Time is running out for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been ordering hundreds of heavy tanks for several weeks to protect himself from a likely Russian offensive in the east of the country. After a long hesitation, Germany responded to this request.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has given the green light to donate 14 Leopard 2 A6s and allow Poland, Finland and other European countries and NATO members to deliver them to Kyiv as well. The objective is to form two Leopard 2 tank battalions, that is to say 80 tanks. This figure could be reached or even exceeded with shipments from Germany, Poland, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Denmark and Spain.
The Leopard 2, which has been developed since 1979 in numerous versions since the 1970s, is a armored fast (75 km/h), powerful (120 mm smoothbore gun with a range of 4 km) and its steel and ceramic armor effectively protects its crew of 4, including a shell magazine. The Bundeswehr published a video yesterday to show the effectiveness of this armored vehicle produced since the late 1970s by the industrialist Krauss-Maffei, which built 3,500 units.
The defect of the armor
But his power can be the fault of his armor in certain situations and in a period in which the rivers to cross are at their highest level in Ukraine.
But what makes it an asset, compared to the equivalent western models (the French Leclerc, the British Challenger and the American Abrams) is that it is still in production and that hundreds of units are available in Germany and in other European countries or NATO member states. . Therefore, near Ukraine a large stock of spare parts and ammunition is available.
Thousands of liters of fuel
Therefore, Ukraine will need several hundred of these tanks to be effective on the battlefield against the Russian T62, T72, T80 and even T90. A battalion is made up of 3 companies of 13 tanks, that is, about forty tanks. Three are needed to form a brigade that also requires 3,000 men, an infantry battalion and an artillery battalion, not to mention the logistics and maintenance units that repair and maintain all these machines in the field.
To add also, monumental fuel reserves. To run its 1500 hp engine, a Leopard 2 has a 1200 liter tank and consumes between 300 and 400 liters per 100 km depending on the terrain. A European and American contribution seems inevitable.
The other unavoidable limitation is the formation and training of the crews. The Leopard is a modernized tank with a cockpit almost as complex as a fighter jet.
There are training centers in the Baltic countries, especially in Romania, but one of the most suitable places for this training is in France, in the Var. This is the Canjuers field, which, with 35,000 ha, is the largest firing range in Europe where many European armies are already trained and where Ukrainian artillerymen were trained with Caesar cannons.
Source: BFM TV
