LIMA, Ohio, Aug. 19 -- The emirate of Kuwait received the first of 218 battle tanks it plans to buy from General Dynamics Land Systems. The Michigan-based defense contractor said Kuwaiti officials got the M1A2 Abrams tank Thursday during a ceremony at its Lima, Ohio, factory.
The Kuwaitis will pay $5 million per tank through the U.S. Army's Foreign Military Sales program, said company spokesman Peter Keating. The tanks, equipped with digital electronics and thermal-sensing night vision systems, are an updated version of the M1A1 Abrams used in Kuwait by U.S. forces for desert combat during the Gulf War. Keating said the tank also features an improved targeting system to improve accuracy. 'The General Dynamics team is very proud of the role Land Systems- built Abrams tanks played in helping to liberate Kuwait, and now in the role they will play in helping Kuwait maintain its national security,' said Land Systems president Roger E. Tetrault. The contract with Kuwait calls for the tanks to be delivered over the next two years. Since the first Abrams tank rolled off the assembly line in 1980, General Dynamics said it has built more than 8,000 M1 series Abrams tanks. The U.S. Army has 77 of the M1A2 models and plans to upgrade about 1, 000 older M1s to the M1A2 configuration by the year 2003, the company said.
