Poland Needs More M1 Abrams Tanks. America Must Step Up: The Trump Administration is rightly seeking to revitalize our many U.S. alliances to reflect the geopolitical realities of the 21st century. Around the world, the U.S. has many great allies. All of them must make an honest assessment of their defense capabilities and prepare to contribute more robustly to their own defense and their bilateral and multi-lateral commitments with the United States.
The peacetime, unipolar, post-cold war era, has come to an end. The U.S. and its allies must prepare for a more tumultuous period, in which credible hard power will be required to deter our adversaries from aggression and conflict. Some U.S. allies, particularly those in Europe, have been slow to implement the requisite changes to fit the times in which we live. But, some allies are making considerable investments, and are meaningfully advancing our mutual security interests.
Today, in Europe, Poland is that model U.S. ally.
Poland Needs U.S. Military Hardware: Here’s the Problem
Over the years, Poland has stepped forth to share the defense burden on the United States in Europe, credibly investing in their own military capabilities, even as other longstanding NATO allies retreated from the Wales pledge. Poland has the strongest growing economy in the European Union and is budgeting 4.7 percent of GDP for defense annually. It will meet President Trump’s target of spending 5% of GDP on defense in two years.
Warsaw has demonstrated that it will put its money where its mouth is when it comes to defending it freedom, rather than make vague promises of increased spending at some undefined future point in time. Poland is the kind of ally which the U.S. should prioritize.
Poland’s strategic location and its military capabilities make it vitally important for the defense of Europe and the West. Poland has most potent military force alongside the U.S. standing between central and western Europe and the resurgent Russian threat.
The U.S. Army stations an armored brigade of 5,000 soldiers and 90 M1 Abrams tanks at Poznan, Poland, a base that I visited last year. Those heavily equipped armored forces in the flat plains of central Europe, where large scale maneuver warfare reigns supreme, send a strong message to Moscow. I would move our additional brigade, currently based in Germany, into Poland as well.
Washington can support our ally in Warsaw with increased weapons sales. In the last five years, Poland has purchased more than $50 billion of modern U.S. weapons systems, including F-35 fighter jets and nearly 400 M1 Abrams tanks, with a commitment to purchase 800 more tanks. Unfortunately, the withering U.S. defense industrial base under the Biden Administration has left our allies, like Poland, unable to buy all of American equipment it wants.
The Biden administration oversaw the downsizing of key U.S. defense platforms, like the M1 Abrams tank, driving suppliers out of the defense industry, or out of business entirely. What was essentially a Biden disarmament program regrettably resulted in the loss of jobs and harmed our national security by reducing supply chain resilience. At this point, we would be hard-pressed to scale up our defense production in a time of crisis.
During the first Trump administration, M1 Abrams tank upgrades reached 90 per year. The Biden administration reduced that number to just 30. This reduction was not only detrimental to our defense posture and military readiness but also blatant economic malfeasance. Hundreds of jobs in the middle of our country, like Ohio and Pennsylvania, have been lost.
How to Get More M1 Abrams Tanks to Poland
Thankfully, there is plenty of money to restore the M1 Abrams upgrades to the 90 per year we saw in President Trump’s first term. Senate Republicans recent budget resolution included an additional $150 billion for defense. While much of this will go towards revitalizing other critical sectors of the defense industrial base, like shipbuilding, investments must also be made to get the production lines for the Abrams, the backbone of America’s land power, back on track.
After four years of American industrial decline under President Biden, there are many areas of defense where the U.S. needs to play catch up. President Trump and Congress can fill our national security gaps quickest by prioritizing programs like the Abrams upgrades and foreign sales to Poland.
Poland is a terrific ally who is sharing our defense burden. Let’s make sure we have all the manufacturers and the people they need.
M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
About the Author: Ambassador Robert C. O’Brien
Ambassador Robert C. O’Brien is the Co-founder and chairman of American Global Strategies LLC. O’Brien was the 27th United States National Security Advisor from 2019-2021. Prior to serving as NSA, O’Brien was the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. O’Brien previously served as co-chairman of the U.S. Department of State Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan under both Secretaries of State Rice and Clinton.
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