The Advanced M1 Abrams Tank Logistics Ukraine Might perhaps well moreover merely Combat With | WSJ

(tank blasting) – The M1 Abrams tank is one of the most powerful ground weapons in the U.S. arsenal equipped with a 1500horsepower turbine engine and a top speed of morethan 40 miles per hour. It comes with a 120 millimetercannon, three machine guns, and armor that can withstandfrontal hits from enemy tanks with minimal damage.

And these tanks couldhelp Ukrainian forces take back Russian occupied territories. (tank blasting) But Pentagon officialshave expressed concerns that these tanks could posemajor logistical issues for Ukraine. – The Abrams requires a lot of support, and if the Ukrainians don'thave everything that it takes to operate the Abrams, they might end up.

Being more of a detrimentthan they are a help. – If Ukrainianswant to take full advantage of the M1 Abrams tanks, they'll have to solve severalmajor logistical challenges. – So this binder right here, this contains all the informationand coordinating details to operate a battalion of Abrams tanks for four days in the field. – Dan Grazieris a Marine Corps veteran.

Who operated Abrams tanksfor almost a decade. – Old Western tanks are a lot more complex than the old Soviet tanks. There's a lot of upgraded electronics. They're much more intricately designed. – Ukraine already has a lot of skilled tankoperators who have experience working on older Sovietera tanks, like T-72s. – You got to remember.

They've been fightingthe Russians since 2014, so they are not gonnabe starting from scratch learning how to drive a tank here. They will have to learn howto use the Abrams tanks. They'll have to learnhow to use the, you know, the targeting system. The Abrams is a four-person tank. The Soviet tanks havethree people in them. So they'll have to learn details,.

But if you know how to drive a tank, you know how to drive a tank. So one way to think about this would be you go from a10-year-old Toyota to a new Tesla. You know how to drive. You just have to learn howto do it on this new vehicle. – These new Abrams tanks boast impressive technology. The tech enables troops to fire at night.

From longer ranges than Russian tanks, navigate through watersup to four feet deep, and shoot rounds with a rangeof two and a half miles. But the more complicated the technology, the more likely it is to break. And depending on whatneeds to be repaired, the parts may need tobe sent all the way back to manufacturing plants in the U.S. Then after they're repaired,.

They'll need to be sent back to Ukraine. – A lot of the individualcomponents inside the tank were designed not necessarilyto be repaired in the field, but to be replaced in the field. It could be days orpossibly even weeks for them to get a replacement component. – And if a tank has to wait on a replacement part? – If the tank doesn't geteverything that it needs.

In terms of spare parts, of fuel, of even lubricants and hydraulic fluid, you only have to lose oneor two of those things to render a tank ineffectiveand it becomes little more than a giant 72 tonpaperweight on the battlefield. – And one of the most logistically difficult parts for maintaining an M1Abrams tank is fueling it. – The reluctance within the Pentagon.

To sending the Abramstanks had a lot to do with how difficult it isto keep them in the fight. – Abrams tanks use a lot of gas because they're very large heavy vehicles, so it takes a great deal of energy to be able to even getthat thing to start moving. – In order to avoid the risk of running out of fuel, Abrams tanks typicallytravel with fuel trucks.

The tanks can storeabout 500 gallons of fuel and can go about 275miles on a single fill up. And while it takes a lot of gas to start and run an Abrams tank, it also consumes a huge amountof fuel even when it's idle. – Just the capacity isgonna be the big challenge. Just making sure thatthey have enough fuel to power these tanks, thatmight be a challenge for them. Tanks are only one partof the overall equation.

The tanks require a lot of support. So they require refueler vehicles, they require maintenance vehicles, they require ammunition trucks,you know, to support them. And if you take those out, if you're really able todisrupt that supply chain, then the tanks areirrelevant at that point. – Tanks are able to get through a variety of terrains,but tank support vehicles.

Can have a difficult timetraveling through mud, snow, and other rough terrains. – If conditions degrade,you know, bridges are out, excessive mud, deep snow, that can all disrupt the supply chain and make it a lot harderto properly refuel and re-arm those tanks.- And for the tanks to operate the most effectively, Ukrainian forces will need to manage.

A pipeline of high quality fuels. – The turbine engine in theAbrams is a multi-fuel engine. The efficiency and theeffectiveness of the, you know, of the engine would be reduced if you're using kindof a lower grade fuel. The kind of diesel fuelthat the military uses will work quite well in the Abrams. And as long as theUkrainians have have access to quality diesel fuel,.

They should be able tooperate the Abrams just fine. – But the U.S.'s Abrams tanks aren't the only tanks thatUkraine needs to plan for. It will need to manage supply chains to support multiple types of tanks, including its existing Soviet era T-72s, Britain's Challenger2s, Germany's Leopards, and the U.S.'s M1 Abrams tanks. And while other tanks may not require.

As much fuel as the Abrams, Grazier says Britain's Challenger 2 and Germany's Leopard arealso technically more complex than Ukraine's current tanks. – There are gonna be somedifferences in the details as far as how they're supported.And I think that's gonna be a big challenge for the Ukrainians in having to maintain threeseparate supply chains to be able to supportthese three different tanks.

That they're going to be receiving there over the next couple of months. – So if Ukrainian forces will need to navigatecomplicated technology, gas guzzling engines, and create multiple complex supply chains, why did the U.S. decideto send the Abrams tank? – Ukraine needs foreign tanksbecause the ones they have keep getting blown up by the Russians.

They need more tanks, and theAbrams tank is a good one. There aren't that manyold Soviet tanks around for Ukraine to go shopping for. – It was designed for the Cold War to fight the SovietUnion in Eastern Europe. So for the Abrams to go toUkraine now is, in a way, almost like it's going home. – Right now, what Ukraine needsis offensive capabilities. Not so much defensive toprotect their territory,.

But offensive to enable them to drive the Russians out of their turf. If you wanna take background in a ground war, you need that kind ofheavy armor to do it. (tank engine rumbling)

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