HomeWorldPortugal ready to send three Leopard 2 tanks in March

Portugal ready to send three Leopard 2 tanks in March

The Prime Minister, António Costa, announced on Wednesday that Portugal is implementing the maintenance plan for Leopard 2 tanks and that it is able to deliver three to Ukraine in March.

“We are currently executing the recovery and maintenance plan for the Leopard 2 tanks and according to the plan’s execution, we are able to phase out three of them in March,” said Antonio Costa in parliament.

The prime minister responded to deputy Bernardo Blanco, of the Liberal Initiative, during the preparatory debate before the European Council in parliament.

A little earlier, the only member of the PAN, Inês Sousa Real, had questioned the Prime Minister about whether Portugal would send more humanitarian aid to Turkey and Syria after the earthquake, in addition to the planned ones, and also questioned the leader of the executive about the aid to Ukraine in terms of a possible shipment of aircraft.

“Yes, we are not only going to send humanitarian aid to Turkey and Syria, but there is also a mission going to Chile to support that country in fighting forest fires. And this circumstance is a very important opportunity for us to develop all the mechanisms of the green transition and luckily this is happening”, he answered.

Chega leader André Ventura took the opportunity to ask António Costa if he maintains political confidence in Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho, who was in the parliamentary defense committee this morning to answer questions about the controversy over the costs in the works of the former Military Hospital of Belém.

Ventura opined that Cravinho – who served as defense minister between 2018 and 2022 – is “a bubble about to burst” and pointed to “inconsistency and inconsistency”.

“Really for you, no one would have a place in this government, because, be honest, it is against the very existence of this government,” replied Costa, throwing Ventura, who creates the executive, to his size and not “to the measure” of the leader of Chega.

“And that was it, I think we were both equally satisfied and each fulfills its function,” he concluded.

On February 4, at the end of a visit to the Portuguese military mission in the Central African Republic, the Prime Minister assured Lusa in statements that Portugal would hand over Leopard 2 tanks to the Ukrainian armed forces and added that he was in A logistical operation is underway with Germany to recover some tanks.

On this occasion, António Costa also tried to point out that sending tanks to Ukraine does not endanger national military capability in terms of equipment.

According to the Prime Minister, Portugal is working with Germany to “allow a logistics operation to deliver parts, with a view to completing the recovery of some cars [de combate] which were not operational”.

Regarding the controversy regarding the fact that several of these Leopard 2 tanks, acquired by the armed forces in 2007, have not been serviced for many years, the Prime Minister countered that the phrase “is an exaggeration for many years”.

“Some are not operational and that is precisely why we must work simultaneously with those who produce to ensure the necessary supply chain, with a view to recovering tanks that we currently have unusable and to dispense with operational tanks, which allows us to operate with our own capacity properly secured. It is this logistical operation that is underway,” he justified.

On January 20, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (CEMGFA), Admiral Silva Ribeiro, indicated that Portugal has 37 Leopard tanks.

Author: DN/Lusa

Source: DN

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