The United States will send Ukraine a modified version of its Abrams tank, which lacks the "secret" uranium armor, possibly due to fears that it could fall into Russian hands, the "Daily Telegraph" reported, quoted by BTA.

All about the topic:

Russian invasion of Ukraine 9106

President Joe Biden's administration plans to offer Kyiv 31 of its main battle tanks in their more modern M1A2 configuration, rather than the older A1 version that the army keeps, but it will strip them of their secret armor protection that makes the latest version of the US military so deadly.

According to Politico, federal policy prohibits the Abrams from exporting classified armor equipment used by the US military that includes depleted uranium, an extremely dense and sometimes volatile metal.

Composite depleted uranium armor packages used by the US are highly classified.

Development of the initial version, often referred to simply as "heavy armor" or "special armor," took place under the top-secret Special Access Program (SAP).

Additional layers of heavily insulated security protocols protect against disclosure of particularly sensitive national security information.

It is possible that the Pentagon is concerned about the prospect of tanks being captured by Russia and defensive technologies being copied.

Kyiv's desired heavy weapons - expectations and prospects

Variants of the A1 are already in service in Australia, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, but none feature depleted uranium armor.

However, the A2 version has more advanced controls than the older A1 version, with improved targeting optics and an independent thermal imager that allows the commander to independently scan for targets in all weather conditions and on the battlefield.

Management mechanisms at A2 have also been improved and digitized, most notably with a new "internal information system," Politico points out.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

tanks