[Goose]

Sounds like part of the reason for the time gap rather then just sending over the M1s we have in storage or from the marines is the need to spec them with export variant armor, and not depleted uranium armor/ceramics which are still considered classified. 

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/m1...to-ukraine

I have trouble believing that DU armor that has been around for 20-30 years is a national security level secret, but will admit my ignorance on the matter.

Was just about to post that interesting article.

Here's another on Abrams production/procurement-

https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2023/0...rs/382202/

Currently, the U.S. has about 8,000 Abrams, but “significantly less” are battle-ready, he said. The U.S. draws from those tanks in storage and remanufactures them for allies, such as Poland, which is buying upwards of 350 Abrams.

General Dynamics executives said Wednesday that the Abrams production line can meet the demand of sending tanks to Ukraine.
“Staffing is not an issue here. There is plenty of capacity on the combat vehicle side [of the company] both tracked and wheeled [vehicles],” CEO Phebe Novakovic said on the company’s quarterly earnings call. “So to the extent that the U.S. government intends to execute any contracts with respect to some of these bilateral agreements they are developing...it's well within the capacity of the industrial base to accommodate.”
..

The U.S. will likely remove classified electronics from the Abrams before shipping them to Ukraine, similar to what it did with a Stinger missile part last year. Yet Lockwood noted that even a somewhat stripped-down Abrams, if captured by Russian forces, could help Moscow look for vulnerabilities or reverse-engineer NATO technology.

“I suspect there are a lot of people in the Army who are not happy about this whatsoever,” he said.

I don't believe the depleted uranium is what makes the armor "secret". It is rather how the structure is built. That is sensitive and the US has gone to great lengths to keep pieces of it out of potential enemy's hands. If the enemy can test it they can determine what it takes to penetrate it. If they can't, they have to guess. We prefer it that way.

The other, possibly more relevant problem is that most nations consider DU to be a toxic element they don't want in their country. Germany is very much in that camp, but they turn a blind eye to the US tanks in Germany. The German tanks do not carry DU sabot. They use tungsten instead. That argument has been going on for years and not always amicably. Part of the reason for "export armor" is that many countries don't want any part of DU. They think it is radioactive. It basically isn't, but the logic doesn't matter. The word is you get more radiation standing outside the tank in the sun than you do sitting an equal time in the turret. I suspect Ukraine doesn't care one way or the other, but as was said nobody in the US wants to give Russia a free look at how we fab the armor. Like many other things that are secret, it may not be all that special. But if you don't know that, you have to guess how strong it is and guessing low would be literally a fatal mistake. So, ....

The GD comment regarding their capacity is BS. Poland is livid about the delivery dates they got and that is one reason they ordered so much from Korea. They could get it in finite time. GD certainly has the capacity to take the order, and they will deliver, eventually. Quick they haven't demonstrated. Now, maybe they have been sandbagging the foreign customers, including FMS deals, but if so that doesn't say much good about them either.

[Goose]

Sounds like part of the reason for the time gap rather then just sending over the M1s we have in storage or from the marines is the need to spec them with export variant armor, and not depleted uranium armor/ceramics which are still considered classified. 

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/m1...to-ukraine

I have trouble believing that DU armor that has been around for 20-30 years is a national security level secret, but will admit my ignorance on the matter.

Was just about to post that interesting article.

Here's another on Abrams production/procurement-

https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2023/0...rs/382202/

Currently, the U.S. has about 8,000 Abrams, but “significantly less” are battle-ready, he said. The U.S. draws from those tanks in storage and remanufactures them for allies, such as Poland, which is buying upwards of 350 Abrams.

General Dynamics executives said Wednesday that the Abrams production line can meet the demand of sending tanks to Ukraine.
“Staffing is not an issue here. There is plenty of capacity on the combat vehicle side [of the company] both tracked and wheeled [vehicles],” CEO Phebe Novakovic said on the company’s quarterly earnings call. “So to the extent that the U.S. government intends to execute any contracts with respect to some of these bilateral agreements they are developing...it's well within the capacity of the industrial base to accommodate.”
..

The U.S. will likely remove classified electronics from the Abrams before shipping them to Ukraine, similar to what it did with a Stinger missile part last year. Yet Lockwood noted that even a somewhat stripped-down Abrams, if captured by Russian forces, could help Moscow look for vulnerabilities or reverse-engineer NATO technology.

“I suspect there are a lot of people in the Army who are not happy about this whatsoever,” he said.

I don't believe the depleted uranium is what makes the armor "secret". It is rather how the structure is built. That is sensitive and the US has gone to great lengths to keep pieces of it out of potential enemy's hands. If the enemy can test it they can determine what it takes to penetrate it. If they can't, they have to guess. We prefer it that way.

The other, possibly more relevant problem is that most nations consider DU to be a toxic element they don't want in their country. Germany is very much in that camp, but they turn a blind eye to the US tanks in Germany. The German tanks do not carry DU sabot. They use tungsten instead. That argument has been going on for years and not always amicably. Part of the reason for "export armor" is that many countries don't want any part of DU. They think it is radioactive. It basically isn't, but the logic doesn't matter. The word is you get more radiation standing outside the tank in the sun than you do sitting an equal time in the turret. I suspect Ukraine doesn't care one way or the other, but as was said nobody in the US wants to give Russia a free look at how we fab the armor. Like many other things that are secret, it may not be all that special. But if you don't know that, you have to guess how strong it is and guessing low would be literally a fatal mistake. So, ....

The GD comment regarding their capacity is BS. Poland is livid about the delivery dates they got and that is one reason they ordered so much from Korea. They could get it in finite time. GD certainly has the capacity to take the order, and they will deliver, eventually. Quick they haven't demonstrated. Now, maybe they have been sandbagging the foreign customers, including FMS deals, but if so that doesn't say much good about them either.