Leopard 2A4) to Ukraine which created a requirement to acquire new
vehicles for the Polish Armed Forces. 180 K2 Black Panthers and two
lots of M1 Abrams (116 second-hand M1A1s, and 250 brand-new
M1A2 SEPv3s) main battle tanks are the first gap fillers here. Delive-
ries of equipment from the US are expected to begin this summer. As
Mariusz Błaszczak, Deputy PM, and the head of the Polish MoD said,
it cannot be ruled out that the Abrams procurement would continue.
The US-made main battle tanks are to be received primarily by the
18th Mechanized Division, elements of the 1st Mechanized Division,
while the K2 Black Panther would be initially commissioned in the
16th Mechanized Division, and then in the newly formed 1st Mecha-
nized Division, and the future (plausibly) in the 12th Mechanized Di-
vision. One also cannot rule out a scenario in which further Leopard
2 main battle tanks are transferred to Ukraine, in the process of pro-
viding the fighting nation with military aid. This would also create a
gap in the 11th Division.
In late March, some of the 15 K2 Black Panther main battle tanks that were received by Poland appeared at the range
in Orzysz, where they were used to conduct the first practical training associated with the use of the main gun.
During the live fire event in March, Korean
training rounds, procured alongside the K2
MBTs, were used.
VEHICLES
