This prevents other countries sending the main battle tanks, which are held by more than a dozen armed forces in Europe, elsewhere without permission from Berlin. Poland had promised to supply a small number of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine as part of an "international coalition," but Germany holds the export license for the tanks. Read more Germany's Hesitation on Tanks Is Prolonging the War Germany has faced increasing pressure from NATO countries and allies to send the main battle tanks that Kyiv has long petitioned for. Combined operations also would include the Bradley vehicles and the Stryker vehicles that are very significant, and we are actually going to provide those." "What's crucial here is really creating a more effective, what we call, 'combined operations,' combined operations being more artillery, and infantry, and air defense. "The tanks themselves won't make a crucial difference," Newton added. said the functioning of individual weapons systems alongside one another could "turn the tide." Stressing he believed "strongly" that tanks would help with the "integrated capabilities" of trained soldiers, the retired Lt. German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday that Berlin "would not stand in the way" of countries sending Leopard 2s to Ukraine. “Vehicles will be destroyed, and people will die in these tanks.A Leopard 2 main battle tank of the Bundeswehr is seen at the Bundeswehr army training center in Ostenholz on Octonear Hodenhagen, Germany. The Leopard 2 “is an offensive weapon that will be thrown into high-intensity battles,” he said. French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday that he had asked his defense minister to “work on” the idea of sending some of France’s Leclerc battle tanks to Ukraine.Įven if modern western MBTs are superior to their Russian counterparts, donor countries supplying them need to prepare for losses, Raths said. tanks, and thus has shorter training times.īritain this month announced it will send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, and the Czech Republic and Poland have provided Soviet-era T-72 tanks to Ukrainian forces. officials say has complex maintenance needs and may not be the best fit.Īllies and military analysts say the Leopard 2 is diesel-powered - not driven by jet fuel that powers the M1 Abrams - and is easier to operate than the big U.S. The United States announced an upcoming new package of military aid that is expected to include nearly 100 Stryker combat vehicles and at least 50 Bradley armored vehicles - but not the Abrams, which U.S. Its main weapon is a 120mm smooth bore gun, and it has a fully-digital fire-control system. Now with four main variants, its earliest version first came into service in 1979. The 55-ton tank has a crew of four and a range of about 500 kilometers (310 miles), and top speeds of about 68 kilometers per hour (about 42 mph). Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, the manufacturer of the Leopard 2, touts it as “the world’s leading battle tank” that for nearly a half-century has combined aspects of firepower, protection, speed and maneuverability, making it adaptable to many types of combat situations. Here’s a look at what those tanks might mean for Ukraine’s defense against Russian forces - and hopes for driving them out. And Germany is not ruling out supplying such tanks to Ukraine itself, cautioning however that the implications of such a step need to be carefully weighed. Over the weekend, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Berlin would not get in the way if Poland - arguably Ukraine’s most vocal supporter among European Union neighbors - wants to ship Leopard 2 tanks from its arsenal across the border into Ukraine. GENEVA (AP) - Following intense pressure from its allies, Germany appears to be inching toward approving deliveries of high-tech Leopard 2 main battle tanks that Ukraine and its biggest Western backers hope will boost Kyiv’s fight against Russian invaders. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.
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