Ukraine bolsters defenses with German Leopard tanks
"Fast, powerful, and ruthless against the enemy." This is how the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence presented the German Leopard tanks on its profile on the X service.
Many tanks arrived in Ukraine as part of Western support, but by far, the largest portion consisted of German Leopards. Although the latest Leopard 2A6 tanks are a rare sight on the front lines, over 150 units of the Leopard 2A4 and Leopard 1A5 have already been delivered to the defending army.
Leopard tanks in service of Ukraine
The Leopard 2A4 was developed in the 1980s. It is equipped with a 1500-horsepower engine, allowing the crew to reach speeds of about 70 km/h. Importantly, the Leopard 2A4 handles well not only on roads, as earlier reports from Ukrainians indicated that the tank also allows for smooth movement even in the most challenging terrain and mud.
The armaments of this design include the Rheinmetall L/44 smoothbore gun of 120 mm caliber, 7.62 mm machine guns, and a smoke grenade launcher. An important feature of the Leopard 2A4 is the EMES 15 fire control system with thermal imaging, providing significantly better situational awareness than Soviet-era tanks without thermal imaging.
The Leopard 1A5, on the other hand, is a tank from the 1990s, the last series modernization of the Leopard 1 tank, introducing the EMES 18 fire control system derived from the Leopard 2 solution.
In this case, the crew has access to a 105 mm caliber gun, as well as an 830-horsepower engine, allowing the tank to accelerate to about 65 km/h on roads and about 40 km/h in terrain. The downside of the Leopard 1A5 is its very weak armour by today's standards. Ukrainians are trying to improve this issue by installing reactive armour blocks and anti-drone meshes.
German tanks a significant reinforcement for Ukrainians
Although these are not the latest generation of tanks, at the outbreak of the war, Ukrainians mostly had even older, Soviet-era designs. In such a situation, the Leopard 2A4 and Leopard 1A5 proved to be a considerable reinforcement. Ukrainian soldiers have repeatedly emphasized that the German machines perform well on the front lines and allow for effective opposition against the Russian army, often including tanks older than the German Leopards.
