on Australia's decision to provide the tanks.

"We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine in its fight against russia's illegal invasion <...> These tanks will provide Ukrainian Armed Forces with greater firepower and mobility, and will complement the support provided by our partners to Ukrainian armored brigades," Conroy said.

According to ABC News, as the service life of Australian M1A1s is coming to an end, a small number of them will need to be repaired before being sent to Europe.

Some of the machines can be directly sent to Ukraine, where they can be used as "donors" of spare parts for the Abrams tanks received last year from the USA.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in April 2024, it became known that the Ukrainian military are withdrawing Abrams tanks from the battlefield due to the threat of drones, which prevent the machines from being used for their intended purpose.

We also wrote that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not use Abrams tanks for a long time, because they needed to install additional protection against FPV drones.

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