The U.S. National Guard in at least five states is sending aging M113 armored personnel carriers to Europe to support the Pentagon’s race to send equipment to Ukraine,
Defense News reports.
As of Friday, the governors of Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia announced that, at the request of the Defense Department, they’re turning M113s from their fleets over to Ukraine. The aid stems from President Joe Biden’s announcement April 13 of an $800 million package that included 200 M113s, among more than a dozen other capabilities.
“The governors are the commanders in chief of their respective national guards, and they’re proud to do this,” National Guard Association of the United States spokesman John Goheen said Friday.
The U.S. Army considers the M113, its Vietnam War battle taxi, obsolete and stopped buying them in 2006. As the fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine faces a rainy, muddy spring, the M113 ― which has tracks and weighs far less than an Abrams tank ― could offer the country’s forces transportation and protection from small-arms fire and the effects of artillery.
“You need mobility on the battlefield, and protected mobility is even better,” Goheen said.
After the Indiana National Guard got the request, it had its technicians at Camp Atterbury inspect, repair and road test their M113s. From there, the vehicles were staged for transport and could be seen leaving atop flatbed trucks.
“We’ve been ordered to ship these out at the president’s directive, to provide military equipment to Ukraine,” the director of the Indiana National Guard’s joint staff, Brig. Gen. Justin Mann, said in a video.
“So, we got short notice, the team did a complete technical inspection and we’re able to get all these things ready ahead of time, in less than five days. So a monumental, herculean effort by our maintainers, doing great work and getting this equipment ready.”
