Columns of tanks have arrived in Washington DC ahead of an enormous planned military parade to mark the US Army’s 250th anniversary, which coincides with President Trump’s birthday and Flag Day.
A mile-long line of tanks, some of the 150 military vehicles set to take part in Saturday’s parade, arrived in the capital by freight train over the weekend, video shared on X by reporter Benjamin Alvarez shows.
M1 Abrams tanks, M2 Bradley and Stryker fighting vehicles, and M109 Paladin howitzers were among the equipment that arrived this past Saturday, ending a 1,300-mile journey from Texas that began on May 21.
The daylong event along the National Mall will also feature approximately 6,600 soldiers and 50 aircraft, according to the Army.
The program is budgeted to cost $30 million, but could rise as high as $45 million depending on the need to repair damaged streets around Washington and other factors.
Each of the M1 Abrams main battle tanks alone weighs around 140,000 pounds.
Trump described the cost as “peanuts” compared with celebrating “the greatest military in the world” in an interview with NBC News last month.
“The Army’s 250th birthday is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, a spokesperson for the III Armored Corps based at Fort Cavazos, Texas, said in a statement last month.
Ahead of the big event, soldiers and equipment who will take part in the parade will be housed in a Department of Agriculture building and a warehouse owned by the General Service Administration, according to USA Today.
In addition to the parade and a fireworks display, the festivities will include a fitness competition, military demonstrations and other activities.
The parade will begin at 6:30 p.m. ET and end an hour later, to be followed immediately by a concert at the Ellipse.
The route is laid out west-to-east along the Mall, starting near the Lincoln Memorial and ending by the Washington Monument.
Following the concert, the fireworks show is scheduled to begin at 9:45 p.m.
Critics from across the political spectrum have slammed the parade as a waste of resources, while others have charged it is a thinly veiled celebration of Trump himself rather than America’s fighting men and women.
