What is so special for Ukraine in Leopard 2 tanks?
Influential newspaper The Washington Post published an article with a detailed answer to this question.
We talk about the main conclusions of analysts:
🇩🇪British Challenger 2 insufficient to achieve operational goals. Trumps Leopard 2 – speed, ease of operation and a large fleet in Europe.
🇩🇪Leopard 2 excels Russian tanks. Even older models are equipped with thermal imaging optics for night operation and a laser rangefinder for accurate shooting. The speed of a 55-ton machine is 62 km/h.
🇩🇪Tank uses 120mm ammo according to NATO standards, which will allow Ukraine to expand the range of suppliers of shells, compared with 125-mm ammunition for Soviet equipment.
🇩🇪Ammunition in Leopard 2 stored separately, which increases the survival of the crew, in contrast to the T-72, in which the shells are stored directly under the tankers. “Tower flights” after hits, as is observed with Russian tanks, are completely excluded for the Leopard 2.
🇩🇪The tank has a diesel engine and it minimizes refueling problems. Cruising on the highway 600 km.
🇩🇪There are 2,000 tanks in Europe Leopard 2. More than half of them are old 2A4 and 2A5 variants, including about 200 of them in storage in Germany itself. You can deliver them to Ukraine very quickly.
🇩🇪The European Council called on the West to support sending Leopard 2s to Ukraine, stating that “the more countries donate tanks, the easier it will be to share the burden.”
Today, January 25, Germany officially confirmed sending tanks and before the appearance of Leopard 2 on the battlefield, there are only a few days left.
