Latest news with #M1A2
Perth Now
18-07-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Aussie Abrams tanks arrive in Ukraine
Australia is providing 49 M1A1 Abrams tanks – valued at $245m – to Ukraine to help bolster its war against Russia's illegal invasion. The first tranche of the retired tanks are now in the possession of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after they were shipped from the Port of Geelong. Australia first purchased the fleet of 59 Abrams tanks – which were never deployed into a combat zone – in 2007. The Australian Army has since replaced the fleet with newer M1A2 tanks. An Australian Army M1A1 Abrams main battle tank is lifted onto a ship in Australia, bound for Ukraine. Supplied Credit: Supplied Last year, Ukraine expressed interest in taking the M1A1 fleet after Australia refused to donate its retired fleet of Taipan helicopters – which have since been dismantled and buried – due to concerns they would be too complicated to maintain and operate. The current $245m support package involving the M1A1 Abrams fleet is part of the $1.5bn in assistance Australia has provided to the war-torn nation since the start of Russia's conflict in 2022. 'The M1A1 Abrams tanks will make a significant contribution to Ukraine's ongoing fight against Russia's illegal and immoral invasion,' Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles, who met the army personnel who helped deliver the tanks, said. 'Australia remains steadfast in our support for Ukraine and seeing a just and lasting peace.' The first tranche of M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks gifted to Ukraine are prepared for servicing at a port in Europe. Supplied Credit: Supplied Part of a support package worth $245m, the tanks have been retired by the Australian Army but were gifted to Ukraine as part of its fight against Russia. Supplied Credit: Supplied Ukraine has now taken possession of the majority of these tanks, with delivery of the final tranche to occur in the coming months. Australia is also due to deploy a Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail to Europe to help protect a vital international gateway for assistance to Ukraine. Since 2003, the Australian Defence Force has helped train hundreds of Ukrainian troops as part of the UK-led and based multinational training mission Operation Kudu, which continues today. Ukrainian ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko thanks Australian Army soldiers for their efforts in loading M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks onto a ship. Supplied Credit: Supplied 'Australia stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine,' Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said. 'These modified M1A1 Abrams tanks will deliver more firepower and more mobility to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. 'They meet a direct request from the Ukrainian government and form part of Australia's unwavering commitment to protect the global rules-based order.' The major update follows Russia handing over the bodies of 1000 slain soldiers to Ukraine, as further peace talks between both countries appeared to break down. Ukraine also agreed to return the bodies of 19 soldiers to Russia as part of the agreement. Earlier in the week, a 'very unhappy' US President Donald Trump set a 50-day deadline for Russia to reach a ceasefire deal with Ukraine, or risk tariffs that could cripple the eastern superpower. Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far rejected calls for a ceasefire. 'The US president's statements are very serious. Some of them are addressed personally to President Putin,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier in the week.
