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Ukraine and its biggest Western backers hope the high-tech, U.S.-made M1 Abrams and German-made Leopard 2 A6 battle tanks being sent to Kyiv will provide a major boost to the country’s fight against Russian invaders.
The U.S. and Germany announced Wednesday that they are sending dozens of the tanks to the country, after weeks of a diplomatic logjam.
While most experts say the tanks could eventually be a battlefield game-changer, it will take months for their impact to be felt and Ukrainian forces will need quick training to master the strategic and tactical aspect of the heavy weaponry.
With Western officials increasingly aligned behind the view that Russia’s war in Ukraine is likely to carry on for the long haul, the focus now is on the capabilities the dozens of U.S. and German tanks could deliver over the coming year.
Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, the manufacturer of the Leopard 2, touts it as “the world’s leading battle tank,” which for nearly a half-century has combined aspects of firepower, protection, speed and maneuverability, making it adaptable to many types of combat situations.
Whether the 55-ton Leopard 2s, which carry a crew of four and have a range of about 310 miles before requiring refueling, will get bogged down in Ukraine’s muddy countryside this spring remains to be seen.
The tanks are famously deft on roads and can easily move at 40-plus mph. They also have serious firepower. The Leopard 2’s main weapon is a 120mm smooth bore gun that has a range of roughly 3 miles and is equipped with a fully digital fire-control system.
Experts say the German tanks will easily go toe-to-toe with any Russian tanks currently operating inside Ukraine and will bring a dramatic increase in capability for Ukrainian forces thus far relying on much older, Soviet-era tanks.
The Leopard 2s alone could allow Kyiv to go on the offensive in the 11-month-old war, which has been stalemated for months following two key Ukrainian counteroffensives that recaptured areas occupied by Russian forces in the northeast and south.
“In this type of conflict, it’s just not possible to carry out large-scale offensives without the full variety of armored combat equipment and armored vehicles, and tanks are a part of that,” Yohann Michel, a research analyst for defense and military affairs at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, recently told The Associated Press.
