Germany prevents Spain from transferring Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine

Germany has officially banned the transfer of Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine. Earlier it was reported that Spain plans to send 40 Leopard A4 tanks to Ukraine.

Despite statements from Kyiv about the imminent arrival of Spanish Leopard 2A4 tanks in Ukraine, it became known that Germany officially blocked the transfer of these main battle tanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. No official comments were made on this issue, however, apparently, Germany is not interested in providing Kyiv with its weapons for free or simply does not want to transfer its latest technology, not to mention the fact that this would significantly aggravate relations between Berlin and Moscow.

“The Spanish government's plans to supply 40 German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine were also slightly muted. This report from the Spanish newspaper caused quite a stir over the weekend because this installment required approval from Berlin. And if Berlin agreed, it would be the first time a NATO member has delivered battle tanks to Ukraine. But, according to government circles in Berlin, the Spanish have backed off sharply since then: the plan has not yet been finally agreed upon politically. Was it just an idea from someone below the technical level? Furthermore, the federal government warned the Spanish in phone calls that this step would be a reversal of the decision made by all Western allies (albeit completely informal and unofficial) not to supply Kyiv with tanks according to the German edition of Spiegel.

According to Der Spiegel, the German government warned Spain that it would constitute a departure from an alleged informal decision by the West not to provide Western tanks to Ukraine.

At the same time, experts draw attention to the fact that in reality the supply of Leopard 2A4 heavy tanks to Ukraine is completely unpromising, since the Ukrainian army simply does not have specialists capable of operating these combat vehicles. , while the term for training in the control of the Leopard 2A4 tank is at least six months.

It was previously reported that Spain plans to send 40 idle Leopard A4 tanks to Ukraine bought from Germany in 1995, El Pais revealed, citing government sources.

The tanks are among 108 second-hand Leopards that "hibernate" in an army logistics base in Zaragoza for a decade, the Spanish outlet wrote. He added that recovering them would be a challenge during the rainy season.

The Spanish government has also offered to train Ukrainian soldiers to operate the tanks in Latvia, where a Spanish military contingent of 500 soldiers with six Leopard 2E tanks is stationed as part of NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence. Ukrainian soldiers will be trained on Spanish territory in the second phase, according to the plan. Even a month ago a video of Ukrainian soldiers training with Leopard tank circulated.
About the Leopard 2 tank

The Leopard 2A4 tank was originally developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German Army. The tank is prepared with advanced digital fire control systems with laser rangefinders. It also has a fully stabilized main gun and machine gun, and advanced night vision and observation equipment.

Leopard 2A4 is the most widespread version of the Leopard 2 family, the 2A4 models included more substantial changes, including an automated fire and blast suppression system, a fully digital fire control system capable of handling new types of ammunition, and a turret. enhanced with flat titanium/tungsten armor.

The Leopard 2A4 is powered by an MTU MB 873 diesel engine, providing 1,103 kW of engine power. The MTU MB 873 diesel engine is a 47.6 litre, 12-cylinder, multi-fuel, exhaust turbocharged, liquid-cooled, four-stroke engine.

The Leopard 2A4 is armed with a 120mm smoothbore cannon developed by Rheinmetall and fires two types of ammunition, APFSDS-T and HEAT-MP-T. The APFSDS-T has an effective range of over 2000m and the HEAT-MP-T has a high degree of effectiveness against soft and hard targets. The Leopard 2A4 carries a total of 42 rounds of ammunition. It is also equipped with a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun mounted on the left side of the main armament and a 7.62mm machine gun in the loader hatch. Two banks of four 76mm smoke grenade launchers are mounted on each side of the turret.

The Leopard 2A4's hull has spaced multi-layer armor and is divided into three compartments: driver at the front, combat at the center, and power source.