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Did Joe Biden Lie About Sending M1 Abrams Tanks to Ukraine?

Joe Biden
Former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden speaking with attendees at the 2019 Iowa Federation of Labor Convention hosted by the AFL-CIO at the Prairie Meadows Hotel in Altoona, Iowa.

Biden Administration Loose with the Facts Regarding M1 Abrams Tank Shipment to Ukraine: We know President Joe Biden is sometimes allergic to the truth.

Throughout his presidency, Biden has told falsehoods, tall tales, exaggerations, whoppers, and outright lies.

His latest false statement has to do with the 31 M1A2 Abrams tanks that are promised for Ukraine.

In late January the media was excited to report the M1 Abrams main battle tank would soon be in Ukraine to better bring the fight to Russia with the implication that the shipment would arrive in Kyiv quickly. But is that really true? It seems we have a problem. 

Fact Check False on Tank to Ukraine

That promise was not entirely accurate, and fact-checked false by USA Today on February 17. It is going to take months not weeks for the tanks to be deployed.

The manufacturer of the Abrams M1A2 is General Dynamics and its sole plant in Lima, Ohio can only make 12 tanks each month. To make matters more frustrating for the Biden administration and Ukraine is that two countries – Poland and Taiwan – have placed orders too and these countries are ahead of the line.

Also, no Abrams tanks can be sent from the U.S. military’s current stocks. Ukraine might have to wait indefinitely as a result.

Wait, Are You Saying a One to Two Year Delay?

It could take as long as a year or a year-and-a-half before President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces receive the M1 Abrams tank shipment.

“We’re looking at what’s the fastest way we can get the tanks to the Ukrainians. It’s not going to be a matter of weeks,” Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth told journalists February 23. “None of the options that we’re exploring are weeks or two months. There are longer timelines involved, but I think there are options that are less than two years, less than a year-and-a-half,” she said.

Get Your Facts Straight

Biden and the Department of Defense, to be fair, likely did not intentionally deceive. They may not have known the state of the industrial base and availability at General Dynamics, but they were wrong, and it is going to cost Ukraine precious time. The Department of the Army and the Pentagon must do a better job relaying accurate information to the White House.

The war could be over by the time the Abrams tanks get to the front.

Advanced M1 Abrams Tanks Can Transform the Fight

The conflict in Ukraine has reached its one year anniversary with no end in sight. The key battles in the Donbas region have been bloody actions of attrition with trenches and human wave attacks reminiscent of World War One.

The M1 Abrams could definitely help turn the tide and return the battlefield to 21st Century warfare. 

U.S. National Security Council Was Optimistic About the Abrams

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken made Ukraine excited by promising the tanks that they said were the most capable in the world. And that they would “enhance” Ukraine’s ability to wage war against Russia.

Vladimir Putin’s army is likely to rev up a bigger offensive this spring and Ukraine needs the tanks now.

One good aspect of the situation is that Poland is willing to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and have them be backfilled by the Abrams.

Poland has ordered 250 of the American main battle tanks to be delivered by 2025 or 2026.

U.S. Military Has a Shortfall in Some Land Warfare Arms and Ammunition

The war in Ukraine has uncovered problems with the U.S. defense industry. Howitzer shells, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, and Javelin anti-tank missiles are running low. There are long lead times for the Abrams. U.S. officials are concerned that if China would invade Taiwan and the U.S. responded militarily there would not be enough ammunition and man-portable missile systems to supply American soldiers and marines.

With this in mind, the Biden administration should trim the optimism from their public statements and make sure they are based on reality. It is important not to get Ukraine’s hopes up only to pull the rug out beneath their feet.

It is also time to take a hard and clear-eyed look at the defense industrial base and create solutions for producing war material faster. The next time that American personnel are in harm’s way, they could be at a grave disadvantage.

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Author Expertise and Experience

Serving as 19FortyFive’s Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. Brent M. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations.

Written By

Now serving as 1945s New Defense and National Security Editor, Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer.

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Andrew P

    February 24, 2023 at 9:36 am

    The pledge of Abrams was a political ploy to free up the German Leopard tanks, which are deliverable from current NATO stocks.

  2. Walter Hoaglun

    February 24, 2023 at 7:10 pm

    Talk about
    Half truths, you are a real expert when it comes to that. You misrepresented what was said by Biden. I believe that if you listen he didn’t give a time just that he was going to release them but didn’t give a time line. There is some truth in that it was to a politely move in that it was to encourage Germany to follow through worth there pervious commitment to provide there tanks. I guess anything goes to get a reader. You lost me and I hope many others will see through your misrepresentation.

  3. Luis Espinal

    February 24, 2023 at 7:34 pm

    Are you so stupid to believe public announcements in the middle of a war are supposed to be consumed as factual statements for the public, and not as “signaling” means to ends and tools in an information war?

    Are we really this stupid? If so, we shouldn’t be penning opinion pieces about this war, or any war for that matter.

  4. 3L120

    February 24, 2023 at 8:00 pm

    Agreed…not needed with all the Leopards 1 and 2 that are available. Just another logistical strain on the Ukraine. Bradley’s another matter, but enough have to be sent to equip a larger formation than a battalion. In the Russo-Finnish War, so many countries sent small arms, in different calibers, that the Finns were overwhelmed. Imagine being inn5he middle of a war and having to decide which unit gets the 7.35 Carcano, the 6.5×55 Swede, or 8×57 Mauser; when they used the 7.62×53 Russian cartridge. Then multiply that but pistols, artillery and other logistical materials!

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