The Herald Scotland
15-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Massive Army 250 parade takes over DC on Trump birthday
Critics say the $40 million parade represents an alarming politicization of the military and bears eerie resemblance to military parades held by North Korea or Russia. Thousands of "No Kings" protests against Trump, the parade, and his ongoing immigration crackdown are also scheduled across the country. Although weather forecasts predict possible thunderstorms on the evening of June 14 in the nation's capital, the Trump administration has not announced any contingency plan for a rained-out parade. Whatever you might think of Saturday's parade, there's no question D.C. streets will feel the weight. The Army has made special preparations to minimize damage to the roadways as tons of vehicles and artillery will be coming through the nation's capitol, such as: The M1A2/Abrams tank : Arguably, the most impressive and fearsome weapon in the parade, or pretty much anywhere at 70 tons, the tank entered Army service 45 years ago and first saw combat in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. It carries a 120mm cannon, robust armor and has a top speed of 45 mph. : Arguably, the most impressive and fearsome weapon in the parade, or pretty much anywhere at 70 tons, the tank entered Army service 45 years ago and first saw combat in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. It carries a 120mm cannon, robust armor and has a top speed of 45 mph. Stryker vehicle : Variants of these eight-wheeled, armored vehicles can carry infantry soldiers, mortars, command posts and act as ambulances. Strykers can carry up to 11 soldiers and reach speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. : Variants of these eight-wheeled, armored vehicles can carry infantry soldiers, mortars, command posts and act as ambulances. Strykers can carry up to 11 soldiers and reach speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. The AH-64 Apache: This attack helicopter cuts a menacing silhouette. It destroyed radar installations in Iraq during Desert Storm and provided air cover for convoys and troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. -- Phillip M. Bailey Saturday's parade might may also draw attention to Trump being the oldest commander-in-chief in U.S. history. Born June 14, 1946, when Harry Truman was president, he set the record for oldest person to take office at 78 years and 7 months, ahead of Joe Biden, who was 78 years and 2 months when he took office in January 2021. The age of American elected officials has been a topic of concern lately, mostly due to questions raised around Biden's acuity that hounded him for most of his term. Democrats have tried to do the same to Trump, such as when he mixed up the Japanese car company Nissan and the Japanese steel company Nippon last month. "He is not the same person that I dealt with just four years ago, and he's incapable of even a train of thought," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said of Trump in a recent interview. But that narrative hasn't stuck to Trump, who is known to ramble in public speeches but comes off as more vigorous to the public than Biden did. -- Phillip M. Bailey Washington's weather forecast for the day of the parade shows a high of 83 degrees, with showers beginning in the late morning and possible thunderstorms after 2 p.m. local time. After 6 p.m., when the parade will kick off, forecasters predict a 75% chance of precipitation and some chance of thunder. The Army said on June 13 that the weather is "being closely monitored and taken into consideration, but at this point nothing has changed." More than 1,800 "No Kings" protests against the parade, Trump, and what protesters call his authoritarian policies, are scheduled in cities and towns throughout the world - but not Washington. Trump first said on June 10 that protests would be met with "very big force." The White House backtracked days later, and press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump "of course" supports peaceful protests. Other demonstrators have kept their plans in Washington on the day of the parade, with some fearing a crackdown like the response to protests against widescale deportations in Los Angeles.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Eye-Watering Bill for Trump Birthday Parade Includes Paint Job for Tanks
Amry tanks got a paint job before being moved to Washington D.C. for a parade on Donald Trump's birthday, a retired general has revealed. Armor including M1A2 tanks, Stryker armored fighting vehicles and M109 self-propelled howitzers have been arriving the capital for the parade—ostensibly to celebrate 250 years of the Army. But the total cost was already disclosed to have hit $45 million, which will include repairing roads not designed to take heavy armor. Now, the bill has been revealed to include sprucing up the materiel before it rolls in front of the president on his 79th birthday. Retired Army Lt. General Mark Hertling, speaking Tuesday on MSNBC's Morning Joe, expressed reservations about the parade's scale and cost. To pull off the spectacle, the armor was brought by rail from bases across the country, while helicopters and planes will fly overhead during the parade. Hertling commanded the 1st Armored Division in combat in Iraq in 2007 and 2008, has a Purple Heart and multiple Bronze Stars and Distinguished Service Medals. 'I'm personally, truth be told, not a parade kind of guy,' Hertling said. 