According to a spokesman, the armaments group Rheinmetall could deliver a total of 139 Type 1 and Type 2 Leopard tanks to Ukraine. The company currently has 29 Leopard 2A4 “for the ring exchange projects in the works,” said the company spokesman for the editorial network Germany (Tuesday editions).
Rheinmetall will have these models “ready in April/May 2023,” the spokesman continued. Rheinmetall can “make available” 88 Leopard 1 vehicles. In addition, the group still has 22 more Leopard 2A4, the repair of which would take almost a year. “Delivery would be possible in late 2023/early 2024,” the spokesman added.
So in total there are 139 Leopard tanks. The mixed situation is “very volatile” due to the security policy framework, various forms of direct or indirect delivery and the changing priorities of orders. “It is therefore difficult, for example, to name specific periods for deliveries,” emphasized the spokesman.
Group boss Armin Papperger also said that the Leopard battle tanks intended for so-called ring exchanges with Slovakia and the Czech Republic would be fully repaired in the spring. “These tanks belong to the federal government. She can do whatever she wants with it,” Papperger told Stern.
Most recently, pressure had grown on Germany to deliver Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Against the background of this debate, the Rheinmetall boss recently made headlines with the statement that repairing Leopard tanks from his stocks would take “almost a year”.
Some of these tanks stood there for ten years with the hatch open, they are moldy on the inside.
Armin PappergerCEO Rheinmetall AG
Papperger said some people “got important things wrong”. Accordingly, he “spoke of the 22 Leopard tanks that are at Rheinmetall and belong to Rheinmetall. I’m sticking with it, they won’t be ready before the end of this year,” he said. He explained the condition of the vehicles: “Some of these tanks stood there for ten years with the hatch open, they are moldy on the inside.”
Pressure on the federal government is increasing
At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, several EU foreign ministers increased the pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to deliver Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine or at least agree to the delivery of Leopard tanks by other countries.
Poland has already announced that it will apply to the federal government for approval to supply its own Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine, but if necessary to supply them without Germany’s consent.
The federal government has organized part of the military aid for Ukraine in its defensive struggle against Russia as an exchange with eastern NATO partners. These hand over weapons of Soviet design to the Ukraine and receive more modern replacements from Germany.
In the course of this so-called ring exchange, Germany has promised Slovakia 15 and the Czech Republic 14 Leopard tanks – these are outdated vehicles from Rheinmetall stocks, both countries already received the first vehicle in December.
To home page
