General Dynamics has been awarded a $93.5 million contract to supply upgraded M1A2 Abrams tanks to an undisclosed foreign customer.
According to the US Department of Defense, the fixed-price-incentive contract includes engineering, manufacturing, design, and production of the M1A2 Abrams to be financed using Fiscal 2019 Foreign Military Sales (FMS) funds.
General Dynamics reportedly provided the only response to the US Army Contracting Command’s request for bids published online.
Although the identity of the foreign customer was not disclosed, a Shepard Media report speculated that the client could be Taiwan since it received FMS approval for M1A2 tanks from the US in 2019.
The report also noted that the Asian country was preparing to receive four batches of Abrams tanks between 2023 and 2026.
Work for the $93.5 million contract will be performed in Ohio and is expected to be complete by September 2025.
M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank
An upgrade of the Abrams M1A1 main battle tank, the M1A2 features an improved commander’s weapon station, independent thermal viewer, an inter-vehicular information system, and an enhanced position/navigation system.
General Dynamics has also worked to upgrade the vehicle’s lethality, situational awareness, maintainability, and maneuverability, enabling it to travel at 42 miles (67 kilometers) per hour.
The M1A2 Abrams tank boasts a main 120-millimeter M256 smoothbore gun, which fires M865 and M831 training rounds, M8300 HEAT-MP-Ts, and the M829 depleted uranium penetrator rounds.
The Abrams also includes a commander’s station 12.7-millimeter Browning M2 machine gun and a loader’s station 7.62-millimeter M240 machine gun. Another 7.62-millimeter machine gun is mounted on the right-hand side of the main gun.