Ukraine should be helped with M1 Abram tanks, the Abrams would perfectly compliment the Ukrainian defense. The only concern for Ukrainians will be if they don’t have the infrastructure in place to get the tusk equipped tanks into major metropolitan areas to act perimeter defense and help prevent encirclement.
The people defending Ukraine are not the typical panicked populous you find in most conflicts, that largely play out as another liability for the military. On the contrary, they are an extremely organized, intelligent, and dedicated support structure that has only exponentiated the capabilities of the Ukrainian military.
Like other high value military hardware, a tanks effectiveness largely hinges on the support it has available. A tank spearheading the advance into a foreign land simply can not be as effective as one dug in and defending on home soil.
The Ukrainian non-combatant support provides possibilities simply not available to the Russians. From filling sandbags, constructing defensive positions, to providing and relaying drone support and surveillance to alert the tank crews of potential incoming threats, thereby maximizing its effectiveness.
But do Ukrainians really need them? If the security force asks for M1 Abram tanks, then it will mean they need them and add ready to play to the strength of the tanks.
M1 Abram tanks are gasturbine powered and require a massive logistics train to keep running. They also do not shoot any ammunition found in Ukraine. Some have been provided to other countries and have not been shown to be super weapons. The M1 works because it doesn’t fight alone it fits in to a very complex combined organisation that ensures its strengths are amplified and its weaknesses avoided.
To do this requires the skill and professionalism of the whole team that operates and supports the vehicle. You can’t fix an M1 tank with a hammer. It’s communications and battlefield awareness require an complex web of systems to deliver real-time information to the crew.