'Even when I was a cadet at West Point, I hated parades.' Initially conceived as a small event, the parade's scope expanded significantly, now involving nearly 8,000 soldiers marching alongside armored vehicles transported from various military bases across the country. The birthday celebration could cost as much as $45 million in taxpayer dollars, with an extra $16 million reportedly set aside for road repairs. Hertling described the parade as 'mission creep foisted upon the Army by politicians,' reflecting concerns that the military is being tasked with an expensive political spectacle. The logistical challenges are significant, too. According to Hertling, the vehicles have been freshly painted to present a polished image—because of a previous, rushed deployment of military hardware that Hertling says 'looked bad' and 'were not a good reflection of the Army.' 'How much is this going to cost? It's going to cost a lot,' he said. 'Not only [do] those vehicles use a lot [of fuel], they have been transported from different military bases, [and] as you can see, looking at those tanks and Bradleys that you're showing right now, they've all been freshly painted,' he said. 'The last time a bunch of tanks were brought to Washington, D.C. it was at a last-minute time frame and they looked bad. I mean, they were not a good reflection of the army. So obviously the commanders and the soldiers who take a great deal of pride in their vehicles, want them to be looking well.' He said all of this has contributed to the spiraling cost of the event. 'And, you know, that's created more cost other than the train load and the railhead and the helicopters [that] are going to be flying overhead and the and the fuel that's going to be used and the support for the almost 8,000 soldiers that are going to be marching inside of that column with the other vehicles to represent wars that the nation has fought in different period dress and uniforms. 'It was a good idea by the army to celebrate this and use it as a recruiting tool. It's just generated a lot more interest because of the connection with the president's birthday, that's for sure.' While the Army has defended the event as a recruiting tool and a celebration of the nation's military heritage, the timing—coinciding with the president's birthday—has raised questions about the parade's true purpose. Meanwhile, as much as $16 million has been earmarked for filling in the damage left by tanks rumbling down civilian streets, according to U.S. military officials. Steel plates at least an inch thick will be laid across sections of the route where M1A1 Abrams tanks, each weighing around 140,000 pounds, and other treaded vehicles will make turns. Similar protection will not be laid out along straight sections of the roadway. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has previously voiced her concerns about damage to city streets. 'Military tanks on our streets would not be good,' she said at an April 7 news conference. 'If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied by many millions of dollars to repair the roads.'
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Picked the Worst Possible Time to Hold a Military Parade
This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME's politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. It's sometimes easy to go numb living here in Washington. On most days, the Vice President's motorcade rumbles under many of our office windows, traveling from the Naval Observatory to the White House in the morning and back shortly after his workday ends. It's not uncommon to spot a trio of white-topped helicopters zipping over the Potomac while crowds are having dinner down at The Wharf; one is transporting a head of state while the other two are decoys. And was that the Irish Taoiseach hanging out at Little Gay Pub and Kiki on St. Patrick's Day weekend? Yes, that nation's then-leader was visiting from Dublin and making the rounds on the LGBTQ circuit after his official day ended. But the scene in my neighborhood the last two nights stood as a stark reminder that this weekend is shaping up to be surreal, even by D.C. standards. It's been hard to miss the military tanks rolling by on flatbed trucks around Eckington, Bloomingdale, and Shaw, heading past the city's convention center to get in position for a pricey parade on Saturday ordered by President Donald Trump. And if that spectacle were not shocking enough on its own, these giant weapons of war have been rumbling through residential streets in the U.S. capital at the same time as U.S. troops are deployed in the nation's second-largest city to help advance deeply unpopular immigration raids that have sparked protests across the nation. The jarring split-screen reality is one that is arriving at perhaps the most tone-deaf moment so far of Trump's second term. Ostensibly, the parade is marking the quarter-century birthday for the U.S. Army. (It also just happens to be Trump's 79th birthday, which is a very convenient coincidence that has even some of the President's apologists rolling their eyes at the cover story.) On the West Coast, as many as 2,000 National Guardsmen have been ordered up for active duty in Los Angeles, in direct violation of protocols that defer to each state's Governor, who is nominally the commander in chief of their reserve military. Trump also sent 700 Marines to Los Angeles to add to the uniformed legions that, to this point, have inflamed tensions, not quelled them. And there are whiffs that Los Angeles is merely a test case to see just how compliant Americans will be to see the world's greatest fighting force turn against the very people who pick up its tab. As Trump told reporters on Tuesday, those choosing to object publicly may come to regret it: 