The Croatian Defence Ministry has finalised the the procurement of 44 Leopard 2A8 essential battle tanks from Germany, with a ceremony marking the event attended by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The acquisition will enable the Croatian Army to section its Soviet-designed T-54/55 tanks out of service, which date again to the Forties, and discipline a NATO-standard automobile interoperable with its allies’ forces. The Leopard 2A8 is the most recent variant of a design that first entered service in 1979, with the primary of the brand new automobiles unveiled in November after having been constructed to fulfill orders from the Norwegian Army. Though the Leopard 2 has typically been criticised as being much less succesful than the opposite two NATO-standard tanks at present in manufacturing, the American M1A2 Abrams and South Korean K2, efficient lobbying from Germany and the advantages of commonality with neighbouring European states have led international locations throughout the continent to obtain the automobiles.
In comparison with the Leopard 2A6 variant, which has been fight examined extensively by the Ukrainian Army, the Leopard 2A8 boasts better safety as a result of integration of the Israeli Trophy lively safety system. It additionally integrates a brand new 20 kW auxiliary energy unit, and a brand new fight administration and data system, amongst different conservative upgrades. The Leopard 2’s viability for contemporary warfare has been extensively questioned, as has these of different very massive Western essential battle tanks with related design philosophies such because the British Challenger 2, as their emphasis on heavy armour safety is taken into account removed from optimum in an period of drone warfare. The Leopard 2A6 has taken very excessive losses in fight within the Ukrainian theatre in opposition to Russian forces, whereas a number of of the tanks have been captured and analysed intimately at Russian services.
In July 2025 it was reported that the German Defence Ministry was contemplating plans to obtain a number of hundred Leopard 2A8 tanks, following the depletion of the Army’s fleet of Leopard 2A6 tanks because of donations to the Ukrainian Army. The German Army on Might 22 inaugurated the forty fifth Armoured Brigade stationed in Vilnius, Lithuania, simply 150 kilometres from the Belarusian capital Minsk, and fewer than 800 kilometres from Moscow, which is meant to deploy 108 Leopard 2A8 tanks. These had been ordered in July 2024 underneath a 2.93 billion Euro ($3.14 billion) contract. A serious improve in German orders, mixed with sizeable orders from purchasers throughout Europe together with Croatia, might enable for a major enlargement of manufacturing which can in flip drive down prices. The Leopard 2’s capabilities are nonetheless anticipated to fall additional behind the innovative, with China having set a brand new commonplace with the disclosing of the revolutionary Sort 100 tank in September 2025, whereas the USA is working to radically redesign the Abrams tank in the same path underneath the M1E3 program.
