According to an interview published by the German television news channel "N-TV" website on November 5, 2022, the Ukrainian Ambassador in Germany Oleksii Makeiev expects soon the delivery of Leopard 2 Main Battle Tanks from Germany.
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German-made Leopard 2A4 main battle tank. (Picture source Army Recognition)
"We expect to soon receive a positive answer from Germany regarding the delivery of Leopard 2 Main Battle Tanks from Germany directly to Ukraine", said Oleksii Makeiev, Ukrainian Ambassador in Germany.
Citing information published by "N-TV" website, Ukraine would be in talks with Germany to acquire Leopard 2 tanks. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Germany has already delivered or will supply several types of combat vehicles including PzH 2000 155mm howitzers, IRIS-T SLM air defense missile system, MARS II MLRS rocket launcher systems, Dingo 2 4x4 armored vehicles as well as ammunition, small weapons, and individual equipment.
During the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in September 2022, Germany has suggested the possibility to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. it was also recommended that European countries, which have the Leopard 2 in stock should form a group to provide Ukraine with 90 battle-ready tanks.
The delivery of main battle tanks to Ukraine would be crucial to fighting the Russian army in the next phase of the war. Analysts Gustav Gressel, Rafael Loss, and Jana Puglierin recently wrote a report, and they suggested that the German government should create a "consortium of European Leopard 2 users" for this purpose and explained that 12 European armies and Turkey had more than 2,000 various Leopard 2 tanks between them.
The Leopard 2 is one of the most modern main battle tanks in the world. It entered into service with the German army in 1979 and was upgraded several times since its first introduction. The tank is in service with 13 European armed forces including Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey. Together they have more than 2,000 vehicles across different variants and levels of readiness. On October 16, 2022, Ukraine asked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to create a European tank alliance that would allow the transfer of 200 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
The Leopard 2A4 was the first operational variant in the Leopard 2 tank family and it was followed by the versions A5, A6, A7, and A7V, which recently entered into service with the German army.
According to the military balance 2021, the German army has a total of 245 main battle tanks including 225 Leopard 2A5 / A6, 19 Leopard 2A7, an undisclosed number of Leopard 2A7V and 78 Leopard 2A4 in store. Germany could deliver the Leopard 2A4 tanks that are in stock but which may need maintenance and upgrading.
The Leopard 2A4 is a German-made main battle tank designed and manufactured by the Company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, the successor of the main battle tank Leopard 1. The version Leopard 2A4 constitutes the basis of today’s Leopard family. It 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 hull of the Leopard 2A4 has spaced multilayer armor and is divided into three compartments: driver at the front, fighting in the center, and power pack at the rear. Some variants of the Leopard 2A4 are equipped with add-on armor to increase the protection of the crew against mines and improvised explosive devices.
