Saudi Arabia Confirms 300 New M1 Abrams Tanks in U.S. Strategic Defense Agreement.

President Donald J. Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have finalized a Strategic Defense Agreement that includes Saudi plans to buy nearly 300 American-made M1 Abrams tanks. The move deepens Riyadh’s reliance on U.S. technology and marks one of the most expansive defense and investment packages in the bilateral relationship.

The White House announced on November 18, 2025, that U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman finalized a Strategic Defense Agreement that includes Saudi Arabia’s intention to purchase nearly 300 American-made M1 Abrams main battle tanks. Framed as a way to build up Saudi defense capabilities while sustaining U.S. jobs, the tank sale is embedded in a package that also raises Saudi investment in the United States to almost 1 trillion dollars and formalizes Riyadh’s reliance on American defense technology.
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The M1A2 Abrams offers a 120 mm high-precision gun, advanced thermal sights for true hunter-killer engagements, heavy composite armor with protected ammunition storage, and a 1,500 hp turbine engine that delivers exceptional mobility in desert operations, making it one of the most survivable and lethal main battle tanks in service (Picture source: U.S. DoW).

The broader agreement is deliberately ambitious. In addition to the tank and F-35 sales, the Strategic Defense Agreement streamlines future arms approvals, eases U.S. industry access to Saudi programs, and locks in Washington as the kingdom’s primary security partner. Parallel accords on civil nuclear cooperation, critical minerals and an AI Memorandum of Understanding seek to bind Saudi long-term technological development to U.S. standards and suppliers. Axios reports that the deal is coupled with Saudi designation as a major non-NATO ally and a pledge to ramp U.S. investments to the trillion-dollar level, underscoring the political weight behind the armor component.

While official documents simply describe nearly 300 American tanks, multiple indicators suggest an export-standard M1A2 family variant, building on the M1A2 SEP architecture now being fielded as the SEPv3 in U.S. service. A modern Abrams combines a 120 mm M256 smoothbore gun capable of firing advanced kinetic and programmable multi-purpose rounds with a digital fire-control system, stabilized gun and thermal sights that allow accurate hunter-killer engagements on the move, day or night. Composite armor derived from Chobham designs, segregated ammunition storage with blow-off panels, and nuclear, biological and chemical protection provide high crew survivability, while the 1,500 hp AGT1500 gas turbine delivers road speeds above 65 km/h at the cost of a demanding fuel and maintenance footprint.

Saudi Arabia is already one of the largest Abrams operators in the world, with around 575 M1A2S Saudi Package tanks in service by 2024, created by upgrading earlier M1A2 and M1A1 hulls. The M1A2S blends elements of the M1A2 SEP and M1A1 AIM programs, adding second-generation thermal imagers, improved turret electronics and enhanced crew cooling tailored to extreme desert conditions, while omitting U.S. depleted-uranium armor in favor of a special export package. U.S. exercises such as Friendship 25 have already exposed Saudi crews to the newer SEPv3 configuration, with its higher electrical power, upgraded networking, air-burst capable ammunition datalink and improved forward-looking infrared sensors, making it a logical baseline for any new build or deep modernization.

300 additional Abrams give the Royal Saudi Land Forces enough combat power to stand up at least one more fully equipped heavy division or several armored brigades with training and reserve stocks. Combined with M2 Bradley IFVs and a large M109 self-propelled artillery fleet, the expanded Abrams park sharply increases Saudi capacity to conduct sustained high-intensity operations along the Yemeni border, secure key oil and infrastructure corridors, and generate a credible armored deterrent on the kingdom’s eastern flank opposite Iran. The hunter-killer engagement cycle, long-range thermal detection and airburst munitions that SEPv3-level tanks can employ are particularly relevant against dispersed anti-tank guided missile teams and irregular formations, exactly the kind of threats Saudi crews have faced in Yemen.

The new tanks also accelerate the renewal of a still-sizeable legacy fleet. Saudi forces retain more than 650 M60A3 Patton tanks, second-generation designs that suffered losses alongside Abrams during the Yemen intervention. Replacing or relegating those vehicles with fresh M1A2-standard armor allows Riyadh to standardize on a single heavy platform with common training, spares and digital architecture, enabling more coherent brigade combat teams and easier integration into U.S.-led exercises and C4ISR networks.

In capability terms, Saudi Arabia’s Abrams will sit alongside Europe’s best. Germany’s Leopard 2A7 mounts a longer-barrel 120 mm L55 gun with outstanding long-range armor-piercing and programmable HE performance, packaged in a 64–69 ton chassis with an auxiliary power unit and excellent mine protection. France’s Leclerc, used in combat by the UAE in Yemen, offers comparable firepower with a 120 mm L52 gun and bustle autoloader in a lighter 57-ton hull, trading mass for mobility and smaller crew size. Russia’s T-90M brings a 125 mm gun firing gun-launched ATGMs, Relikt explosive reactive armor and a modern Kalina fire-control system, but it remains constrained by a three-man crew in a compact turret and autoloader layout that has shown vulnerability when penetrated in Ukraine. Saudi Abrams do not fire missiles, yet compensate with superior crew protection, ammunition isolation and space for future active protection and sensor upgrades.

The Yemen war has already exposed the vulnerabilities of Saudi heavy armor. Houthi forces backed by Iran have repeatedly showcased advanced ATGMs and drones, with documented cases of M1A2S tanks destroyed or disabled in border fighting near Jizan and enough Abrams losses in Yemen to trigger a U.S. replacement sale in 2016. Lessons from Ukraine and Gaza reinforce the same point: survivability now depends as much on hard-kill active protection, electronic warfare and air defense coverage as on passive armor. It is difficult to imagine Riyadh buying a new Abrams tranche without at least exploring APS options and tighter integration with its growing counter-drone and missile defense architecture.

The tank order unfolds as Saudi Arabia confronts a layered security environment: entrenched Houthi control over western Yemen and Red Sea shipping lanes, persistent missile and drone threats to oil infrastructure, and an Iranian regime that continues to rely on proxy warfare even as China brokers limited détente. European defense assessments have described Riyadh’s situation as one where traditional assumptions about automatic U.S. backing no longer apply, pushing the kingdom to hedge with new partners, yet the 2025 SDA and major non-NATO ally status indicate a clear effort to re-anchor its security in Washington.

For the U.S. industry, the tank deal likely represents a multi-billion-dollar program centered on the Lima Army Tank Plant, where M1 production continues and export SEPv3 tanks are priced around 24 million dollars per unit. For Saudi Arabia, it is a bet that heavy armor, networked with modern ISR, airpower and air defense, will remain a decisive instrument of ground power in a region where deterrence is still measured in brigades of steel.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.