Ukraine has been asking the United States for several months to provide it with Abrams tanks, but the supply of such armored vehicles can be a heavy burden on the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Kyiv's Western allies. The American edition of Forbes writes about this, explaining why European tanks will be more useful for the Ukrainian military.
Abrams tanks are equipped with gas turbine engines that run on aviation kerosene. This circumstance makes everything extremely complicated, since the Ukrainian military will have to carry with them not only diesel fuel for other equipment, but also an unusual type of fuel.
At the same time, the British Challenger 2 and the German Leopard 2, comparable in weight and dimensions, are refueled with diesel fuel, which simplifies logistics. Therefore, using European tanks, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not need separate tankers and tanks for different types of fuel, which the well-funded US Army can afford. In any case, fuel will have to be supplied to Ukraine from Europe, but it will be one grade, which will reduce the load.
In addition, the Abrams tank is much more “gluttonous” than its European “brothers”. The German Leopard 2 is especially economical, which “eats” almost half as much, but even this tank will bring Ukrainians a lot hassle. However, Berlin refused to transfer its tanks to Kyiv and will not allow other countries to supply such products until Washington provides its MBTs.
It turned out a vicious circle. In general, Western MBTs are 15-20 tons heavier than Soviet-style tanks in service with Russia and Ukraine, which makes them difficult to move along narrow roads and off-road, not to mention other features.