Other countries used MBTs in Afghanistan – notably the US and Canada – with great effect. It is almost as if army buys these things and then doesn’t want to scratch the paint. This largely misses the point because if we look at conflicts such as Afghanistan there were plenty of other things Australia had in inventory but didn’t use: artillery, Tiger helicopters, Blackhawk helicopters, M-113s, and so on. Some critics of the purchase point out that Australia last deployed main battle tanks during the Vietnam War and question whether they still have a role in combat. Given almost all of these changes relate to the turret, it is possible to keep upgrading them and sitting them on top of the hulls that have been largely unchanged since their mass production in the 1980s and ’90s. They also have improved sensors, computers, communications equipment – and now active self-protection systems can be added. M1A2s differ from earlier models such as Australia’s in a number of areas, most importantly having a much more potent 120mm main gun than the 105mm ours carry. With everything in the package taken into account, this equates to 75 new MBTs as well as 29 assault breacher vehicles constructed on the same chassis, 18 bridging tanks and a variety of heavy armour recovery and engineering platforms. The only reason any of this is known is because major US arms exports have to be notified to Congress – and on April 29 the world learnt of a possible sale to Australia of 160 M1A1 hulls and a great deal of related hardware. This is because the production line for the Abrams series ended in 2013, but with 3000 of them in storage since the end of the Cold War, there is plenty of hardware around that can be rebirthed by American companies for customers such as Australia.

But rather than being new builds they will be made up of various refurbished and overhauled items in the US inventory. It now looks as if they will be retired completely and replaced by a fresh batch of 70 tonne M1A2 vehicles. The army currently has 59 older generation M1A1 Abrams tanks that have been in need of a substantial upgrade for years. However, this is not the case for Australia with no announcement from Defence Minister Peter Dutton on the topic and instead we have had to learn about it from the US government. Tanks remain the apex predators of high intensity land conflict – a potent symbol and also an important measure of how seriously a nation takes its defence.

Normally when a country orders 75 new main battle tanks (MBTs) for $2 billion it’s considered big news.

Newer battle tanks for sale