![]() This looks to be the next big issue on the agenda. Ukraine is pushing for the supply of F-16 fighter jets and manufacturer Lockheed Martin has announced it is stepping up production. Meanwhile, the issue of supplying aircraft is once again under discussion. Once integrated these tanks will combine with other top-of-the-range modern fighting machines supplied by western allies to make for a formidable armoured force. The three types of tanks that Ukraine will receive each require very different training, with different supply chains for maintenance and operations. Ukraine is seeking 300 tanks overall – so far 105 have been pledged for delivery in the next few months. Between them, different European countries have a total of about 2,000 Leopard 2 tanks. Poland has pledged another 14 and Norway will send spare parts and up to eight units. Germany will deliver the most modern version of the Leopard 2 which is deemed the most capable tank in the modern world except for the US M1 Abrams. Initially Germany will provide 14 Leopard 2A6 tanks from its inventory, with the goal of eventually providing 112 overall. This was partly a leverage to persuade Germany to change its mind on sending its Leopards. Meanwhile in Washington, intense diplomatic activity by US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin persuaded the president Joe Biden to commit to sending 31 Abrams M1 battle tanks to Ukraine. German chancellor Olaf Scholz has finally given in to pressure to supply Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. ![]() Her replacement, Boris Pistorius, is in favour and is backed by German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, and vice chancellor, Robert Habeck. Securing the deal took the resignation of the previous German defence minister, Christine Lambrecht – who was strongly averse to allowing the Leopards to be used in Ukraine. There has also inevitably been some internal German politics involved. This is already in progress in fact as Poland announced the purchase of 116 M1A1 Abrams tanks with associated equipment with delivery starting this year in a deal worth $1.4 billion (£1.13 billion). This would destroy a massive export market for Germany as the country exported 2,399 battle tanks between 19. But the underlying issue is that the Germans fear that if the various European states that have bought Leopard 2 tanks from Germany supply them to Ukraine, they may well opt to replace their own inventories with US equipment instead. Readying its existing stock for battle will take some time. Germany’s other problem is its relatively low stocks of the Leopard 2 tanks (about 320 for all of Germany’s own defence needs down from 4,000 main battle tanks during the cold war period). Until this week the US was adamant it wouldn’t send Abrams tanks to Ukraine, saying they were unsuited to the conditions of warfare there. So he would only take such a major decision with clear US approval and – most importantly – with evidence that the US would participate in a similar deal to supply its own tanks. Scholz is keenly aware of Germany’s reliance on the US for its security. In addition to a general fear of escalation, there was much public discussion of Germany’s aversion to involvement in armed conflict (understandable given its 20th-century history) and Berlin’s hopes to rebuild relations with Moscow eventually.īut this is not the whole story. Even the Nato meeting held at the Ramstein US air base in Germany on January 20 to discuss the issue ended without a decision, much to the frustration of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and some of Kyiv’s other western allies. But for some months, the German chancellor Olaf Scholz resisted the decision to send German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. ![]() For the first time, western countries are providing substantial offensive capabilities to support a major campaign to regain lost territory. The decision to provide heavy tanks to Ukraine in significant numbers constitutes a step change in western military support for Ukraine. ![]()
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