The German Defence Ministry is contemplating plans for the procurement of a number of hundred new Leopard 2A8 predominant battles tanks, in line with a current report from the native newspaper Bild. This follows each a significant surge in defence spending by the nation, and a depletion of its stockpiles of the Leopard 2A6 tanks that presently kind the spine of its fleet as a consequence of donations to the Ukrainian Army. Analysts cited by Bild claimed that a big firm of recent tanks with enough cowl from anti-aircraft techniques might be unstoppable, even in opposition to “a simultaneous assault of 100 drones,” addressing issues that the Leopard 2 had confirmed extremely susceptible within the Ukrainian theatre. Talking to the paper, former senior NATO official Stefanie Babst noticed that “with out efficient air defence techniques, we are able to do virtually nothing in opposition to drone and missile assaults,” stressing that “Germany urgently wants to enhance this technique” to make sure tanks had been survivable.
The German Army on Might 22 inaugurated the forty fifth Armoured Brigade stationed in Vilnius, Lithuania, which is predicted to supply an elite ahead deployed mechanised warfare functionality on the territory of the previous USSR. Positioned simply 150 kilometres from the Belarusian capital Minsk, and fewer than 800 kilometres from Moscow, this beforehand unthinkable ahead deployment displays a part of a broader development of Germany taking part in a a lot bigger function inside NATO not solely in Jap Europe, but in addition within the Center East and the Pacific. The 108 Leopard 2A8 tanks supposed to equip the brigade had been ordered in July 2024 underneath a 2.93 billion euro ($3.14 billion) contract, and shall be delivered between 2027 and 2030. The brand new Leopard 2 variant advantages from plenty of enhancements over the Leopard 2A6, primarily higher situational consciousness and integration of the Trophy energetic safety system. The enhancements will not be anticipated to be revolutionary, nevertheless, significantly in mild of the Trophy system’s personal not too long ago demonstrated limitations. Procurement of the tanks follows the Russian Army’s procurement of modernised T-72 and T-90 tanks with their very own energetic safety techniques starting in late 2024.
The Leopard 2’s efficiency has raised critical questions concerning its capabilities, and by January 2024 nearly all of the tanks operated by the Ukrainian Army had been rendered inoperable in fight, with over one quarter completely destroyed and the rest broken past the Army’s potential to restore them. This led the journal of the US’ most influential international coverage suppose tank the Council on Overseas Relations to focus on that the tanks had confirmed to be “hardly invulnerable superweapons,” with their performances remaining nicely beneath Western expectations.
The Leopard 2’s efficiency had beforehand left a lot to be desired when deployed by the Turkish Army in 2016 in Syria’s Aleppo governate. The tanks confronted vital losses in fight to calmly armed Islamic State forces, with British media reporting that the tank confirmed “quite a few faults uncovered in deadly style.” Stars and Stripes assessed that the German tank’s popularity “has taken a pounding in battles with Islamic State militants,” with the Nationwide Curiosity describing a efficiency that “shockingly illustrated” that they had been “not so good armour in any case.” They had been “confirmed embarrassingly susceptible in fight” regardless of not going through nicely armed adversaries. Turkish navy leaders described their Leopard II models’ early engagements with IS as “trauma.” The Turkish Army had comparable experiences working the automobiles in opposition to Kurdish militias.
