A German Leopard 2 battle tank pictured throughout a NATO coaching train in Lithuania final October.
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Sean Gallup/Getty Images
A German Leopard 2 battle tank pictured throughout a NATO coaching train in Lithuania final October.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Even because the U.S. and its NATO allies have announced another package of military aid to Ukraine, stuffed with army automobiles, air protection methods, rockets and missiles, a notable omission is the one piece of apparatus that has come to dominate recent talks: tanks.
For months, Ukrainian officers have pressed the West for a whole bunch of contemporary battle tanks like these made by the U.S. and Germany.
“I can thank you hundreds of times, and it will be absolutely just and fair, given all that we have already done,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned at this week’s assembly of protection officers in Ramstein, Germany.
“But hundreds of ‘thank you’ are not hundreds of tanks,” he mentioned.
Recent debate has centered on the Leopard 2, a German-made battle tank operated by about 20 international locations worldwide, together with greater than a dozen NATO members.
Germany has come below rising stress to supply some to Ukraine — or to permit different international locations, like Poland, to ship theirs.
So far, that hasn’t occurred. “We cannot say today when a decision will come and what it will look like,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius mentioned Friday.
What is the Leopard 2?
The German-made Leopard 2 is among the most well-reputed battle tanks on the planet, maybe second solely to the U.S.-made M1 Abrams tank, army arms specialists mentioned.
The Leopard 2 was initially designed within the Seventies for the West German military in response to Soviet threats in the course of the Cold War. They are constructed to maneuver shortly over quite a lot of terrain and confront enemy armor — just like the tanks Russia has been utilizing on the bottom in Ukraine for the reason that first days of its invasion final yr.
Each tank boasts a 44- or 55-caliber 120-mm foremost gun and a 1,500-horsepower engine that enables it to maneuver as quick as 44 mph, according to Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, the German protection firm that manufactures the tank. Some 60 tons of armor shield their crews from return fireplace.
Among the international locations that function the Leopard 2 is Poland, which has pledged to ship 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine however should await Germany’s approval to take action.
Why are tanks vital to Ukraine’s struggle effort?
Since Russia started its invasion of Ukraine final February, tanks have been distinguished on the battlefield.
For its half, Ukraine has principally relied on Soviet-era T-72 tanks. The West has already equipped different armored automobiles and pledged to ship nonetheless extra, together with Bradley preventing automobiles and Stryker fight automobiles from the U.S., and a newly introduced cargo of Challenger 2 tanks from the U.Okay.
But none represents the mix of accuracy, firepower and mobility of the trendy battle tanks made by Germany and the U.S. Ukrainian officers have mentioned that such tanks might be the important thing to a speedy Ukrainian victory — perhaps even this year.
That’s a rosier image than the one painted by Western army specialists.
“There is no silver bullet out there. There is no one thing that’s just going to completely change the whole conflict,” mentioned retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges.
Still, Western tanks may play a job this spring, when each Russia and Ukraine are extensively anticipated to launch renewed efforts within the battle, he mentioned.
Last month, the U.S. introduced that it would train large units of Ukrainian soldiers in combined arms tactics, during which large-scale army operations use completely different sorts of weaponry collectively, together with plane, artillery and armor (like tanks).
“The ability for us to train the Ukrainians to conduct these very complex maneuvers is really key for them building combat capability as they push forward with their offensive,” mentioned Raphael Cohen, a senior political scientist on the RAND Corporation, in an interview with NPR earlier this month.
How would possibly Ukraine deploy Western tanks?
Russia’s main victory of the struggle to date has been its management of Ukrainian territory between the Donbas and Crimea. Russia has managed Crimea since illegally annexing it in 2014, however earlier than the invasion final yr, Crimea’s solely connection to Russia was a long road and rail bridge. In seizing Mariupol and the land round it, Russian forces basically established a land bridge from Russia and the Donbas area of Ukraine to Crimea.
That territory might be the setting of a brand new Ukrainian counteroffensive, mentioned Hodges, the retired lieutenant normal. “The Ukrainians know that the decisive terrain is Crimea,” he mentioned.
With tanks from the West, Ukraine may create an armored brigade that might function “the spearhead of a force that could break through those Russian defenses down towards Mariupol,” Hodges mentioned. “The purpose is to continue the isolation of Crimea from everything else.”
More usually, he mentioned, tanks can permit for more practical use of infantry. In open terrain, tanks can lead, permitting infantry to observe safely. In city or wooded areas, infantry can transfer in first, stopping the enemy from hiding and putting with hid anti-tank weaponry.
What’s the holdup?
Germany has frequently delayed a choice concerning the Leopard 2s. Because it makes the tanks, its approval is required for these allies, like Poland, to re-export them elsewhere.
Ukraine’s leaders had hoped for an announcement Friday, however their wait will proceed after German officers declined to decide on the Ramstein assembly.
On Friday, Pistorius, the German protection minister, mentioned that officers had been nonetheless evaluating the professionals and cons of sending the tanks. “I am very sure there will be a decision in the short term,” he added.
The U.S. has additionally been reluctant to ship M1 Abrams tanks, which protection officers argue usually are not as sensible for the Ukrainian battleground because the Leopard 2s, that are lighter than newer variants of the Abrams and are extra simply maintained.
“The maintenance and the high cost that it would take to maintain an Abrams — it just doesn’t make sense to provide that to the Ukrainians at this moment,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh mentioned at a Thursday briefing.
Another downside with the Abrams is much less gas environment friendly than the Leopard 2, which is designed to make use of diesel gas — and diesel is extra available in Ukraine’s wartime provide chains.
Additional reporting by NPR’s Greg Myre.
