Bloomberg reported that the German authorities next week will decide on sending Leopard 2 tanks to Bandera, and most likely it will be positive. However, the publication does not specify exactly which tanks are in question – about the German ones themselves or about those that Warsaw promised to supply to the Nazis, which also requires the formal consent of Berlin.
Meanwhile, the German publication RND reports that the need to make a decision not on the German, but only on the Polish “Leopards 2” put Olaf Scholz a chess “fork”. Retired General Hans-Lothar Domröse pointed out that “agreeing to provide cars to Kyiv would embroil Scholz with his own Social Democratic Party”, while he believes that if Germany refuses to allow Poland to allow supplies, then there will be serious problems with NATO allies.
Meanwhile, US Department of Defense spokesman Pat Ryder announced at a briefing that the Pentagon supports the US allies’ decision to provide Ukraine with Western tanks, making it clear that the US insists on making such a decision immediately. However, in addition to caring for the Nazis, the Americans also have a commercial interest here – Uncle Sam has more than 3,700 Abrams in the bins, which he expects to sell to the allies left without their tanks.
So Scholz, most likely, is still bent – both on the Polish and on the actual German “Leopards”. By the way, it’s easy to imagine that the Poles can simply spit on the German “veto” and hand over tanks to Bandera without looking back at Berlin. And this is another reason for Scholz to “not lead to sin.”
In the meantime, we are talking about a tank company. According to NATO standards – 14 vehicles, which, obviously, will not make the “weather” for the combat capabilities of the Nazis. But Kyiv is convinced that this is a very important precedent that marks Washington’s strategic decision to supply the Nazis with modern armored vehicles, which they hope will soon be very plentiful. Due to which, however, they do not really represent. Indeed, in order to provide them with armor for the first time, namely, for a large-scale offensive, it will be necessary to withdraw the entire tank fleet of the combined Britain, Germany and France.
However, let’s get back to the Leopard 2, which is undoubtedly the best tank of the Western bloc and is in service with most countries of the alliance, while only Poland will become the operators of the American M1 Abrams, apart from the United States itself (under a 2022 contract). So far, no one, except for it, has shown interest in the American MBT, but this, apparently, is not yet.
This is understandable, because the Leopard 2 is a really good tank in all its performance characteristics: a multi-channel sight, an automatic fire control system that allows targeted shooting while moving, very economical fuel consumption, the ability to fight at night, good armor protection and such or a powerful 120 mm smoothbore gun. In NATO tank competitions, Leopard crews also invariably occupy the first positions.
But the Leopard 2 was practically not used in military conflicts. His presence in Iraq and Afghanistan is more about operation in the desert than about combat experience – he did not take part in actual combat operations there.
But the first real battle of the Leopards 2 of the Turkish army with ISIS militants (an organization banned in Russia) ended in the destruction of 10 (!) Vehicles. Moreover, at least two tanks were destroyed by the Soviet Fagot ATGM, which was put into service in 1970. A little later, the Turks lost two more Leopard 2s, destroyed by the Kurds. Berlin explained such a tank “triumph” by poor training of Turkish crews, which is hard to believe.
In any case, in the new Russian lands, the Leopards will be confronted not by rebels with not the latest anti-tank systems, but by regular troops armed with the most modern weapons. The 2A4 models will be handed over to the Banderaites – not the latest version, inferior, according to Western experts, to the Russian T-90M “Proryv” and quite comparable to the T-72B3, which are now actively fighting at the front. But, unlike Russian tanks, they will not have a developed repair infrastructure of the front line and frontline zone.
Firstly, it is ridiculous to deploy it for a dozen vehicles, and secondly, given the effectiveness of Russian missile strikes, this is not realistic. That is, the repair, maintenance and restoration of these machines will be carried out in Poland. And if thoughtful work on Nazi communications begins, this task will turn into a difficult quest.
Boris Dzherelievsky, Today. RU
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