Battle tanks for the Ukraine: Leopards ready to pounce

Leopards on the run

By JENS GIESEL, OLIVER SCHLOMER and STEPHEN-JOHN SWIERCZYNA

January 28, 2023 · 14 Leopard tanks of the modern Type 2A6 Germany delivers to Ukraine.

What makes the Leopard 2 different from other western main battle tanks?

And how does it fare compared to the Russian station wagons?

An overview in graphics.

Well, yes.

Germany, the US and other Western allies have given up their opposition to the delivery of main battle tanks to Ukraine.

The tanks should now be shipped as quickly as possible.

31 M1 Abrams tanks come from the USA;

Great Britain provides 14 Challenger tanks.

The core of the two tank battalions that are to be made available for Kyiv, however, is the Leopard 2 series from German production.

The Ukrainians' desire for exactly this battle tank is no coincidence.

In the performance criteria of firepower, mobility and protection, the Leopard 2 series is considered by military experts to be the world leader. 

The development of the all-rounder among battle tanks, piloted by four crew members, began in the late 1960s.

It was built in series from 1978.

The Bundeswehr received its first example in 1979. In the meantime, 3,500 pieces from different model series have been delivered to the armed forces of 18 different nations.

This is one of the main reasons that predestine the leopard for delivery to Ukraine - it is in stock in numerous European countries.

Thus, ammunition and spare parts are comparatively easily available. 

The fourth evolution of the Leopard 2, the 2A4, outperformed many western and eastern main battle tanks in the mid-1980s.

Even then, a 1100 kW engine block drove the torsion bar drive of the 2A4 and accelerated the 55-ton tank to a maximum speed of around 70 kilometers per hour.

A 120 mm smoothbore gun, which was new at the time, ensured high accuracy even while driving.

However, compared to more recent models, the 2A4 has poorer protection against modern anti-tank weapons or large caliber ammunition.

Despite this, many NATO members still rely on the oldest model series of the Leopard 2 today. Most are in service in Greece, Spain and Turkey.

The Polish armed forces also still have the 2A4 in their ranks.

In the halls of the manufacturer consortium Kraus-Maffei Wegmann / Rheinmetall there are still 22 Leopard 2A4, which are now to be made combat-ready again.

But that will last at least until next year.

"Some of these tanks stood there for ten years with the hatch open, they were moldy on the inside," Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger recently told Stern magazine. 

A company of the type 2A6 is now being sent to the Ukraine from Bundeswehr stocks.

With a good 203 tanks, the 2A6 represents almost two-thirds of the entire tank fleet of the Bundeswehr.

The 2A6 was further developed with the experience from the Balkan conflict.

The protection of the vehicle crew against booby traps has been optimized.

The 2A6's 120mm smoothbore gun has been lengthened to fire more powerful ammunition.

The performance of the engine block corresponds to that of the older 2A4.

The Bundeswehr still maintains 19 examples of the intermediate type 2A5, which rolled off the assembly line between 1995 and 2002, for training purposes.

The 2A5 already had armored roof and nose protection panels mounted on the chassis.

Also, the ability to engage targets has been increased with the help of a digital fire control computer.

The Bundeswehr still has just over 100 of the current 2A7 series in its ranks.

44 of them are part of Tank Battalion 393, which has been the lead unit of the NATO intervention force VJTF (Very High Readiness Joint Task Force) since the beginning of 2023.

This highly mobile intervention force is intended to act as the spearhead of the defense alliance and be deployable to any location in NATO alliance territory within a few days.

The 120mm smoothbore gun of the 2A7 has been further optimized to fire modern, long-range ammunition.

With this ammunition, the 2A7 can reach a maximum combat distance of up to 5,000 meters.

A remote-controlled weapon station was installed in the turret, which can be equipped with a wide variety of weapons and operated from inside the vehicle.

What sets the Leopard apart from its Russian competitors? 

The Leopard 2 was conceived in the context of the Cold War, with the primary aim of taking on formations of Soviet T-64s, T-72s and T-80s.

There are several reasons why the Leopard is considered superior to these Russian tanks.

One of them is greater firepower.

The 120mm smoothbore gun developed by Rheinmetall has greater penetration and range than most Russian tank guns. 

The cannon is equipped with an advanced fire control system that allows for high accuracy.

The system has a variety of sensors, such as a laser range finder, as well as wind and movement sensors.

This allows the gunner to acquire targets faster and more accurately, and to automatically aim the gun at the target even when driving off-road.

In a confrontation with an enemy tank, this increases the chance of the decisive first hit.

The cannon is used not only on the German Leopard 2, but also on the American M1 Abrams. 

In the first Gulf War, the cannon already demonstrated its superior range compared to Soviet-made tanks.

During the Battle of Kuwait, American forces destroyed 186 Iraqi tanks (mostly T-72M) and 127 armored vehicles.

Only four Abrams tanks were hit by direct fire. 

Another advantage of the Leopard 2 is its higher protection level.

In particular, the newer versions (from 2A5) have reactive armor that offers better protection against missiles and projectiles.

Even in the event of a critical hit, the Leopard tank crew has a significantly higher chance of surviving than Russian tank crews.

This is mainly due to the storage of the ammunition.

On Leopard 2 and other Western tank models, this is stored in a separate area at the rear of the turret.

On the other hand, on the T-72 tank, which is widespread on the Russian and Ukrainian sides, the ammunition is located in a carousel-type automatic loader just under the main turret with crew members. 

This arrangement has already turned out to be a sensitive weak point in the course of the war.

If an enemy projectile penetrates the comparatively thin side or roof armor, the stored ammunition can explode and thus kill the entire crew.

In many cases, the force of the ammunition explosion even ripped the entire turret out of its storage and hurled it several meters through the air.  

Another advantage of an offensive weapon like the Leopard may seem surprising at first - the high reverse speed of up to 30 kilometers per hour.

For comparison: most Russian models only have a reverse speed of 4 km/h.

However, this difference can make a decisive difference, especially in an urban environment.

Due to the high reversing speed, the Leopard is able to retreat to a protected position very quickly after a shot.

Is the leopard a game changer? 

Will Western tanks turn the tide of the war decisively in Ukraine's favour?

Many military experts tend to answer this question in the negative, despite the undisputed quality advantages.

For example, Colonel Markus Reisner of the General Staff of the Austrian Armed Forces pointed out in a recent interview that Russia still has enormous stocks of stored tanks from Soviet times.

According to his estimates, from the stocks (10,000-11,000) the Russian army could recover at least 2000 tanks. 

On the other hand, the total number of tanks promised from the West is still in the low three-digit range.

The western models are characterized by better quality.

However, it has always been part of Russian military doctrine to make up for the lack of quality with quantity - following the quote (wrongly) attributed to Stalin that "quantity is a quality in itself". 

Still, NATO officials believe the main battle tanks will once again enable Ukraine to make breakthroughs in the deadlocked trench warfare.

Not immediately, but in early summer, when the

, the mud season, ends.

Only when the ground has thawed and dried can major field operations be carried out again with 60-ton battle tanks.

In this respect, the announced delivery of tanks by the Bundeswehr, which Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said should take place by "the end of March", will not be delivered in good time.