MTMC effort recycles tanks for U.S. Army Europe

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (USTCNS) --- The U.S. Army in Europe is getting a sharper edge - thanks to the Military Traffic Management Command.

Every Abrams M1A1 tank in Europe will be returned to depots in the United States for rebuilding.

Operations in the Balkans and training in Germany have resulted in much higher than normal mileage for tanks in Europe, according to the U.S. Army Europe Public Affairs Office.

The Abrams Integrated Management program will completely rebuild every Abrams tank in the U.S. Army Europe over the next three years. That is six battalions of tanks.

MTMC's 598th Transportation Group is already starting to move the tanks.

The 838th Transportation Battalion, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, received the first set of 40 M1A1 tanks in Antwerp, Belgium in early September.

Many tanks were deadlined and had to be unloaded from railcars with a mobile crane and loaded on the Faust.

More tanks were moved from the port of Rotterdam a week later. Here, four trains arrived from Combat Equipment Group-Europe sites in Vriezenveen, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. They carried a total load of 56 M1A1 tanks -- 75 percent of which were not operational

The equipment was loaded on the Fidelio.

"This was truly a combined effort," said Bart Fiegel, terminal manager. "We'd especially like to thank American Roll-on Roll-off Carriers for arranging for the vessel to call Rotterdam so we could conduct ro-ro operations at Rotterdam -- something we don't usually do …"

The Abram Integrated Management (AIM) program is the Army's choice for long term maintenance of the armored force through the year 2025. Originally slated to take six years to completely rebuild the six battalions of tanks, the increase in operations and the need to ensure readiness prompted the command in Europe to request a three-year rebuild program.

Once in the United States, the Abrams tanks will be extensively refurbished. The tanks will be completely disassembled at the Anniston Army Depot, Anniston, Ala.

The rework will include sending the vehicles' hull, turret, engine and other parts to the tank production plant in Lima, Ohio. The plant has the capability to rebuild eight to twelve tanks per month.

MTMC will then send rebuilt tanks to Europe to be swapped on a one-to-one basis with existing tanks. The first shipment of rebuilt tanks is scheduled to arrive in Europe by fall.

(FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).