Poland to Open Abrams Tank Service Center
Poland is set to establish a service center for the maintenance and repair of its fleet of Abrams main battle tanks. The agreement was recently signed between the Polish defense conglomerate Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (PGZ) and the American defense company General Dynamics.
This is reported on the website of the Polish company.
Source: grupapgz.pl
The collaboration agreement was reached during the Abrams Suppliers conference jointly organized by General Dynamics and the Poznań-based company Wojskowy Zakłady Motoryzacyjne.
Earlier in June, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak announced that the Polish military would soon receive its first M1A1 Abrams tanks, along with other accompanying equipment.
Transportation of the initial batch of equipment to Poland has also commenced, including 14 M1A1 Abrams tanks and 3 armored recovery vehicles M88A2 Hercules.
The service center will be located in the city of Poznań at the facilities of Wojskowy Zakłady Motoryzacyjne, a subsidiary of the PGZ conglomerate.
The center will provide maintenance services for Abrams tanks in the M1A2SEPv3 and M1A1 versions that are currently in service with the Polish army.
In December 2022, the United States approved the sale of 116 M1A1 Abrams tanks, support vehicles, and ammunition to Poland. The contract was signed by the Polish Minister of Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak, on January 4, 2023.
Furthermore, in April 2022, Błaszczak signed a contract for the acquisition of 250 M1A2 Abrams SEP V3 tanks.
The first tanks are expected to be available by the end of 2024, with all deliveries completed by the end of 2026.
The agreement also includes the supply of a significant quantity of 120mm tank ammunition and training for technical, engineering, and logistics personnel, as well as other related elements of material and technical support.
Poland is acquiring the American tanks to replace the transferred T-72M/M1/M1R tanks previously used by Ukraine, as well as the PT-91 Twardy tanks.
Last week, Germany and Poland also held negotiations to establish a service center for the repair of Leopard battle tanks and other Western equipment used by Ukraine.
This center will provide Ukraine with essential spare parts for German-manufactured equipment.
Similar service centers have also been established in Slovakia and Romania.
These centers will play a crucial role as Ukraine has begun using Western equipment in its counteroffensive, which has already begun, and has suffered initial losses.
The "Tank Coalition" agreed to the creation of the Leopard 2 service center in Poland for Ukraine on April 21 during a meeting in the "Ramstein" format.