Complex sentence: Part of the effort included purchasing equipment from overseas to gain understanding of recent developments, including armoured vehicles from France and Britain as well as several chassis from an American designer that later became the basis of a family of Soviet produced tanks.
Split into simpler sentences: Part of the effort included purchasing equipment from overseas to gain understanding of recent developments. This included purchases of armoured vehicles from France and Britain, and importantly several chassis from an inspired American designer that later became the basis of a family of Soviet produced tanks.