Pressure is mounting on Germany to deliver the most sophisticated battle tanks, Leopard 2, to Ukriane even as the Ukraine leadership hopes that the tanks could help them withstand the Russian invasion.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said he could not say when there would be a decision on the tanks but that Germany was prepared to move fast if there was consensus among allies. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, after a US-led meeting of Ukraine’s allies on Friday said that Germany has not decided on sending Leopard 2 to Ukraine.
A LOOK AT THE TANK
One of the world’s leading battle tanks, Leopard 2 is used by German Army for decades. Moreover, several European countries also use this battle tank.
Leopard 2 is a 3rd generation main battle tank. It was first developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German army. The battle tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West German Army.
The tank, which is powered by a diesel engine, features night-vision equipment and a laser range finder that can measure distance to an object, enabling it to better aim at a moving target while traveling over rough terrain. There are multiple iterations of the Leopard 2 with different features and designs.
The tank comes in two main batches; the the original models up to Leopard 2A4, have vertically faced turret armour, and the improved batch, namely the Leopard 2A5 and newer versions have angled arrow-shaped turret appliqué armour together with other improvements. All models feature digital fire control systems with laser rangefinders, a fully stabilised main gun and coaxial machine gun, and advanced night vision and sighting equipment (first vehicles used a low-light level TV system or LLLTV; thermal imaging was introduced later on). The tank has the ability to engage moving targets while moving over rough terrain
WHY UKRAINE NEEDS LEOPARD 2
Russia as well as Ukraine have been using Siviet era tanks till now in the battles. Ukraine believes that Leopard 2 could give them edge over the Russians.
Russia has been using missiles and air strikes against Ukraine. Ukraine thinks that Leopard 2 would help offset Russia’s superiority in artillery fire-power, missile strike and air strikes.
