“We were informed that the shut the program down until such time the few M1s are returned to us,” one contractor told Foreign Policy on the condition we not print their name, as they’re not authorize to speak to the press. Then in late December 2017, most of the General Dynamics contractors abruptly left Iraq. Army has paid General Dynamics $320 million for the work starting in 2012. Iraq bought 140 of the 63-ton M1s for $2 billion starting in 2008 in order to re-equip some armored units that previously operated Soviet-made vehicles - many of which the U.S.-led coalition destroyed when it invaded Iraq in 2003.Īs part of the tank sale, the Pentagon brokered an arrangement whereby workers from Michigan-based General Dynamics Land Systems, which manufactures the Abrams, would maintain Iraq’s tanks, repair battle damage and train Iraqi mechanics to fix the vehicles themselves. An Islamic State attack near the city of Hawija in mid-February reportedly killed 27 militiamen fighting for Baghdad. While the Islamic State has retreated from large swaths of Iraq it once controlled, mobile groups of militants continue to stage attacks on Iraqi troops and their allies. Now, many of Iraq’s tanks are immobilized for want of maintenance, potentially jeopardizing the country’s ongoing campaign against Islamic State militants. company that repairs Iraq’s American-made M1A1 Abrams tanks has pulled many of its people from Iraq after at least nine of the armored vehicles ended up in the hands of pro-Iran militias.
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