A Problem of Logistics: Is the US Sending Ukraine the Wrong Tank?

The Abrams and the Leopard, along with the UK’s Challenger tank, have the same Cold War roots. Designed with potential Soviet incursions over the intra-German border in mind, the tanks’ differences stemmed from subtle diversions in the US and German armies’ approaches to armoured combat, according to Andrew Metrick, a defence programme fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a think-tank.

The Pentagon tends to see a problem and wants to address it with the best possible engineering solution, Metrick said. When someone wants to buy an iPhone, “the shiny halo model with all the cool specs is really appealing. There’s definitely some aspects to that in the US military procurement system.”

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