US Investing $6Bln To Upgrade Abrams Tanks Over Next 3 Years - Trump

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2019) The United States will allocate more than $6 billion in modifications to the M-1 Abrams tanks in the next three years, US President Donald Trump said during a tour of the Lima Army Tank Plant in the state of Ohio on Wednesday.

"Over the next three years, we are investing more than $6 billion in upgrades and modifications to these tanks... almost twice the amount in the entire eight years of the previous administration, which was going down to nothing," Trump said.

The draft US defense budget for fiscal year 2020 provides for more than $2.2 billion for the purchase and modernization of M-1 Abrams tanks, including the upgraded version of the M1A2C. The plan also calls for purchasing 165 new vehicles. In 2019 this amount was $2.6 billion and last year it was $1.7 billion.

The M-1 tank in the M1A2C version has been made since 1999. In addition to the United States, it is in service in Australia, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Morocco.