U.S. Deploys Abrams Tanks in Former Soviet Union For Live Fire Drills 800km From Moscow

The U.S. Army 1-12 Cavalry Regiment has deployed M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks to participate multinational live-fire exercise in Lithuania, during which the tanks demonstrated the engagement capabilities of their 120mm main guns. Exercises held on December 2 focused on developing crew-level skills, improving target engagement, and building interoperability with allied units positioned along NATO’s eastern flank with Russia. The Pabrade Training Ground where the exercises were held continues to undergo significant upgrades, with increasingly large NATO exercises expected to be hosted there. The exercises occurred less then ten days after U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams tank conducted intensive training at the Bemowo Piskie Training Area in neighbouring Poland under the Forward Land Forces expansion exercise, for which tanks were delivered from multiple locations across Poland to take part.

Although Lithuania was located past the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact’s third line of defence during the Cold War, as an integral part of the USSR, the state’s disintegration and the rapid absorption of Central and Eastern Europe into NATO has led it to host a growing concentration of NATO ground forces. The deployment of these forces is primarily aimed at Russia. As the United States plans to significantly reduce its personnel deployments in the region, first from Romania and likely soon from Bulgaria and Slovakia, local European states are expected to significantly strengthen their own military presences. The significant planned expansion of German and Polish ground force capabilities, including through sales of M1A2 Abrams tanks to the Polish Army, are important to facilitating this. 

On May 22 the German Army inaugurated the new 45th Armoured Brigade stationed in Vilnius, Lithuania, which is expected to provide an elite forward deployed mechanised warfare capability on the former Soviet territory just 150 kilometres from the Belarusian capital Minsk, and less than 800 kilometres from Moscow. By the end of 2026 the new brigade is expected to reach a strength of 4800 personnel, with the backbone of its fighting power formed by the 203rd Panzer Battalion’s 105 Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks, the 122nd Panzergrenadier Battalion’s Puma Infantry Fighting Vehicles, and an unknown number of PzH 2000 155mm self-propelled artillery systems under the 455th Panzer Artillery Battalion. The 108 Leopard 2A8 tanks were ordered for the battalion in July 2024, although major losses suffered by the similarly capable Leopard 2A6 in the Ukrainian theatre have raised serious questions regarding the type’s viability for high intensity combat.