US National Guard’s aging battle taxis find new use in Ukraine fight – By Joe Gould (Defense News) / April 29, 2022
WASHINGTON ― At least five states are sending aging M113 armored personnel carriers to Europe to support the Pentagon’s race to send equipment to Ukraine.
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.
