Ukraine's tactical gamble: Leopard 1A5's surprising role in Donetsk
The Ukrainians fiercely defend themselves in the Donetsk region despite a shortage of personnel and the significant numerical advantage of the Russians. One of the means of defence is risky armoured charges against groups of Russians. We explain the background of this tactic, used even by seemingly "paper" tanks like the Leopard 1A5.
The Ukrainians, especially in the Donetsk region, face enormous problems with a shortage of soldiers. Many new units with low morale are deployed there, which, combined with frequently changed command, causes chaos. It occurs that old veteran units have to rescue the new units that are struggling.
Due to the low saturation of Russian infantry with handheld anti-tank weapons, drone-coordinated Ukrainian tank charges are effective. Moreover, the tanks are often equipped with jammers that mitigate the effectiveness of conventional FPV drones (with the exception of fibre-optic models), but the assault of the Leopard 1A5 codenamed "Marwell" from the 5th Heavy Mechanized Brigade is surprising.
Leopard 1A5 - old armoured sniper with illusory armour
The Leopard 1A5 tanks delivered to Ukraine are a modernisation from the 1990s of a design whose roots trace back to the 1960s. However, a huge advantage of this modification is the presence of the EMES 18 fire control system, which is an evolution of the EMES 15 system used in the first models of the Leopard 2.
This system includes a thermal imaging sight for the gunner and a ballistic computer, which significantly improve the ability to quickly detect targets and the accuracy of conducted fire. It also allows for easier detection and identification of targets even at a distance of around 5 kilometres.
This allows for effective utilisation of the 105 mm rifled gun's capabilities, which, when loaded with modern anti-tank ammunition, poses a threat to most currently seen Russian tanks. Meanwhile, high-explosive or canister ammunition is effective against light fortifications and infantry.
However, it must be emphasised that the protection offered by the Leopard 1 tank is illusory and mainly protects the crew from artillery shrapnel and fire from automatic guns. It is only up to about 8 centimetres of armoured steel reinforced with Lexan (a polycarbonate variant) panels, which can be compared to paper by armour standards. Over time, Ukrainians have added Contact-1 and/or "Knife" reactive armour blocks to these tanks, which can increase resistance to popular PG-7VL grenades from RPG-7 grenade launchers often mounted on FPV drones.
Nevertheless, unlike the T-72 or T-64, from which it is significantly less armoured, the Leopard 1A5 is not an optimal machine for such assaults. However, it is possible that in the area, it was the only available machine to assist, for example, encircled Ukrainian infantry, as was the case with the recent charge of the T-64 tank.
