Poland is consistently pushing ahead with the expansion of its armed forces – with the declared aim of the strongest land army in Europe. Following the recent order for 180 additional K2 Black Panther main battle tanks from South Korean manufacturer Hyundai Rotem worth around 5.1 billion euros, the purchase of the M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle (ABV) has now also been made official. The manufacturer is General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS).
The contract is an addition to the procurement of M1A1 Abrams tanks already agreed in January 2023. It includes 25 M1150 ABVs as well as a comprehensive package of logistics, spare parts and training. The order is worth around 100 million euros and delivery is scheduled to be completed by 2029.
“This equipment will be supplied to the 18th mechanized division based in Siedlce,” explained Deputy Defence Minister Pawel Bejda a few days ago at the signing of the contract. The “Iron Division” is regarded as the spearhead of the new Polish deterrence strategy.
The M1150 ABV is an American armored engineer vehicle based on the M1 Abrams chassis. Equipped with mine plows and detonation cords for clearing obstacles, the system was first seen in action in Afghanistan in 2010. According to media reports, Ukraine (-> Latest news from the war in Ukraine) has now also received some of these vehicles from US stocks – at least two of which were destroyed in combat.
In addition to Poland, so far Australia (29 units), Bahrain (eight) and the Romanian armed forces (four) have also ordered the M1150.
The Polish army is sending a clear signal of its defense readiness with the further purchase of heavy systems – especially towards Russia.
Here for further reports on the Polish armed forces.
