kyiv’s insistence finally paid off:German Chancellor Olaf Scholz finally gave the green light on Wednesday to the delivery of Leopard heavy tanks. The machines will be supplied by Poland and other European countries which wished to deliver them to Ukraine, but also by Germany directly.
It will mainly be Leopard 2A4s, which are a bit old, but Berlin also created a surprise by announcing the supply of 14 copies of the more recent and technologically advanced 2A6 version, directly taken from the German army’s stock.
Shortly following, the United States in turn announced the delivery of around thirty Abrams tanks to kyiv. But itIt’s not going to be done in 30 days”, according to General Robert B. Abrams, former soldier and son of General Creighton Abrams who gave his name to the flagship device of the American army.
Germany expects to deliver the promised Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine “at the end of March, beginning of April”, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. The training is due to start in February.
Britain’s Challenger 2s and America’s Abrams aren’t expected to arrive much sooner. Delays which are explained by the requirements in terms of training, maintenance, but also logistics.
Will it be easy to transport them to Ukraine?
The transport of these materials promises to be very complex. For Caesar cannons, for example, you can use the road route. It’s easier to hide the shipments, even if the Russian army, which will not bomb a NATO country, monitors the Ukrainian borders. The problem with heavy tanks… is that they weigh 60 tons! The ideal transport is therefore the railway. But it’s more vulnerable. It is a real logistical challenge to transfer this equipment from Germany or Poland to Ukrainian territory.
Some devices may come from much further away, from Spain for example…
In this case, you always need the agreement of each of the countries crossed for the transport of such military equipment. For the same reason that Poland needed the agreement of the Germans before delivering its German tanks to kyiv: the Arms Trade Treaty, ratified by these countries, specifies that for reshipment, the change of end user of these armaments, the agreement of the original exporting country is necessary. This is why Germany’s role was central, because the Leopard is the most widespread tank on European soil.
These are complex devices, very different from Ukrainian equipment: how will the training go?
The Ukrainian army is used to Soviet equipment, its own, but also that “recovered” from the Russian army. About a third of Russian casualties are in the hands of the Ukrainian army. There, she will receive very different material.
And the more technologically advanced equipment you have, the more training you need. In these tanks, there are four people per device, each of them must be trained. For action, but not only: it is necessary to train in support, communication, ammunition, even planning fuel supplies. For each device, there will be specificities that make the MCO, the “maintenance in operational condition”, complex.
I mean maintenance?
Yes. This means that you must also have spare parts available and in sufficient number. This is what makes it more complex to send material that is no longer produced at present. Like the French Leclerc tanks, for example.
They’re not the same ammunition either.
No, there is no interoperability at all! Even if we have guns of the same size, if the ammunition is not interoperable, it does not fit. The tank is not everything, you also have to think regarding the ammunition sent. You have to agree at all levels. It requires collegiality, and that explains why we needed such a meeting at Ramstein.
Concretely, where and how long will the Ukrainians be trained?
A priori, their training will be done on the same model as for the Caesar guns: the Ukrainians had come to Denmark. Usually, the soldiers are trained on the soil of the training countries. For these materials, being careful, it takes several weeks. You have to imagine that the decisions taken today are not aimed at changing the situation tomorrow in Ukraine, but rather at being ready when Moscow launches a major offensive.
Is that why Ukraine is now asking for combat planes?
They need everything they can get. But with planes, we would change dimension: as much with heavy tanks, you can say that you will remain within the framework of self-defence, as much with planes… you can strike Russian territory in depth. And it is also much more expensive equipment, and even more complex in terms of training…