German Leopard 2 battle tank during NATO exercises in Lithuania last October.
Photos Sean Gallup/Getty
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Photos Sean Gallup/Getty
German Leopard 2 battle tank during NATO exercises in Lithuania last October.
Photos Sean Gallup/Getty
Even if the US and its NATO allies announced another military aid package to Ukraine, with a full range of military vehicles, air defense systems, missiles and missiles, a notable shortcoming is a device that can dominate the recent negotiations: tank.
For months, Ukrainian authorities have pressed the West to supply hundreds of modern battle tanks like those from the United States and Germany.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at this week’s meeting of defense officials in Ramstein, Germany: “I could thank you a hundred times, and that would be completely fair and just to all those who what we did”.
“But hundreds of ‘thank yous’ are not hundreds of tanks,” he said.
Recent debate has focused on the Leopard 2, a German-made battle tank operated by about 20 countries worldwide, including more than a dozen NATO members.
Germany has come under increasing pressure to supply some to Ukraine – or to allow other countries, like Poland, to ship their products.
So far, that has not happened. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Friday: “Today we cannot say when a decision will be made and how it will be.
What is Leopard 2?
Military weapons experts say the German-made Leopard 2 is one of the most famous battle tanks in the world, probably second only to the US-made M1 Abrams tank.
Leopard 2 was originally designed in the 1970s for the West German army in response to Soviet threats during the Cold War. They are built to move quickly over a variety of terrain and confront enemy armor – much like the tanks Russia has used on land in Ukraine since the first days of the invasion last year.
Each tank boasts a 44- or 55-caliber 120 mm main gun and a 1,500-horsepower engine that allows it to travel as fast as 44 mph. According to Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, a German defense company that manufactures tanks. About 60 tons of armor protected their crew from returning fire.
Among the countries operating Leopard 2 is Poland, which has committed to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine but must wait for German approval to do so.
Why are tanks important to the Ukraine war effort?
Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February last year, tanks have become prominent on the battlefield.
For its part, Ukraine relies heavily on T-72 tanks from the Soviet era. The West has already supplied other armored vehicles and has pledged to send more, including the Bradley fighting vehicle and the Stryker combat vehicle from the US, and a newly announced shipment of Challenger 2 tanks from the UK.
But none represent the combination of accuracy, firepower and mobility of modern German-made battle tanks. Ukrainian officials have said that such tanks could be the key to Ukraine’s quick victory — maybe even this year.
It is a brighter picture than the one painted by Western military experts.
“There’s no silver bullet out there. There’s nothing that can completely change the whole conflict,” said retired US Army Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.
However, Western tanks could play a role this spring, when both Russia and Ukraine are expected to launch new efforts in the conflict, he said.
Last month, the US announced that It will train large units of Ukrainian soldiers in weapon coordination tacticsin which large-scale military operations use different weapons together, including aircraft, artillery, and armor (such as tanks).
Raphael Cohen, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, said: “Our ability to train the Ukrainians to do these very complex maneuvers is really key for them to build their combat capability. as they step up their attack.” in an interview with NPR earlier this month.
How can Ukraine deploy Western tanks?
Russia’s biggest victory in the war to date was control of Ukrainian territory between the Donbas and Crimea. Russia has controlled Crimea since its illegal annexation in 2014, but before last year’s invasion, Crimea’s only connection to Russia was a long road and railway bridge. In seizing Mariupol and the land around it, Russian forces essentially established a land bridge from Russia and the Donbas region of Ukraine to Crimea.
Hodges, a retired lieutenant general, said that territory could be the basis for a new Ukrainian counterattack. “Ukrainians know that the decisive terrain is Crimea,” he said.
With tanks from the West, Ukraine could create an armored brigade that would serve as “the spearhead of a force that could penetrate the Russian defenses down to Mariupol,” Hodges said. “The aim is to further isolate Crimea from everything else.”
More generally, tanks can allow infantry to use them more effectively, he said. In open terrain, tanks can lead, infantry follows safely. In urban areas or forests, infantry can move first, prevent enemies from hiding, and attack with concealed anti-tank weapons.
What holds?
Germany has repeatedly delayed the decision on Leopard 2s. Because it manufactures tanks, the approval of those allies, like Poland, is needed to re-export them elsewhere.
Ukraine’s leaders had hoped for an announcement on Friday, but their wait will continue after German officials refused to make a decision at the Ramstein meeting.
On Friday, Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister, said that officials were still assessing the pros and cons of sending tanks. “I’m very sure there will be a decision shortly,” he added.
The US is also reluctant to send in the M1 Abrams tank, which defense officials say is as impractical for the Ukrainian battlefield as the Leopard 2, which is lighter than newer Abrams variants and easier to maintain.
“The maintenance and high costs required to maintain an Abrams – it makes no sense to offer that to the Ukrainians at this time,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh.
Another downside to the Abrams is that it’s less fuel-efficient than the Leopard 2, which is designed to use diesel fuel – and diesel is more readily available in Ukraine’s wartime supply chain.
Additional reporting by NPR’s Greg Myre.
