Redundant defense articles in early 2018.
Mieleckie C-145 Skytruck is sure to go to Estonia and Kenya soon. There is no word yet on how Nepal and Costa Rica will respond to the EDA proposal.
In March, the US Department of Defense published an update on the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program, whose main goal is to help allies by donating used equipment from the excess stocks of the US military. Like every year, the list brings some interesting facts and raises questions about the possibility of strengthening the potential of the Polish Army in this way.
More than 4000 items for 2008-2017 are a database regularly updated by the Department of Defense - the latest set covers the entire last year and the first two weeks of this year, and also updates data on previous proposals. Among the above, you can find a few that are worth presenting in more detail in our monthly.
EDA on land
According to the report, on September 21, 2017, the Moroccan authorities received an offer to acquire 162 M1A1 Abrams MBTs. The Moroccans themselves petitioned for the opportunity to donate up to 222 wagons. This is the third offer the Americans have made to their North African ally in this type of tank. In 2015, Morocco decided to purchase more than 200 tanks (the first was delivered in mid-2016), and the following year, they refused an offer for five Abrams. So far, only this country has decided to accept M1A1 tanks free of charge from the surplus of the US Army - since 2011, an offer of 400 vehicles has been valid for Greece. In the case of Morocco, the Abrams could replace the obsolete M48/M60 Patton medium tanks and SK-105 Kürassier light tanks. In addition to supplying used American equipment, the kingdom is also exploring the possibility of purchasing brand new combat vehicles and purchasing used vehicles from other sources. In recent years, among other things, the Chinese VT-1A (150 from 2011) and T-72B / BK (136/12 from Belarus at the turn of the century, after repairs, and some after radical modernization). Besides tanks,
The Moroccans are also adopting other types of combat vehicles from the Americans - last year alone, deliveries included 419 M113A3 transports and 50 M577A2 command vehicles based on them.
The Ministry of Defense made a number of other proposals to friendly countries regarding combat vehicles and military equipment. In South America, two countries, Argentina and Brazil, could become the main beneficiaries of the program in the coming months. The first can replenish its fleet of vehicles with 93 M113A2 armored vehicles and six M577A2 command vehicles. It is important to note that the offer above, published on December 29, 2017, is the first donation offer – so far, EDA offers in the case of Argentina have only dealt with cash purchases. In turn, Brazil on December 14 last year. two proposals were received - one for 200 M577A2 command vehicles and 120 M155 198-mm towed howitzers. The above equipment, if accepted, can join the 60 M155A109 self-propelled 5-mm howitzers, the deliveries of which began at the beginning of this year, and the contract under the SED was signed on July 21, 2017.
Outside of South America, interesting proposals went to the countries of the Middle East: Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan. Systematically rearmed by Washington, the Lebanese Armed Forces are capable of capturing 50 M109A5 howitzers and 34 M992A2 ammunition vehicles. The proposal was received in Beirut in mid-June last year. and is currently being analyzed.
The Iraqis, in addition to small batches of vehicles of the HMMWV family, received - also in June last year. - 24 M198 towed howitzers, which, most likely, were used to make up for the losses of equipment suffered during the battles with the Islamists. Jordan received 150 M577A2 command vehicles, which were delivered in the first quarter of last year, and on May 30 signed a contract for another batch of them, covering another 150 vehicles.
Separately, it is worth considering the United Arab Emirates, where in September last year, the Americans began deliveries of used firefighting vehicles of the MaxxPro family, sold under the FMS procedure. In total, 1350 cars participated in the deal, of which 2017 were transferred in September 260. They joined previous purchases of 511 (out of a planned 1150) Caiman. The sale of nearly 2500 unnecessary MRAPs is expected to generate about $250 million in revenue for the Department of Defense. It is important to note that the UAE may expand purchases for another 1140 MaxxPro - the proposals have been approved, but the purchase has not yet been formalized by the signing of intergovernmental LoA agreements.
How are projects for Europe presented against the background of the above examples? Modest - Albania received three MaxxPro Plus and 31 HMMWV M1114UAH, and is currently awaiting another batch of 46. Denmark has decided to purchase six Cougar Sapper MRAPs. Like the Albanians, the Hungarians also added 12 MaxxPro Plus to their fleet.
