A German military Leopard 2A6 main battle tank. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army)
Ukraine will only receive half a battalion of more modern Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks from its allies, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on February 15.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels where a meeting of NATO’s leaders was being held, the minister said that no new commitments to supply Leopard 2A6 tanks had been made at a meeting of the so-called tank coalition.
Late in January, the German government announced it would make 14 Leopard 2A6 tanks available for Kiev forces. Later in February, Portugal said that it would provide four additional Leopard 2A6s.
“We won’t have enough for a battalion,” Pistorius said. “We will deliver half of the [Leopard 2] A6 battalion and one [Leopard 2] A4 battalion. And before the beginning of next year, they will be joined by more than 120 Leopard 1 A5 [tanks] which should not be underestimated.”
The Leopard 2A4 is armed with the Rh-120 L/44 120 mm gun, while the newer 2A6 is armed with the more lethal Rh-120 L/55 gun of the same caliber. The 2A6 is also equipped with improved armor. Bothe versions are powered by MTU MB 873 Ka-501 liquid-cooled V12 twin-turbo diesel engine with 1,479 hp and can reach a top speed of up to 70 kilometers per hour.
Pistorius noted that to date, there are almost 30 Leopard 2A4 tanks available for supply to Ukraine. 14 of the tanks will be provided by Poland, while the rest will reportedly come from Canada, Spain and Norway.
Sweden is reportedly still checking whether it is capable of providing any of its Strv 121s, which are based on the Leopard 2A5, and if so, how many.
According to the German defense minister, the Netherlands will participate only in supplying ammunition for the tanks while Denmark is still considering its options.
Pistorius said that in the end, five to six tank battalions will be delivered, without specifying the particular models. The minister stressed that given the tank’s technical condition, from late March through the end of April, only the “majority” of Leopard 2 tanks would be delivered to the Kiev regime. Meanwhile, Germany’s 14 units will be sent to Ukraine no later than the last week of March.
Ukrainian troops have already begun an extensive training course on Leopard 2 tanks in both Germany and Poland. The training should end before the deliveries.
The Leopard 2 is being promoted by the mainstream media as some “Wunderwaffe”. However, the tank’s design came under much criticism in 2016, when at least eight Leopard 2A4s of the Turkish military were destroyed by ISIS terrorists in the northern region of Syria with Soviet-made anti-tank guided missiles.
Ukraine allies hope that the delivery of the Leopard 2s and other Western-made tanks, like the British Challenger 2 and American M1A2 Abrams, will help Kiev forces launch large-scale offensive against the Russian military next Spring.
When you are talking about volumes, don’t use Military terms like Battalion or Brigade. In the first place those terms are quite fluid and have little accuracy in the numbers game. Simply say the number, very few know how many in a Brigade or battalion. Also, if the article is in English the Maps should also be in English. You’re a great group of fullas but your maps are absolute Dogshit. I can’t tell a border from a road from a river and the Rivers have no names. just really stupid cartography. Come on, you can do much better!
Put in a application, Southfront will hire you and you can show them what’s up. 😆
manned armored target drones x30 manned by conscripts fresh off the streets of kiev ukraine failarmy
According to the Guardian Russia has lost 50 % of her tanks and Ukraine has has captured over 500 Russian tanks. What difference does a score of NATO tanks make?. According to the Guardian the Ukrainians are already winning the tank war. Back to reality this is not a tank war regardless of the propaganda on kill ratio/ pinch of salt: Why are the Russians still advancing?
The Guardian have to abide by the rules. It’s what they are paid to do. Propaganda is now big business. Bellend and his cat has made a very good living from lies. The Guardian is probably full of spooks. I bet some of the spooks don’t even know that they are working beside other spooks. Western media is a joke and even the clowns destroying it know it.
I think your correct. Today’s piece by James Meek in the Guardian is just pure nonsense. The media must truly believe we all look at things in a vacuum. If the West believes Crimea and the Eastern Ukrainian regions have been stolen by Russia let’s have plebiscites that we all agree as they did after WW1 with Germany and ask the people of these regions do they want to be citizens of Russian, Ukrainian or independent from both.
Does the Aryan race’s new darker mixture now believes they can do this with no consequences, is this a genetic aberration.
Who exactly hypes the Leopard 2 as „Wunderwaffe“? I‘ve never seen any comment to that effect.
In the words of one of the greatest ace pilots to ever live:
“Everyone knows it’s not the machine that matters, but the man inside.”
“its the Spirit in the machine that matters'”
:- 👻 Ghost of Kiev
Before they only talked about Leopard 2a4 tanks!
Can a lancet kill a leopard, that’s the question.
a dildo can
Lancet can hardly destroy any tank… simply, it doesn’t have enough power for such a thing… There are many videos of Lancet directly hitting a tank without any special effect.
Will that be the front or back – or left or right – of the tanks?
Teraz bude záležať na Ruskej vojenskej rozviedke. Tá by mala zistiť presne kedy a kde príde k prechodu hranice. A potom Ruské vzdušné a kozmické sily by mali predvieť čo dokážu!!! Nech už konečne dajú príučku debilom zo západu. Aby aj tí pochopili, že všetko je márne a zbytočné. Inak je tak isto čas začať riešiť Nord Stream a Nord Stream II. BR OSN by mala k tomuto teroristickému útoku konečne zaujať jasné stanovisko. Teraz po odhalení investigatívnym novinárom Seymour Hersh amerického pôvodu, ktorý dostal Pulitzerovu cenu by sa konečne BR OSN mala rozhýbať. A ak nie je na rade samotné Rusko!!! Prostriedky a silu na to má aby dokázalo zjednať nápravu. Respektíve aby vedelo urobiť odplatu. Aký požičaj, taký vráť!!!
The people of those countries helping Ukraine to commit suicide should take a long look at their ‘leaders’ who are leading them into war and europe into destruction, for the sake of the american dollar which is already doomed because of abuse.
Those in power in america have abused their currency until it died. And like every psychopath with a death wish, they want everything else to suffer too.