Canada to provide Ukraine with four Leopard 2A4 tanks from their military inventory


According to information published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on January 25, 2023, Canada will send to Ukraine four Leopard 2A4 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) coming from its military inventory. According to a Canadian army retired general, Canada will be able to provide Ukraine with 50 Leopard 2 tanks.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link


Army Recognition Global Defense and Security news
A Leopard 2A4 tank from Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) travels on the Black Route of the 3rd Canadian Division Support Base Garrison Wainwright Training Centre in preparation for Exercise MAPLE RESOLVE 21, on April 30, 2021. (Picture source Canada MoD)


On Wednesday, January 25, 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada will provide more support to Ukraine but declined to join allies in announcing a donation of German-made tanks.

Canadian National Defense Minister Anita Anand made the commitment on January 26, 2023, ending the debate over whether Canada would ship battle tanks from its military stockpile to Ukraine and Canada confirmed the donation of four Leopard 2A4 tanks from the Canadian army military inventory.

For several weeks, Ukraine has been asking European countries to supply Ukrainian armed forces with up to 300 German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks. Today, Poland and Norway have already taken the decision to deliver Leopard 2A4 tanks following Germany's decision to approve the donation of these tanks to Ukraine.

Citing the military balance 2021, the Canadian army has a total of 82 Main Battle Tanks including 42 Leopard 2A4, 20 Leopard 2A4M, 20 Leopard 2A6M, and 52 Leopard 1C2 tanks in store which is an upgraded version of the original Leopard 1A model with a new turret and Krupp-Atlas fire control system.

In 2007, Canada acquired 80 Ex-Dutch Leopard 2A4 and 20 Ex-German Leopard 2A6 tanks.

The Leopard 2A4 is a main battle tank (MBT) developed and manufactured by the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW). It is the fourth generation of the Leopard 2 series and was first introduced in 1979.

The Leopard 2A4 is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore gun which has been developed by Rheinmetall and fires two types of ammunition, APFSDS-T, and HEAT-MP-T. The APFSDS-T has an effective range of over 2,000 m and the HEAT-MP-T has a high degree of effectiveness against both soft and hard targets.

The Leopard 2A4 armor is composed of a combination of steel, aluminum, and composite materials. The armor provides protection against kinetic energy penetrators and shaped charge warheads, as well as against mine and improvised explosive device blasts