Kuwait Upgrading M1A2 Abrams Tanks Long At Forefront Of Its Defense

Kuwait has recently requested an estimated $325 million in sustainment support for its fleet of M1A2 Abrams tanks, which have formed the backbone of its ground forces for over three decades. The sustainment support is part of Kuwaiti efforts to upgrade these tanks, indicating they will serve at the forefront of the state’s defenses for years to come.

“The Government of Kuwait has requested to buy equipment and services related to sustainment support for legacy M1A2 and new M1A2K Abrams main battle tank systems,” the State Department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency revealed in a June 4 press release.

While the DSCA release did not specify numbers, it confirms that Kuwait will keep some of the 218 M1A2 tanks it acquired in the 1990s in service with the new, tailor-made M1A2K variant it ordered in 2017 and began receiving in 2021.

Kuwait first ordered 218 M1A1 tank hulls along with 120mm cannons in 2017 from the U.S. inventory as part of the recapitalization of its M1A2 fleet. It ordered the additional hulls to maintain operational readiness of its M1A2s. The latest DSCA press release indicates that Kuwait will have a mix of M1A2s and M1A2Ks in service for the time being.

General Dynamic Land Systems was given the contract to develop and deliver 217 M1A2Ks, with Kuwait receiving the first M1A2K in a ceremony in July 2021. Modifications include the addition of a Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station, a new armor package, and an Auxiliary Cooling and Power System, which are essential for crews operating the tank in unrelenting desert conditions.

Kuwait received its first M1A2 tank 31 years ago as part of a multi-billion-dollar buildup in the aftermath of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, fought to reconstitute Kuwait after Saddam Hussein’s Iraq infamously annexed it in August 1990.

While the U.S.-led coalition forced the Iraqi military out of Kuwait and inflicted a devastating blow against it, Kuwait emerged from that war with its military arsenal largely destroyed. Unsurprisingly, it did not want to endure a repeat of that humiliating episode ever again, which it could never entirely rule out in the post-Gulf War years. After all, Saddam Hussein remained in power. He even seemed poised to attempt another invasion in October 1994 when he ordered two divisions of his Republican Guards to move toward the Kuwaiti border. The U.S. deterred any such attempt through a rapid military redeployment to the region codenamed Operation Vigilant Warrior.

The M1A1 proved itself in desert battles against Iraq’s best armor, especially the Soviet-built T-72. Still, the U.S. wasn’t the only country that had high hopes that its efforts to liberate Kuwait could win it some lucrative arms contracts, including for main battle tanks. Even before Kuwait’s liberation, the British government saw an “unparalleled opportunity” to sell weapons to the Arab Gulf states, fearful that they could face an Iraqi attack next. Prime Minister Tony Blair later lobbied Kuwait in 1998 and 1999 to buy British artillery. His government believed that Britain was “due the award of a significant defense equipment contract in recognition of its defense of Kuwait” earlier that decade.

Britain had hoped that Kuwait would rebuild its armored forces with the British Challenger 2 as its new MBT. After all, London had delivered 165 Chieftain Mk-5 MBTs to the small Gulf country in the late 1970s. Kuwait mustered some of these British tanks in an ill-fated attempt to resist Iraq’s August 2, 1990, invasion, notably during the Battle of the Bridges, but they ultimately could not hold off the sudden Iraqi juggernaut.

After conducting desert tests of both the Abrams and Challenger 2, Kuwait ultimately chose the latter in 1992. The U.S. denied political pressure motivated Kuwait’s choosing of the American tank. There were doubtlessly logistical and technical considerations behind Kuwait’s ultimate choice. One advantage of the M1A2 over the Challenger 2 for Kuwait was its greater interoperability with the U.S. military and neighboring countries, such as Saudi Arabia, which also chose the Abrams. Unlike the M1A2’s smoothbore gun, the Challenger 2 uses a rifled barrel, which would have made it more challenging for Kuwait to efficiently share ammunition with U.S. or Saudi Abrams tanks, essential for joint operations or even training.

(Britain would ultimately secure a sale of Challenger 2 tanks to Oman in 1993, the only other country to operate the British MBT until the UK transferred some to Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion.)

More generally, Kuwait welcomed the acquisition of a more advanced version of the M1A1 that effectively destroyed Iraqi armor.

Kuwait wasted no time in ordering the tanks and training personnel to maintain and operate them. Twenty-four Kuwaiti soldiers participated in a rigorous training program in Fort Knox, Kentucky, in 1996. It was not-so-subtly named the “Al-Qurain Project,” in honor of 19 Kuwaiti resistance fighters who fought the Iraqi Army in a ten-hour firefight on February 24, 1991, despite being hopelessly outgunned and outnumbered. The project’s name aptly underscored what the Kuwaitis felt was at stake if they did not prepare themselves for the unthinkable: a second invasion.

“U.S. Army Maj. Guy Gasser, the project’s manager at Fort Knox, said the Kuwaitis are learning in 13 months what U.S. soldiers would know after five to seven years of experience,” the Courier-Journal reported in April 1996. Kuwait urgently wanted the men back to train more tankers and establish a credible, sufficient self-defensive capacity.

“We have tried to buy the best weapons in the world and get the best people to train us,” Kuwait’s defense minister told reporters in September 1996.

Of course, Iraq never invaded Kuwait again. In a turning of the tables, the sheikdom helped facilitate the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by allowing the U.S. military to use its territory as a staging ground. However, its forces did not participate in the invasion, and no Kuwaiti M1A2s ever rolled over the northern border. The 2003 invasion swiftly toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime, eliminating any potentially existential threat from Kuwait’s north. By 2022, Iraq finally finished paying off $52.4 billion in reparations to its southern neighbor for the 1990 invasion and looting of the country.

While it remained committed to the Abrams, Kuwait did shop elsewhere for weapons as it scrambled to rebuild and reequip its military in the 1990s.

Although Kuwait never purchased British MBTs again, it did award Britain a contract in 1993 for 254 Desert Warrior infantry fighting vehicles—a modified version of the British FV510 Warrior. Much more recently, Russia hoped Kuwait would replace its fleet of Yugoslav M-84 tanks, a license-built derivative of the T-72, with Russia’s newer T-90MS. However, Kuwait “indefinitely postponed” that deal in 2019 and is unlikely to revive it. As with Britain, Kuwait bought IFVs from Russia during its 1990s buildup, including 142 BMP-3s.

Given Kuwait’s preference for diversifying its military arsenal—for instance, its air force operates the U.S. F/A-18 Super Hornet and the Eurofighter Typhoon—its continued operation of the Abrams as its sole MBT isn’t insignificant and will likely remain the case for years to come.