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U.S. M1A2 Abrams Tanks Tackle Polish Terrain In Vital NATO Eastern Flank Readiness Drill.
U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams crews are grinding through water crossings and deep mud at Poland’s Bemowo Piskie Training Area during the Forward Land Forces Expansion exercise, according to imagery and video released through DVIDS. The live armored drills are designed to show how quickly NATO can move, fight and sustain heavy combat power along its eastern flank if a crisis with Russia spills onto Alliance territory.
On 23 November 2025, U.S. Army imagery and reports from Bemowo Piskie Training Area in Poland highlighted M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks maneuvering through water obstacles and deep mud as part of the Forward Land Forces expansion exercise, as reported by DVIDS. This latest rotation brings armored forces from across Poland together to rehearse rapid movement and employment of heavy units in support of NATO’s defense plans along the eastern flank, in conditions deliberately chosen to mirror Eastern Europe’s late-autumn climate. At a time when the Alliance is reinforcing its posture from the Baltic to the Black Sea in response to Russia’s ongoing aggression, such realistic training underscores how quickly heavy armor must be able to deploy, fight and sustain operations on NATO soil.
The exercise brings U.S. M1A2 Abrams crews and allied units together in Poland to practice rapidly deploying, maneuvering and sustaining heavy armor in muddy late autumn conditions along NATO’s eastern flank (Picture Source: U.S. Army)
The exercise centers on U.S. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, who deployed their M1A2 Abrams tanks into prepared fighting positions and through complex terrain at Bemowo Piskie Training Area on 18 November 2025. Abrams crews and support elements were moved by rail from multiple training areas across Poland, consolidating combat power in the northeast to practise the rapid massing and subsequent dispersal of heavy forces, a core requirement of NATO’s regional defense plans for the eastern flank. Late-autumn weather provided an important realism factor: cold temperatures, saturated ground, and rapidly changing conditions forced units to deal with mud that can quickly immobilize vehicles and complicate logistics, a well-known characteristic of the terrain in and around critical corridors such as the Suwałki Gap.
Central to the exercise is the M1A2 Abrams, the latest iteration of a tank family introduced to U.S. Army service in the 1980s and continuously modernized to address evolving threats. The M1A2 pairs a 120 mm smoothbore main gun with advanced composite and reactive armor and integrates digital fire‑control and battle‑management systems, enabling crews to detect, engage, and defeat targets at extended ranges in all weather conditions. The SEPv3 and related upgrades fielded in Europe emphasize enhanced protection, communications, and power generation, reflecting lessons from recent conflicts where unmanned aerial systems, top‑attack munitions, and electronic warfare have become decisive.
The Abrams’ operational history has largely been shaped by expeditionary campaigns in the Middle East, where it demonstrated high survivability and firepower in open desert and urban environments. Over the last decade, however, the U.S. Army has steadily shifted its emphasis back to high-intensity, large-scale combat operations in Europe. Rotational armored brigade deployments to Poland and other eastern members of the Alliance, coupled with multinational live-fire exercises at locations such as Bemowo Piskie, are part of that adaptation. In this context, the Abrams is no longer preparing primarily for distant expeditionary operations, but for the possibility of defending NATO territory against a peer adversary across forested, river-cut terrain that can quickly turn into mud under heavy rain or thaw, exactly the environment replicated during the Forward Land Forces expansion.
Poland’s contribution to the exercise extends well beyond providing training grounds. The Polish Armed Forces played a pivotal role in coordinating rail transport and managing training sites, underscoring Poland’s strategic importance as a logistical hub for NATO’s eastern flank and as a frontline state within the Alliance’s deterrence framework. Leveraging its extensive rail network and developing logistics infrastructure, Poland has established itself as a critical conduit for the movement of heavy equipment, ammunition, and support units toward key strategic areas such as the Baltic region and the Suwałki Gap, the narrow corridor linking the Baltic states to the broader NATO alliance, identified by analysts as a significant strategic chokepoint.
Exercises like the Forward Land Forces expansion directly address NATO’s pressing operational challenge: the rapid deployment of armored brigades across Europe amid infrastructure constraints, administrative hurdles, and potential vulnerabilities to disruption. Recent assessments highlight that many bridges, tunnels, and rail yards are not uniformly designed to support the weight of modern main battle tanks, emphasizing the need for continued investment to enhance military mobility at scale. By transporting Abrams units via rail across Poland and subsequently maneuvering them through difficult, mud-laden training terrain in coordinated drills with host-nation forces, the U.S. Army and its partners conduct a comprehensive live evaluation of both tactical vehicle performance and the robustness of NATO’s strategic logistics network.
The current security environment in Eastern Europe gives these maneuvers added weight. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, ongoing missile and drone strikes near NATO borders, and periodic airspace violations over Poland and the Baltic region have pushed the Alliance to reinforce air, ground and energy infrastructure defenses along the eastern flank. Within that broader posture, the presence of combat-ready Abrams units in northeastern Poland sends a clear message: NATO intends not only to deploy modern armored forces forward, but to ensure they can fight effectively in the very conditions, mud, forests, rivers and freezing temperatures, that would shape any real contingency in the region.
For NATO planners, this training yields three principal advantages. First, it verifies U.S. heavy forces’ capacity to deploy to theater, mass combat power when required, and subsequently disperse to reduce vulnerability. Second, it strengthens interoperability with Polish forces and other allied units operating along the same corridors, encompassing coordinated use of rail networks and standardized procedures for route reconnaissance, bridging, and recovery of heavy vehicles in challenging terrain. Third, it serves as an operational testbed for integrating emerging capabilities, such as small tactical unmanned aerial systems employed to scout routes and identify obstacles, into established armored doctrine.
As the M1A2 Abrams churns through Polish mud and cold November rain, the scenes from Bemowo Piskie show more than a routine field exercise. They illustrate a deliberate effort by the United States and its allies to test, under realistic stress, the full chain that links an armored battalion in Kansas or Texas to a fighting position overlooking key routes on NATO’s northeastern flank. The combination of proven heavy armor, demanding terrain and complex logistics makes these drills a practical rehearsal for defending some of the Alliance’s most exposed territory, and a reminder that deterrence in Eastern Europe now depends as much on the ability to move and sustain tanks like the M1A2 Abrams as on their firepower once they are in position.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.