The impasse frustrated European allies, such as Poland, who wanted to send Leopards but couldn’t without Germany’s OK. The U.S., meanwhile, argued that the German-made Leopards were a better fit because Ukrainian troops could get them and get trained on them far more quickly and easily. put its Abrams on the table, due to concerns that supplying the tanks would incur Russia’s wrath. Germany had been reluctant to send the Leopards, or allow allies to send them, unless the U.S. THE ARM-TWISTING TURNABOUTĭespite all the drawbacks expressed by the U.S., when all was said and done, it came down to political realities and a diplomatic dance. Ukrainian forces will have to learn how to operate its more complex systems, and how to keep it running and fueled. The Abrams also will require months of training. It may or may not be the right system,” The under secretary of defense for policy, Colin Kahl, told reporters last week at the Pentagon. It is not the easiest system to maintain. “The Abrams tank is a very complicated piece of equipment. When those vent filters get clogged - whether by sand, as soldiers reported to GAO in 1992, or by debris they might encounter in Ukraine - they can’t perform. In addition, like any jet engine, the Abrams’ turbine needs air to breathe, which it sucks in through filtered rear vents. While an Abrams can storm through the snow and mud, fuel trucks can’t. worried that the fuel demands would create a logistical nightmare for Ukrainian forces. It will burn through fuel at a rate of at least two gallons per mile (4.7 liters per kilometer), whether the tank is moving or idling, Butler said, which means a constant supply convoy of fuel trucks must stay within reach so it can keep moving forward. The Abrams’ jet engine needs hundreds of gallons of fuel to operate. The Abrams, he said, “didn’t even notice” the mud. Butler recalled a muddy exercise in the late 1990s at Fort Stewart, Georgia, where he’d voiced concern about the tanks getting stuck because it had already stuck the Humvees. The Abrams’ powerful jet engine can propel the tank through almost any terrain, whether heavy snow or heavy mud, said Kevin Butler, a former Army lieutenant who served as an Abrams tank platoon leader.
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