The Government of Sánchez, which finalizes the details, had accepted their participation as long as there was a coordinated plan at the European level. Germany gave its go-ahead on Tuesday.
Spain will join the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks to kyiv after Germany has finally agreed to supply this tank to the Ukrainian Army. The Government of Pedro Sánchez had conditioned its participation in the operation to the prior existence of an agreement at the European level and this morning has confirmed that it will join this strategy, according to El País. The Defense and Foreign Ministries, as well as La Moncloa, are evaluating the conditions under which the Spanish contribution would take place, the details of which are still unknown.
After weeks of debate and doubt, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced late Tuesday afternoon that he will send his Leopard and allow other countries that have these prized German-made main battle tanks to deliver them to kyiv as well, according to reported the magazine ‘Spiegel’ in its digital edition. Apparently, the federal government would initially mobilize a company of units from the Bundeswehr (the German Army). The number has not yet been established, although yesterday it was also known that the arms company Rheinmetall could send some 139 Leopard 1 and 2 to Ukraine, although the development of these vehicles could last a little less than a year. However, the first ones could be delivered next April and May.
The Spanish Army has 108 Leopard 2A4 battle tanks, the model that Ukraine is demanding to stop the Russian advance and prepare a counteroffensive next spring. These are units that were rented to Germany in 1995, arrived three years later and were finally bought in 2005 for around 15 million euros. Of this number, 53 have been out of service for a decade, when they were parked in the Casetas logistics center (Zaragoza), inside a long-term warehouse.
Initially, these tanks were distributed among the battalions of the mechanized brigades in Córdoba and Badajoz and in the training unit in Zaragoza. Units were also sent to Vitoria, Valladolid and Madrid. But with the arrival of the modern Leopard 2E from 2003, manufactured by the Spanish firm Santa Bárbara (today General Dynamics), active German 2A4 veterans were sent to the cavalry regiments of Ceuta and Melilla, in addition to remaining in the previous units.
The Leopard is one of the key battle tanks for armored units on the European continent. After Germany and Greece, Spain is the country with the largest endowment. They are faster than the Russian T-72, reaching 68 kilometers per hour and are less heavy, almost ten tons less (55), and with the same range (about 500 kilometers) than the American Abrams. In its armament it has a 120 mm cannon with the capacity to launch up to 42 projectiles more than two kilometers away and two 7.62 mm caliber machine guns. Four crew members enter (driver, gunner, tank commander and loader) and its armor ranges from 13 to 110 mm of sheet steel.
The outstanding brother of the 2A4 is the Leopard 2E, whose 219 units of the Spanish Army were manufactured between 2003 and 2008 after obtaining the German patent. The cost per unit exceeds 11 million euros. This is the tank, for example, that Tierra deploys in the NATO mission in Latvia to prevent the Russian threat, which has been underway since the end of 2017.
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