Apparently at least 4 Challenger 2s will make it to Ukraine within the week and the remaining 8 will be sent after some refurbishment in the month. Question is how long the training on the tanks will take for Ukrainian crews. Hopefully these make can make a difference soon, a Challenger 2s famously took more than 70 RPG rounds in Basra, Iraq and Russians still field lots of those but the tanks are slow and heavy w/ non-standard ammo.
As for Leopards, Bloomberg is reporting Scholz is budging to international and internal pressure from factions within his governing coalition, with Germany likely to announce they will at least remove blocks from Leopard 2 exports by Poland/Finland, and possibly provide Leopard 2s themselves at the upcoming NATO meeting on Jan 20th. The comments come from the Vice Chancellor while his party is dealing with a PR scandal that forced the German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht to tender her resignation.
Quote:
Berlin will make a decision before a meeting of senior defense officials from allied nations at the American airbase in Ramstein on Jan. 20, according to a German official familiar with the plans, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his German counterpart Christine Lambrecht will also meet in Berlin the day before.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has come under increasing pressure to allow the delivery of battle tanks to Ukraine, one week after he announced that Germany would supply armored vehicles and an additional Patriot air system to Kyiv.
Now there are signs that Scholz may be willing to back down from his initial opposition to sending Leopard tanks or that he may allow countries like Poland and Finland to re-export their own Leopards to Ukraine, a move that would require Berlin’s consent.
“Germany should not stand in the way, when other countries decide to support Ukraine, regardless of what Germany decides,” Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said Thursday with regard to Poland’s request to send Leopard 2 tanks. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann also said in an interview on Friday that sending Leopard 2 tanks “should not be a taboo.”
German government spokeswoman Chistiane Hoffmann said that the Polish government has so far not made an official request and made clear that sending these tanks without Germany’s permission would be “illegal.”
“The approval by the federal government is needed,” Hoffman said at a regular government press conference in Berlin. “These are the rules.”
It’s still unclear if Germany will only allow other countries to send Leopard tanks or if it will send such tanks itself. Besides the Leopard 2 tanks, there are still about 180 versions of the older Leopard 1 in Germany. German officials point out that the Leopard 1, which is from the 1960s, would still be able to compete with a Russian battle tank.
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...nks-to-ukraine
https://www.dw.com/en/german-media-r...ign/a-64390340