'For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force.' So as Trump stands in Washington this Saturday, watching M1A2 tanks, Stryker armored vehicles, and M109s tear up some of D.C. iconic boulevards, an actual live military operation stands to be unfolding on the streets of Los Angeles—and maybe other cities as well, given Trump's orders are not limited to that one locality. D.C.'s airspace will be shut down for hours to make way for flying fortresses to buzz overhead. And a trick parachute troop plans to airdrop to the viewing platform to deliver Trump an American flag that is destined to land in his future presidential library. It's one thing to watch a military display for show; it's another to watch live ammo be fired into the air to put down domestic demonstrations. The disconnect between Trump's stagings of brute force is striking and more than a little worrisome for those who have long thought civilian control of the military would have stopped such a craven choice. Trump has long fetishized the military hardware he controls. During his first term, he sought to flash this power after seeing a similar demonstration on a visit to France for Bastile Day; his military brass convinced him it was a bad idea and not worth the price. Given his long-standing obsession with autocratic regimes, it's little surprise that he is plunging ahead with a flex that feels more like something we'd see in Moscow or Pyongyang. The public is far from covering Trump's flank here. Trump's standing in polls sank underwater in March and hasn't recovered since, according to Nate Silver's modeling. A Quinnipiac poll out Wednesday puts Trump's approval rating at a measly 38%. He's even drawing a decided deficit on immigration and deportations—previously thought to be his best issues. Going back through post-World War II polling indices, Trump is faring worse than any President since 1953, save for how he was doing during his first term, according to analyst G. Elliott Morris. So as D.C. streets are clogged with war tools staging for Saturday's pricey pageant—6,600 soldiers, 50 aircraft, and 150 military vehicles at a price of as much as $45 million—it's worth reminding ourselves that this is a show that seems to have little purpose beyond boosting Trump's ego. But as his legions of supporters like to say, forget your feelings. The American public is not behind this show, let alone the policies that the White House is hoping it distracts from. The split screen between Washington and L.A. is disturbing, the implications dire. It's easy to forget that the nation and the world watch what happens in Washington far closer than the folks who live it day to day, and the war footing being adopted in a city fast approaching warzone timbre is not one that inspires confidence in America as the world's peacemakers. In fact, Trump's birthday blowout could be seen as a reboot of the entire post-Cold War ethos America has strived to convey for the last three decades—all over a parade coinciding with a domestic military crackdown. Make sense of what matters in Washington. Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter. Write to Philip Elliott at
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Restores Military Bases to ‘Racist' Confederate Names
Donald Trump has promised to rename army bases with the names of Confederate soldiers who fought to keep Black people in slavery. Speaking at Fort Bragg to kick off festivities for the 250th anniversary of the US Army, Trump told the audience he would rename army bases that had been changed under the Biden administration. 'For a little breaking news, we are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort AP Hill, and Fort Robert E Lee,' the president said. 'We won a lot of battles out of those forts… And I'm superstitious, you know, I like to keep it going, right?' The announcement is likely to prove contentious as Confederate symbols are viewed as signs of racism and white supremacy for many Black people, representing those who fought to perpetuate oppression. Robert E Lee, for example, was a decorated military officer from Virginia who was responsible for some of the Confederacy's most consequential victories in its fight to protect slavery. In 2023, the army base that bore his name was changed to Fort Gregg-Adams in honour of two African American officers. The president made his announcement to a largely pro-Trump crowd of military members, who booed as he took aim at the 'fake media', California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and his predecessor Joe Biden. 'You think this crowd would have turned up for Biden?' he joked. He also used the speech to highlight the protests in California, vowing to 'liberate Los Angeles from the migrant invasion' after days of unrest in America's second most populous state. The address at Fort Bragg kicked off the army's 250th anniversary, a celebration that will culminate with an unprecedented parade in Washington on June 14, the day of Trump's 79th birthday. The sound and visual extravaganza will take place along Constitution Avenue and feature thousands of uniformed troops marching in formation, as well as about 100 military vehicles, including M1A2/Abrams tanks; Black Hawk, Apache, and Chinook helicopters. Trump's announcement about renaming army bases was welcomed by MAGA allies and many military members at Fort Bragg, a base that was also renamed by the administration earlier this year. Others on social media were far more scathing. One user said the move 'romanticized' white supremacy; another account, belonging to Republicans Against Trump, quipped that 'nothing says patriotism like honoring enemies of the United States.'
